When author and podcaster Michael Malice says "conservatism is progressivism driving the speed limit," I agree. The values and policies most conservatives espouse are simply the Left’s position from a couple of decades earlier.
Guns are a notable exception; conservatives have made massive gains on the Second Amendment front, at the state level, and at the Supreme Court, and now nearly half the country can legally defend their families without a permission slip from the government. The battles to rein in spending, balance the budget, protect the unborn, reform entitlements, and influence the culture have not fared nearly as well in recent years.
CLEANUP UNDERWAY AFTER VIOLENT PROTEST AT DNC HEADQUARTERS LEAVES SIX OFFICERS INJURED
Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump added nearly $13 trillion to the national debt in their 12 years in office, often working with GOP majorities in one or both chambers of Congress. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in 2024, has attacked his challengers from the left on entitlement reform, promising never to touch Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is expected to become insolvent in a decade, and the former president apparently cares more about buying votes than protecting people from the impending crisis.
In 2012, thousands of young Republicans were chanting "end the fed" at Ron Paul rallies, and even moderates such as Mitt Romney felt compelled to campaign with a massive debt clock while running against President Barack Obama. Republican politicians clearly no longer feel the need even to pay lip service to fiscal conservatives.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made headlines last month after he led an effort to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), allegedly over McCarthy’s willingness to cave to Democrats' demands on spending. Unsurprisingly, new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wasted no time negotiating a virtually identical deal with House Democrats. So much for taking a principled stand against a big-spending "RINO."
In a bizarre attempt to gain traction in her long-shot presidential run, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley veered to the left of the Biden administration on free speech, something most people would have thought to be impossible last week. Haley called to ban anonymous speech on the internet. Surely Democrats are licking their chops at the prospect of normalizing more anti-free speech measures among Republicans.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) recently attempted to pass an amendment defunding the federal “kill-switch” mandate buried in President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar 2021 infrastructure law. The law mandates that all cars manufactured after 2026 must have a kill switch that can disable the vehicle. The mandate is wildly dystopian and unconstitutional, yet the attempt to defund it failed with 19 Republicans joining Democrats.
Republicans have no intention to get the nation’s fiscal house in order, are more interested in grandstanding than governing, and refuse to unify even in an attempt to stop the government from possessing the power to decide if and when people are allowed to use their vehicles. I have my doubts that this party is interested in conserving much of anything.
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Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.