Friday, March 7, 2008

New Direction

Tuesday night after the results from the latest primaries, Mike Huckabee formally ended his bid for the presidency. So, where do we go now? What is next for the governor and for those of us who supported him?

Reading the messages sent to supporters after his withdrawal, it is clear that Mike Huckabee isn't planning on fading into obscurity. He intends to keep his online presence and I imagine that you will see him spend the next four years continuing to build his grassroots network. He will further hone his message of optimism and a return to basic principles for the Republican party. He will be a champion for those who value life and morality. And rest assured, we will get another chance to get behind Mike Huckabee for President.

Meanwhile, what do we do? What you out there do is entirely up to you, but this being my blog, I will share my plans and encourage you to consider some thoughts.

First, yes, I intend to fully support Sen. John McCain for President. I know from contact with other Huckabee supporters and conservatives that there are some out there who cannot do this or will not do this for various reasons. I respect your position and would probably feel the same way had certain other candidates gained the nomination. However, I can get behind McCain, especially considering the other options. I feel that the damage that Hillary or Obama could do in four years outweighs any concerns that there might be for McCain. Therefore, I will do what I can to support him.

Second, I intend to get as involved as I can at the state and local level. As the Huckabee campaign petered out over the last couple of weeks, I have given a lot of thought to the state of conservatism in this nation. We are rapidly losing a generation of conservative leadership that rose to prominence in the Buckley-Goldwater-Reagan era. We must replenish those leaders or we will find ourselves in a much greater wilderness than any loss of congressional or presidential power will create.

It is said that all politics is local politics. It is time for those of us who stand for limited government, lower taxes and national pride to take our places in city councils, school boards and state legislatures. Conservatism needs a deep bench in order to continue to spread the message on to the next generation. We need to stop just watching CNN and complaining and do something about it on whatever level we can access.

To this end, I am personally making the effort to learn more about what is going on right at home, participate in local GOP politics and conventions, and meeting and supporting local and statewide conservative candidates at all levels. I for one am tired of looking at a ballot and not knowing which commissioner or state official to vote for. I am going to go out of my way to educate myself and support those candidates that agree with basic conservative principles. These men and women are the ones that are making decisions that affect our daily live to a much greater extent than do senators and presidents. Let's get the right folks in the right places. And if your community can't put up a suitable candidate, consider running yourself. You can make a difference too.

Third, I am planning on transitioning this blog into a general conservative politics site, focusing specifically on North Carolina politics. I want to do what I can to inform those few that might read here which candidates align with conservative ideals. As such, the domain name will change to something a little more general. When I set it up I will post the link here.

Finally, I received some criticism for my last post indicating that I was accepting the inevitability of McCain as nominee and that I believed the time was come to stand behind him. I did not apologize for my stand then nor do I now. Mike Huckabee left the race with grace and civility and that will be remembered when he comes again. Those that were advocating brokered convention will hopefully see how damaging that can be to a candidate by watching the Democratic convention this year, assuming the superdelegates don't intervene too much. Huckabee can now spend his time building his coalition and laying the groundwork for the future. He will be back and I will be ready to stand with him once again.

~Justin

No comments: