Centennial Review

Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Volume 3, Number 9 September 2011 Publisher, William L. Armstrong Editor, John Andrews

CAN THE REAGAN COALITION ENDURE IN THE AGE OF OBAMA?

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
The conservative movement is at a crossroads: Will it continue to be comprised of, and appeal to, all three elements of Ronald Reagans winning coalitionfiscal discipline, traditional family and other social values, and a national security approach rooted in the philosophy of peace through strength? Or will it be reduced to a libertarian-dominated, small-government agenda that ignores or even repudiates Reagans conservative values and robust defense platform?

found in the straw poll victory of their exemplar, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. It was also apparent in who wasand who was notparticipating as sponsors of the conference or some of its events. Sponsors included GOProud, Muslims for America, and something called the Conservative Inclusion Coalition. We should be wary of these organizations effort to insinuate into the conservative movement, in the name of inclusiveness, individuals and initiatives that are divisive to our ranks and anathema to many who hew to Ronald Reagans beliefs and policies. Too Big a Tent?

Such groups would have the conservatives pitch a big tent sufficiently large as to even include aggressive promoters of the anti-family and pro-homosexual agenda; advocates for gambling, open borders, amnesty for illegal aliens and legalization of addictive drugs; champions of gutting the defense budget and immediately withdrawing Upon the answer rests not only the future of this vital from Afghanistan and Iraq without movement, but also the future of America. For if conservatives get this strategic question wrong, Expediency will regard for the consequences; and people associated with Muslim Brotherhood they not only are unlikely to enjoy the support of only divide front organizations and agendas. the electorate come 2012. They will not deserve that support.

conservatives.

Unfortunately, there is reason to believe that unless authentic Reagan-style conservatives find their footing and their voiceersatz conservatives pushing an agenda that is, at best libertarian and at worst leftist, will wind up destroying the brand. Symptoms at CPAC The 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)the largest annual conclave of conservative activists and supporters held in Washington in February was instructive. To all outward appearances, the event was a huge success. It was attended by a large, boisterous crowd, a substantial part of which was student-age, a promising indicator of the movements appeal to the coming generation. A number of luminaries, including several prospective presidential candidates, addressed enthusiastic audiences clearly invigorated by the previous Novembers successes at the polls. Yet there were signs of a troubling ascendance of libertarians at CPAC. The ascendance was not only to be

At a panel sponsored by the Conservative Inclusion Coalition, for example, one speaker expressed enthusiasm for reaching out to the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhans notoriously anti-Semitic and increasingly radical Islamist organization. Another panelist urged that the reconquistas of La Raza be admitted into the movement.

Such expediency and pandering can serve no good purpose. It will only fracture the conservative coalition and render our movement incoherent and unappealing to others notably, the critically important swing voters essential to future electoral success.
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. formerly served in senior positions in the Reagan Defense Department. He is currently President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington and host of the syndicated program, Secure Freedom Radio. This essay was adapted from his speech at Western Conservative Summit 2011 on July 30 in Denver. Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776.

In protest, some major CPAC participants from years past declined to participate in 2011. Among them were the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women of America, and the Media Research Center. These organizations are committed not only to reducing the deficit and keeping taxes low. They also favor preservation of the family rooted in marriage between one man and one woman as the key building block of a free society. And they are committed to a strong national defense, one that ensures that our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to protect our country. Social Issues and Defense Also Matter

Conservative Summit in Denver, the necessity of returning to what Mr. Reagan called conservatisms three-legged stool has been underscored by developments at home and abroad. Consider the following examples: The Family: Millions of Americansand not just those on the Right have been appalled by President Obamas abdication of his duty to defend the law of the land with respect to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The act affirms the building block of a free society as the family based on a marriage of one man and one woman. Though relentlessly attacked by homosexual activists and their allies, DOMA still embodies a core conservative principleand as such, it appeals to a broad array of voters, including many blacks, Hispanics, independents, and Democrats.

