Conservatism embraces the rule of law, free enterprise and private ownership of property, combined with the moral obligation to do right by others. It encompasses the moral skill to discern what “doing the right thing” is and what that means and employs practical wisdom to solve social problems. At its core lies the notion of personal responsibility, not dependence on the State. Conservatism is the opposite of Socialism and its values are enshrined in our Constitution, which promises to, “…secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”.
I disagree with the definition of conservatism cited by Wikipedia that “…conservatives seek to keep things as they are, while others want a return to the way things were at an earlier time.” Personally, my interpretation of conservatism embraces some change and seeks government that is respectful of the values of conservatism, as we seek to strike a balance between what individual responsibilities are, while limiting the responsibilities of the State.
I believe that all politics are, and should be, local and that a bipartisan approach to decision making is not a bad thing: more ideas mean better outcomes and more work gets accomplished.
We enjoy a federal republic and that was well conceived by the Founding Fathers who sought to keep most power directly with the governed. Unfortunately, today’s political system favors entrenched professional politicians and lobbyists, both being rewarded with power and influence determined by how long they have been serving and how much money they can raise. Many career politicians have never actually worked in the private sector.
As a fiscal conservative, I believe that smaller government and free markets are the surest ways to a robust and healthy economy. People are the best stewards of the wealth they have earned by virtue of their hard work, and they should be able to make the best decisions of how and what their money should be spent on. Almost all agree that no one will take better care of your money as you will. Oprah Winfrey said that the best life lesson she ever learned was to personally sign ALL the checks, whether they were her personal or business checks.
Government cannot create wealth; it can only spend yours. Government must first take money from individuals and businesses via taxation, before it can spend it on infrastructure, social programs, defense, education, etc. My conservative opinion is that we must act transparently to limit the burdens of excessive taxes that the Connecticut legislature has imposed upon us.
Government never has to take the risks that business people take on a daily basis. Efficiencies are designed into a free market system where good ideas, products and service are rewarded and bad ideas lose money or die. Government, armed with the power to tax, simply is not restrained by that mechanism. As our State budget has ballooned, so has our collective appetite for services that once provided, are rarely taken away.
I strongly believe in checks and balances in government, while operating with a high degree of transparency and efficiency.
For starters, we must clean house by eliminating complacency, mismanagement, corruption and overspending. I would start by conducting forensic audits of each individual department. We can’t expect to fix things when we don’t know how or if they are broken. Use of enhanced technologies and best practices employed in the private sector, regardless of how government has always done things, needs to be prioritized.