Couldn't convince my house meeting that the greatest opportunity we should have is in challenging conservative principles, rather than concentrating on issues such as energy, etc.
In the coming years conservatives will try to convince American citizens that smaller government is better. We need to dispute that principle. The size of government is a consequence of a free market-like process in which no individual or small group can determine the outcome. The size of government is the consequence of millions upon millions of individual choices. The best use of our time and energies, I believe, will be to aggressively argue this point.
The second principle we should aggressively point out is that morality (social conservatism) and freedom (economic conservatism) are incompatible. Conservatives, themselves, have illustrated the confusion and contradictions inherent in their own principles, to wit:
*The purpose of politics is the promotion not of freedom but of virtue [Brent Bozell]
*Freedom is the ultimate political end. Virtue is none of the State's business. [Frank Meyer]
*Free markets destroy traditions. [George Will]