The good news is that a number of CPAC speakers explicitly endorsed the need to build on the approach If conservatives fail to stand behind this statute, they favored by these absent organizations and, at least signal a lack of commitment to family values and invite the implicitly, rejected the approach favored by proponents perception of complicity in the administrations pandering of invidious inclusiveness. That was the case with most, to the anti-family Left. The political repercussions would but not all, of the would-be presidential candidates. be dire, as well: They would write off the What price substantial majorities DOMA has enjoyed It was particularly true of the opening and closing keynote addresses delivered by two of the stars inclusiveness? wherever it has been tested at the ballot of the conferenceRep. Michele Bachmann of box. Minnesota and Rep. Allen West of Florida. The Pentagon: President Obama is also engaged in a These two favorites of the Tea Party made clear that anyone who tries to portray their grassroots movement as exclusively concerned with balancing the budget (important as that is) does not understand the conviction they and their cohorts share about a Constitution grounded in Judeo-Christian truths and the obligation to provide for the common defense. The choice before conservatives was perhaps put most starkly by David Horowitz. Horowitz is an iconic figure in the movement, whose personal trajectoryfrom the child of avowed communists and a young adulthood spent as a top revolutionary leftist to his transformation into a leading conservative thinker and champion of freedom earned him a standing ovation at the outset of his remarks from the thousands assembled to hear him in CPACs main ballroom. Importantly, Horowitz got another standing ovation after he forcefully decried the role being played in dividing and undermining the movement by individuals and organizations that have lately conjured up a conservative movement leadership role for the Inclusion Coalition at the expense of social- and defense-minded priorities. He specifically took to task in that regard anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and a Muslim Brotherhood-tied individual he has tried to make-over as a conservative leader, Suhail Khan. As 2011 has unfolded and the winter setting of CPAC in Washington gave way to summer scenes at Western
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frontal assault on the most popular institution in America: the United States military. He is imposing draconian budget cuts that his own Secretary of Defense has warned may hollow out the armed forces, compelling our withdrawal from forward-deployed positions around the world and imposing still further burdens on our men and women in uniform by decreasing the size of an already seriously overstretched force.

In the name of budget discipline, some libertarian/ conservatives have been pushing their own proposals for cutting defense spending. Whether dressed up as a matter of equity and fairness at a time when other government expenditures are coming under the knife or as a means of swiftly terminating unpopular U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, such proposals will have a predictable effect: They will embolden our enemies in the future, as similar initiatives have in the past. They will increase the probability that we will find our military more needed, even as it becomes less capable of meeting that need. For conservatives to be providing political cover and legitimacy to this sort of national security malpractice by
CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. The authors views are not necessarily those of CCU. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at www.CentennialCCU.org. Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial donor, you can help us restore Americas moral core and prepare tomorrows leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the envelope provided. Thank you for your support.

the President is appalling and will ultimately be repudiated by the American people. At the very least, if the Right fails to provide voters a choice on whether unilaterally to disarm in an increasingly dangerous world, it will cede one of its most winning issues.

Voices Of CCU

The Troops: Speaking of hollowing out the military, the electorate may soon be confronted with a very unhappy prospectone with far-reaching social as well as security overtones. The cumulative effect of long-running conflicts, the attendant, debilitating and repeated deployments of those in the combat arms, and the inadequate reinvestment in their capabilities to meet todays foeslet alone tomorrowsis about to be compounded by a bodyblow to the armed forces culture and cohesiveness: the introduction of avowed homosexuals into the ranks.

WHAT IS A CENTENNIAL CONSERVATIVE? SUMMIT SHOWED OFF 1000 EXAMPLES

By John Andrews
Western Conservative Summit 2011 lit up Denver the final weekend in July, and next month well include a photo report on it. Our second annual rally in the Rockies not only abounded with ideas on fulfilling Americas promise. It also exemplified a strong, united conservative movement equal to current challengesexactly on point with the concern Frank Gaffney expresses here. With speakers like Arthur Brooks, Rick Santorum, and John Bolton, as well as sponsors like Americans for Prosperity, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Heritage Foundation, the fiscal, moral, and martial elements of Reagans winning coalition were all well represented. While summiteers heard a lively spectrum of views, there was none of the dissension Gaffney saw at Februarys big Washington conference. All honor to CPAC, say we at Centennial Institute. Its early influence in the 1970s helped propel Reagan to victory, after all, and it has been a beacon on the right ever since. WCS, still quite new on the scene, would love to be CPAC when we grow up. Well never let our Summit outgrow its backbone, however. Future WCS attendees will continue to be what this years thousand wereCentennial conservatives proudly carrying the Gippers vision into this new century. The Centennial conservatives recipe for American renewal is heartland common sense and biblical truth. Their idea of citizenship is rights and duties in balance, as in my book Responsibility Reborn. Not for them the Beltway cleverness that jettisons Centennial principle for advantage. Are you a Institute Centennial conservative? Colorado Christian University
John Andrews is the director of the Centennial Institute and a former president of the Colorado Senate.

