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Simply put, we need a Republican renaissance — a return to our conservative principles of governance–and I’m ready and positioned to help lead this movement.

A Republican Renaissance

I don’t know about you, but as a conservative, I’ve felt a little like an orphan in the political process over the last eight years.   While I’ve continued to cast my votes for Republicans and supported local candidates, there can be little doubt that the national party simply did not govern according to conservative principles.  I respect President Bush for many reasons, not the least of which is for what he did for our nation after 9-11, but his admission last fall that he “abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system” I think fairly summarizes the lack of leadership and abandonment of conservative principles that have led to consecutive electoral losses for our party.  The national leadership of the Republican party walked away from its principles, and the American people walked away from them.

Locally, the situation hasn’t been much better.

Our state government has been in shambles, unable or unwilling to make the tough choices needed to put Michigan on solid economic footing.  Worse yet, several of our own elected officials–who campaigned as conservatives–voted to support the disastrous Michigan Business Tax (MBT), which raised taxes on numerous businesses in West Michigan and forces them to pay up whether or not they make a profit.  Some voted to support a tax increase on services, and then voted for a “tax on a tax”, the MBT surcharge. Republicans from West Michigan should be providing leadership for our state, but instead they compromised conservative principles when it mattered most.

Taking all this into account, some have suggested that we need a period in the wilderness in order to regroup, lick our wounds and think about the direction of our party.  I think that’s non-sense.  Frankly, when I look at what’s happening in Washington on issues like life and healthcare, and the massive intrusion by the government into the private business sector–our nation can’t afford to wait for us to have a pity party.  As Republicans, we already know how to be achieve electoral success, we already know that our ideas (strong families, low taxation, limited government) work.  What we need are  leaders committed to those ideals.  We need our elected officials to be more than vote castors, we need vision castors–men and women who can explain to the next generation why conservatism works, why socialism fails, and that the Republican party has real solutions to the challenges facing Michigan and our nation. Simply put, we need a Republican renaissance–a return to our conservative principles of governance–and I’m ready and positioned to help lead this movement.

I believe we’re going to send a new Republican congressman to Washington in 2011.  The question is, are we going to send them another “nice guy”, some one who’ll go along to get along? Or are we going to send them a principled fighter?  Some one with the strength to stand up for our families, our businesses, and our values!

I’m ready to fight for our values, and to do my part to restore conservative credibility to the Republican party.