What follows is the kind of stump speech I believe a conservative presidential candidate needs to make in order to hold true to conservative principals while appealing to the millions that are reluctant to ever support a conservative. We can blame the media that we have no control over or go over their heads with appealing people-centered messages.
Adding some veggies, fruits and sweet wine to a one-course conservative meal of raw red meat would likely attract a lot more people to the conservative table.
I am not locked into any particular candidate but I have eliminated a few because they appeal to a very narrow segment that will render them unelectable on a national basis. The conservative candidate needs to represent the conservative brand in a manner that draws the attention of minorities, the poor and young people. All of whom will vote in much larger numbers in the general election.
Who do you think could be the “I” giving this stump speech?
Stump Speech
I approach this challenge with profound gratitude for the blessings America has given me. I seek this office with a confidence derived from having successfully worked with Democrats in the legislature to reignite pride and prosperity for everyone. Democrats, Republicans, libertarians, people of all ethnicities and races have shared in the fruits of the compassionate free market approach to governmental reform that is working in my state. It all comes down to understanding the elements necessary for prosperity to flourish. Unfortunately, the federal government has followed a course that has put prosperity out of reach for far too many people. They have pursued a failed model. I want to replace their failed policies with proven methods that work.
As governor/senator I woke up every morning knowing that too many of my fellow Americans were struggling with poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Millions of their children were stagnating in failing government schools. My role as governor/senator was to build a legislative coalition to create an economic environment conducive for unleashing an economic boom. Ineffective government mandates passed over the last six years attempting to create jobs have failed. The poor and working class have made little progress. Many are worse off. Let me quote the wise words of two great Americans who understood the limits of a big centralized federal government in term of promoting prosperity:
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help” Ronald Reagan.
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” John F.Kennedy.
There was a time when both Democrats and Republicans knew that top down federal interference often did more harm then good. Liberals and conservatives understood the limitations of a heavy-handed government. Progressives have alway been clueless.
The most cursory examination will demonstrate which states have been most effective at nurtuing prosperity for the least among us. We have real time models that we can emulate. Low taxes, sensible regulation based on efficacy and school choice are some of the tools of trade used by prosperity builders. You don’t have to be a conservative to recognize what tools are needed to open the door to prosperity.
Economists will argue both sides of the minimum wage debate. This is nothing more then a polemic distraction. I am much more focused on policies that impact wages based on genuine growth. Wages rise where prosperity flourishes. The minimum wage debate is only a hot topic today because the conditions that foster wage growth have been hampered by failed governmental interference. Six years of stagnation has opened the door for a distraction called the minimum wage debate.
Businesses, big and small, grow by creating new products, expanding markets and services. Businesses hire new workers, raise wages of those employed and expand when government gets out of the way. Government creates impersonal, wasteful and corrupt bureaucracies that are accountable to no one, can’t go broke, and suck every greater taxpayer resources out of the market with no metric for success. Those policies stifle the progress of the very people whose efforts, risk taking, ideas and hard work fuel the engine of economic growth.
None of this has anything to do with race, gender or ethnicity. It’s about a path to prosperity for everyone. It’s not about regulation verses pollution. It’s about sensible rules that don’t handcuff businesses. Local, state and federal regulation in the form of tens of thousands of unworkable and unenforceable rules have metastasized to overwhelm any notion of sensible regulation. Who pays the price? The consumer and in particular the poor consumer gets hit the hardest. The states with the most draconian environment policies have the highest utility, housing, food and transportation costs. The rich barely notice. The middle class gets stretched. The poor are devastated.
I will never take a back seat to anyone on the issue of the environment. But neither will I be sidetracked by hysteria unrelated to a clean and safe environment.
I pledge to use my Presidential bully pulpit, should I earn your trust, to return education to the local level where it belongs. At that level the path to prosperity rests with the freedom of every parent to choose his or her child’s school. Decade after decade education spending has risen. In many of our poorest neighborhoods spending has increased dramatically. Parents will tell you about those dismal results. What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
Progress in education has little relationship to spending. Competition has been the foundation of America’s preeminence in every field it has been tried. Why should education be any different? In state after state where poor parents have been offered choice their children have soared academically. Choice is their first step on the road to prosperity. We should all be pro-choice when it comes to our kid’s education.
We have dreamed about the miracle of American energy independence for decades. It would provide us with a huge economic stimulus and shoot a spear into the heart of terrorist financing. Ladies and gentleman that day is here. A new American energy Gold Rush is in its infant stages. I am committed, if elected, to open federal lands to a world of American energy prosperity unlike any we have ever seen. I pledge to be sure every reasonable and effective safeguard will be employed. Millions of high paying jobs in dozens of professions nurturing the skills learned by children who have been liberated by school choice is a reality awaiting our embrace.