The Right must not fail the voters.

When the law allowing such service, which Democrats rammed through Congress during the lame-duck session last December goes into force this Fall, significant numbers of those currently in uniform may decide not to reenlist and potential recruits may elect not to serve. If so, we could very well see the All Volunteer Force broken.

The Brotherhood: Conservatives also stand to be seen as part of the problem if they fail to provide leadership in the face of a growing threat to our Constitution to which Americans of all political stripes are becoming increasingly attuned: the danger posed by adherents to the brutally repressive, totalitarian Islamic politico-military-legal program its adherents call shariah.

Recent events in the Middle Eastnotably, the replacement of Hosni Mubarak, a relatively pro-U.S. Arab leader, with what will, in all probability, be a government prominently featuring the shariah-imposing, rabidly anti-Western Muslim Brotherhoodare but one indication of the peril we increasingly confront from the latter and like-minded groups overseas. President Obamas fecklessness and submissiveness in responding to these tectonic shifts could be a powerful rallying point for conservatives and others who appreciate the United States cannot afford four more years of his administration. The same could be said of the evidence that has been mounting of late that the Brotherhood and its ilk have also made great inroads inside the United States. These seemingly include their successful infiltration of and influence over our government. For instance, the Justice Department recently felt compelled to confirm that it refused to approve the prosecution of Muslim Brotherhood front organizations alleged to have raised funds for the Palestinian terrorist

group (and Brotherhood franchise) Hamas. An unnamed senior official alleges that some of Justices political appointees under President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder acted to prevent such a prosecution lest they be embarrassed in the course of the trial by their longstanding and close associations with these fronts.
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Centennial Review
September 2011

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By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. Conservatives wont prevail unless they uphold their movements three pillars: fiscal responsibility, moral fidelity, and a strong defense. Economics isnt everything. Siren calls to redefine marriage, hollow out the military, or accommodate sharia must be resisted. The stakes are high in 2012.

Can the Reagan Coalition Endure in the Age of Obama?

CAIR Tied to Hamas

Unfortunately, some conservatives like Grover Norquist Or will they recognize the necessity of appealing to have also cultivated relationships with these groups, Republicans, independents and Reagan Democrats including notably the Council on American Islamic with a platform not only committed to fiscal Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of It is responsibility, but also one resting firmly on two North America (ISNA), which have extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Indeed, a time other pillars: a robust national security stance and a clear commitment to traditional conservative social Eric Holder has tried to deflect criticism of his departments apparent obstruction of justice by to choose. values? claiming that the same had been done during Much rides on the answer. Indeed, the stakes are nothing George W. Bushs administration. less than the future of America. We must devote ourselves There is nothing conservative about turning a blind eye towardlet alone enablingefforts to insinuate an anti-constitutional and seditious program like shariah into the United States. The conservative movement clearly endangers its brand as the most responsible protector of the Constitution and the common defense if it fails to make clear its adamant opposition to the agenda of shariahs adherents and its willingness to work, instead, exclusively with those patriotic Muslims who also reject that anti-democratic, misogynistic, and intolerant program. More to the point, conservatives risk endangering the country should they do otherwise. Ronald Reagan would not recognize such a movement, let alone have been part of it. What the Gipper Would Have Done To the contrary, Mr. Reagan would have taken a leadership role in denouncing and opposing an ersatz conservativism that ishowever unstinting with regard to fiscal discipline bereft of its traditional core social values and which endorsed the Lefts preference for hoping-for-peacedespite-weakness, instead of promoting peace through strength. For todays conservatives it is, indeed, a time to choose: Will they embrace the contention that the elections of 2010 prove that economic issues alone will earn our movement
Centennial Review, September 2011 4

a mandate to control the White House and Senate, as well as the House of Representatives, come November 2012?

to ensuring that out of the divisions manifest at CPAC 2011 and increasingly evident since then, a new, stronger, and more dynamic Reagan conservative coalition will emerge as 2012 approaches.

CENTENNIAL BOOKSHELF
Responsibility Reborn: A Citizens Guide to the Next American Century by John Andrews, published on July 4, explores the crucial question that also impels Centennial Institute: What will sustain American to 2076 and beyond? Hugh Hewitt wrote the foreword. Chuck Colson commented, Johns book nails it. Order your copy at www.responsibilityreborn.com