Not Every Republican is a Conservative

Not Every Republican is a Conservative

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Jeff Lehman’s published? letter in the Current and Gazette
newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties,?? “Anti-government crusade is
absurd political theater”,? repeated almost every false accusation that
Democrats and liberals make against Republicans?and conservatives these
days .? I must respond to them.
1.???????? Lehman claimed:?? “Since the change of power in government? that
began with Democrats taking over the House and Senate in 2006, Republicans
and conservatives have been attacking all things government or public. . .”

?????? It is wrong to lump Republicans and conservatives together.
George W. Bush, like his dad,?was a Republican, but not a?conservative.
Bush insulted conservatives by calling himself? a “compassionate
conservative”.???? This gave credibility to the outrageous “big lie” of
liberals–that real conservatives? don’t care about others.
?????? Republicans did not lose the House and Senate in the 2006 elections
because Democrats got stronger.??? Polling and voting data showed that
millions of conservative stayed home to punish Bush Republicans for their
big spending and borrowing–and blatant refusal to enforce immigration laws.

When Republican Presidential candidate John McCain,? and Republican
Congressional leaders rammed through the $700 billion Wall Street bailout,
and tried to give amnesty to illegal immigrants, millions of conservatives
again refused to? vote for Republicans in 2008 –even though it put Obama in
the White House.??? It is easier to fight a known enemy, than a false
friend.
Conservatives are not, and never were, against all things government or
public.??? We are for?government with clear, limited power, as defined by
our founding documents.??? You need not be a lawyer to understand our
Declaration of Independence? and? the U.S. Constitution-written in 1787, but
then amended 27 times.? Anyone with an eighth grade education can read and
understand these key documents in less than thirty minutes.
Those documents, together with a basic knowledge of American history,? show
that Americans rejected the European view that only “smart”, specially
trained government? officials (royalty at first-later, an elite group of
appointed “experts”) must decide what is best for the whole nation or
“public”, and that each? individual must then sacrifice for the “public”
good as they define it.

Most Americans starting with the Pilgrims in 1620, held an opposite view.
To us, it was “self-evident” each of us had the unalienable right to be
safe, and free to pursue our own happiness in our own way.??? Americans knew
from bitter experience in the Old Country that politicians who said they
wanted government with more power and high taxes to serve “the public” ended
up misusing that power and money for personal gain.?? That is why? Americans
invented written constitutions? to strictly limit what government can do.
It is ironic that liberals like Jeff Lehman repeatedly denounce Fox News, a
private TV network,? paid for by private sponsors.?? Yet they are offended
when conservative taxpayers object to having our tax dollars pay for their
liberal “public” radio and TV? programs we dislike and do not watch.

2.??????? Lehman claimed:? “Our tax code is littered with exemptions and
exclusions for special interest protected by lobbyists. . . For example,
General Electric recently showed obscene profits ($14.2 billion). . . but
did not pay its share of taxes. . . ”

But liberal Democrats created almost all of these exemptions and exclusions
during the roughly 60 years that they controlled both houses of Congress!
Why didn’t Lehman point out that General Electric (GE), which paid ZERO
taxes? and got a $3.2 billion back from the government last year is a
Democrat ally??? Almost every GE commercial supports Obama’s “green” energy
agenda.??? GE owns the NBC TV network which is? loaded with Democratic
Party propaganda? in its evening news -and its children’s cartoons.?? GE and
its subsidiaries gave $1.2 million in campaign cash to Democrats in 2008,
and another $1.2 million in 2010.
In return, Obama? gave GE? “green energy”? tax breaks, $24.9 million in
“stimulus” money, special exemptions from? anti-pollution laws, a
government ban on? non-GE light bulbs, etc., and he appointed the CEO of GE
to a key government position..

Liberal Democrats talk of helping? “working families”,? but they make laws
to bail out Wall Street and enrich Goldman Sachs millionaires like Jon
Corzine and union bosses like Steve Sweeney and Don Norcross.???? They talk
of high tax rates for the “rich”, but quietly create loopholes so their rich
friends never pay them.?? It is easier for today’s Democrats, like
communists and fascists in the past,? to control a handful of big
corporations with big unions than lots of small, independent business
owners.