My comment on Governor Huckabee's Washington Times Article, which is Second to None!
The second page is below.
Hurrah!!!!!! Very well said Governor Huckabee. There is one thing though, it is not even a question of being conservative anymore. The ideal to follow and Defend is the following the Constitution now! We have so many illegal spending issues and those socialist programs already in place that the Federal level that are the monster coming up. We still have troops in Nations from World War One and Two. We have court Cases that have and do hold the Tax Structure of this Nation as to being unconstitutional. We have Supreme Court Rulings that have re-defined the Constitution and the power of the Federal Government, i.e. commerce clause, gun laws, liniment domain, etc. The States need to put the Federal Government funding into escrow until Constitutional conduct returns, with the exception of the powers granted to the Federal Government per fundamental reading of the Constitution, 20 specific powers in all I believe. Get rid of the Federal Reserve system and go back to Congressional control as prescribed by the Constitution.
It is time to map out a course of action to bring the Federal Government back to it's one simple position, being the Sheriff of America. We need to get the treasury of our States back to the States and let the States decide on what to do. If a need for a group of States to come together for a social program is wanted, let it be managed under the umbrella of the Board of Governors and let it be strictly voluntary.
As Governor Huckabee say's, "We don't need so much to redefine conservatism. Just practice the real thing."
R. George Dunn
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Here is the rest of what Governor Huckabee wrote in the Article previously distributed. If you missed the first half, go to the Washington Times link above and leave a comment also. Here is the rest of the article:
HUCKABEE: Put conservatism into practice
page 2
Over the past few years, Republicans have been either acquiescing in or encouraging the acquisition of more power and control by the federal government - in policy shifts in education, health care, and even how a driver's license looks.
During my 10 years as a governor, a constant battle raged with my own federal government over such programs as "Real I. D.," which was a federally conceived idea to force states to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to re-format the look of a state-issued drivers license so it would become the equivalent of a federal ID card.
Of course, no member of Congress wanted to come out and advocate an actual federal ID card, so forcing the states to make the driver's license the substitute seemed brilliant to Washington.
What they didn't really think about or seem to care the least about, despite the numerous attempts by governors, Democrat and Republican to explain, was that a state driver's license is just what it claims to be - a license to drive a motor vehicle. It is not proof of citizenship, good behavior or church attendance, and the people who work the counter at the state Department of Motor Vehicles are not trained law enforcement officers, immigration officials, CIA agents or detectives. They are typically entry-level state employees who do their best, but are hardly the choice front line of defense to catch a potential terrorist by discovering their true identity.
Ditto that for reforming the Medicaid program.
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner - now Sen. Warner - and I spent many frustrating days on Capitol Hill trying to convince House and Senate members that the Medicaid program was out of control, financially unsustainable, and needed flexibility at the state level. Thanks primarily to Congressmen Joe L. Barton of Texas and Nathan Deal of Georgia, we finally were able to convince Congress that some of the decisions for the program could be made better if made closer to the people being served.
Perhaps no other example is more glaring than having painfully watched so-called Washington conservatives abandon the most fundamental principle of conservatism - fiscal restraint. A Republican administration pushed for and got the authority to spend $700 billion that we had to borrow from our grandchildren's future so we could do what government has no business doing - picking out winners and losers in the private sector marketplace.
It was especially disgusting to me to watch some of the very leaders who had smugly dismissed my candidacy for president because I had the audacity to speak out against the excesses of Wall Street and Washington as early as February 2007 now stand up and flop-sweat as they explained why they were about to support the government taking off the striped shirts of the referee and put on the jersey of a team to play the game for one team against another all in the name of "saving the markets."
By abandoning our bedrock conservative principles, and those of our founding fathers, they risked ruining our country to save the markets.
What gives me hope is my belief that the party of Reagan will reunite behind the consistent conservative policies that have made our country great - policies that empower individuals, families, and entrepreneurs, not government, to shape our own destinies. If we do that, we will not fail.
We don't need so much to redefine conservatism. Just practice the real thing.
• Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He is a columnist for The Washington Times' "Reinventing Conservatism" series.
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