I will never pander to any of you. I will not patronize any one group with condescending promises of government goodies. The American people can’t be bought off. We have spent the last six years following the “what your country can do for you” sales mantra. The promise of goodies amounts to nothing more then passing along the crumbs of big government largess in lieu of prosperity. Of course that requires ever-greater debt to finance those crumbs.
Food stamps and free medical care are necessary for some but never as a substitute for a genuine shot at prosperity. I won’t stand here and promise you free anything. I will promise you I will work my rear off to create an economic environment conducive to creating the opportunities you need to succeed. A genuine shot at prosperity not welfare is the American way.
Your role is to emulate the millions from all over the world who have come to America and laid the foundation for all of us. Hard work, gratitude and charity in a free market environment is the legacy that we are honored to follow. Government’s role is to act as a backstop for the needy and disabled, not as a crutch for the able-bodied.
Of course there are some in need of help and others with disabilities that deserve both public and private aid. We absolutely need a work-oriented safety net for the able-bodied. Care for the disabled and destitute is entirely different and the sacred obligation of the richest nation in world history.
Compassion as played out over the past six years has put more people on food stamps, in poverty and dependent then at any time in our history. Those who promote those polices are not bad people. They are simply wrong. The results of their methods are on display from coast to coast. We all feel compassion for those in need. But compassion motivating failed policy only does harm to the objects of our compassion.
I will campaign in every neighborhood and on every college campus that will have me. Choice, pride, freedom, prosperity and charity are my domestic guideposts. These are the principals that will inform every decision I make. I will seek the expertise of those who have done as opposed to the theories of those who pontificate. My team will be a team filled with doers, people who are able to separate good sounding ideas from actual workable proven solutions. Studies and theories have a place in academia. I am in the business of results.
I will work to repeal of the Affordable Care Act because it has proven to be a failure. But I also will offer simple short bills based on free markets and choice to replace the ACA. Bills to include protection for those with preexisting conditions and those who are in genuine need. Those of you who have lost your choices will have those choices restored.
Immigration can be a boost to American prosperity. That is the role it has played for more than two centuries. I refuse to play the divisive game of pro-immigrant verses anti-immigrant. A secure border is not inconsistent with immigration reform. They are two sides of the same invaluable lucky coin. A few short-targeted reform initiatives that deal with eleven million illegal immigrants to take effect once border governors verify border security are doable. I will work with border state governors to create a definable metric of security and control as the prerequisite for implementation of immigration reform. I will replace partisan political heat from both sides with cool rational solutions. I trust most of you are as tired of all the name-calling as I am.
As critical as economic growth is for every citizen, national security is my number one responsibility. I am in awe of that tiny segment of our population that has volunteered to put their lives on the line to protect our freedom. Their sacrifices and those of their families are incalculable. They represent the beating heart of American exceptionalism. And yes, America is exceptional. This is said with a great deal of pride but not one ounce of superiority. It is instead our responsibility and a covenant with our founders to work to sustain the high standards they have set for all of us. If you question American exceptionalism, just ask an immigrant. He or she will set you straight.
I understand that America is the indispensable player in keeping freedom alive worldwide. For the last six years America has withdrawn from the world. That created a vacuum that has been filled by Islamic terrorist, expansionist Russia and China, and Iranian theocrats marching to produce a nuclear weapon that, if acquired, could ignite a conflagration not witnessed since the 1940s.
I find my guideposts among those who understood that peace through strength was not just a slogan familiarized by Reagan. Both Kennedy and Churchill understood the wisdom of that simple but profound formula. I will work tirelessly to renew the respect of our allies and the seriousness of our intent among our enemies. Red lines once crossed will not be ignored.
In the past Republicans and Democrats have understood the necessity of a robust military willing to defend freedom around the world. It was JFK who touted a defense posture “beyond doubt” and in defense of freedom around the globe.
Israel is the world’s canary in the coalmine. Her fate is ultimately the fate of all free people. I fully support that lone beacon of freedom in a world of theocratic intolerance to do what is necessary to defend herself. American’s unbreakable bond with Israel is grounded in the shared values of liberty and tolerance.
A colorblind nation, whose power is unmatched, with compassionate free markets, offering school choice and sensible regulation is how I see America. We are that shining city on the hill. We may have drifted away from that glorious city but I am confident that with your help we can we can climb back atop those rarefied heights. With an accurate compass pointed in the direction of freedom, hard work and a ton of gratitude America will once again be the world’s greatest engine of freedom and prosperity. God bless America and God bless the American people.