Sure all the media attention over the feud between President Obama and Rush is entertaining.  It brings great ratings ( and page views ) too.  However, for the long term success of the Conservative movement we need strong leaders who are following a clear set of Principle to live by and Objectives to be accomplished. 

I have already done two entries here on what I feel are vital Principles that the Conservative movement needs steer itself by.  If you missed those stories, they are here and here.  I am also including them at the end of this entry.  I consider these the start of a sort of Declaration of Conservatism.  On top of Principles we also need to start building some Objectives to accomplish and turn the country back on course.  Today I will start my own little list of Objectives.  It is my hope that these Principles and objectives will be picked up by the GOP, or somebody else, to get the country back on track.

To my mind any Objective needs to be short and simple to be accomplished.  It you need a 1,000 page bill to explain it you are on the wrong path.  Here is my start of Objectives for Conservative politicians to accomplish.

• The current tax system has got to go.  We need either a flat tax, sales or value added tax, or some combination of the above.  The current system is built to encourage people to see what they can get away with ( see recent WH nominees ) and so complex that otherwise honest people often do make mistakes.  Any system this large and complex needs to go.
• We are a nation of people who are endowed with certain inalienable rights by our Creator.  Stop trying to take references to our Creator out of everything.  Leave alone money and the Pledge of Allegiance.
• Education is vital to our long term success.  We spend too much money for too little reward.  The biggest problem is that most the money is wasted on administration at the Federal, State and County levels.  The government has to push a top down restructuring of the expense structure just like a business would do to get more money to the students and the teachers who educate them.
• If you are an illegal alien and you get caught committing ANT crime, the punishment is simple.  You go back home.  No need to waste money on a trial, jail anything.  The biggest crime is being here illegally so we will take that money to send you back on the next commercial flight.
• We need to address all aspects of our energy policy.  We have to drill now to make it through.  We must subsidize and Manhattan Project or NASA like push to develop clean affordable renewable energy to transfer to private industry for implementation.
• We need a single uniting language by law.  English has been the standard thus far, so get over it. 
• Anybody left in a position of power for too long becomes more concerned with retaining that power than fairly exercising it.  We need a system of term limits for all elected officials.  It does not have to be a lifetime limit like the Presidency.  The Articles of Confederation limited service to no more than three out of any six years. 

That is my start for now.  I will update this again in a week or two.  I would love to hear input.  I would REALLY love to hear from an elected official or party official who wants to do something like this, but that may bee too much to ask.

And finally, the list of Principles.

• The principles set forth by our founders are just as valid and current today as they were then.  While they have been amended, the basic concepts are as simple as the natural laws like gravity.  They created a framework to allow for a level of liberty never before reached, and never since surpassed.  It is our role as Americans to learn and understand these principles first.  Then we must all strive to carry them on lest we allow something truly inspired to disappear from the earth over petty wants.
• We live in a nation that provide for truly limitless opportunity to succeed.  The flip side of that is that we also have an almost equally limitless opportunity to not succeed.  Success is not an entitlement, but rather a product of focus, work, dedication and on occasion some good fortune.  Every time you make a change to raise the bottom and “protect” some from failing, you take an equal amount off the top and deny some of their right to achieve greatness.
• We are all bound equally by the laws of the land regardless of race, sex, sexually orientation, national origin, or station in life.  We all have to play by the same rules for the system to work.  We can certainly never create rules exempting some to protect their position.  If a law requires one group to be exempted, then all must be exempted.  An example of this in particular is laws passed by our Congress that they choose to not apply to themselves.
• All political power rests first with “We the people.”  As a republic, we choose to lend that power to the officials who we elect.  We demand that they represent the principles that we put them in office for.  We can, and must, take back the power we have granted them when they fail to uphold our principles.  It is also important to remember that the power is for ELECTED officials.  Career bureaucrats may be there to help implement, but they do not truly posses that power.
• Power has a tendency to collect and pool, much like water.  It has to be moved and stirred periodically or it grows stagnant and becomes foul.  The founders created a system of differing term lengths for the different offices to encourage that constant change.  Nobody should be in a single office for 20 or 30 years, as often happens now.  When water keeps collecting in the same spot, you make structural changes like raising the grade or putting in a pump to permanently fix the problem.  We need voluntary and/or Constitutional term limits to make this kind of structural change now.
• For a truly just society to thrive, you need a set of higher ideals and a stronger moral compass then simply the laws created by man.  Our forefathers created our nation based on the principle that we are guided by “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and that we are we are endowed by our “Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  We as a people require tolerance and understanding to support all others in their personal beliefs of a higher authority.  We do not have to always agree, but accept.
• No government will ever be able to legislate people to be good or do the right thing.  Laws try to prevent bad behavior by providing penalties.  Laws to prevent wrongs are simple.  Laws that try to control and mandate behavior, which are impossible by design, become even more useless due to their intense complexity.  While most people will try to be good ( some do not need laws at all to do the right thing and some will just follow the laws ), others will do wrong no matter how you try to stop it.
• We may on occasion look to government to provide a helping hand, but should never look for a safety net.  A helping hand gives you a push or pull in the right direction if something goes wrong.  It keeps you going by providing a little help and encouragement.  A net is used to catch and trap things, and has that exact effect on people when the government provides one for them.
• A free and civil flow of ideas is indispensable for the strength and survival of a democratic society.  No expression of ideas, no matter how alien they may seem is un-American even if the ideas seem anti-American.  The obvious exceptions are speech that cause or encourage harm to others.  How you say things can also limit the time and place it is appropriate to say them.  In other words if you cannot express you pleasure or displeasure without dropping the F-bomb you can not express those ideas in an Elementary school.