GOP Can Be Both Caring, Conservative

I confess. I am a “compassionate conservative.” I know this invites the derision of critics who consider the term to be an oxymoron, but conservative Republicans’ criticism of the term is both unfounded and shortsighted.

Over the past few weeks, several of our presidential contenders, including Dan Quayle and Lamar Alexander, have suggested that the term “compassionate conservative” is “insulting,” was “created by liberal Republicans” and “is nothing more than a code for surrendering our values and principles.” Alexander called the phrase “just weasel words.”

Ironically, the movement among Republicans on Capitol Hill to incorporate a compassionate component into our agenda that cares for the poor and rebuilds communities has largely been led by conservatives such as Sens. John Ashcroft of Missouri and Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. We are members of an informal caucus, the Renewal Alliance, and we can hardly be called “liberal Republicans” who have surrendered our values and principles.

Even more ironic is the fact that our efforts have been resisted or ignored by two groups of Republicans that our GOP critics accuse us of being--”paleo-cons” and moderate Republicans. “Paleo-Cons” have allowed their largely libertarian and economic deterministic view of life to keep them from proposing anything proactive to help those in need and strengthen communities. Moderate Republicans have allowed their guilt-wealth complex and liberal tendencies to support watered down versions of the Democrats’ failed big-government war on poverty to the exclusion of proposals to strengthen communities from the bottom up.

To some degree, both groups suffer from a tone-deafness to the real needs of the poor and underprivileged. We know through welfare reform that initiatives that empower communities, liberate individuals, rebuild families and strengthen charities really do work. Why paleo-cons and “big tent” Republicans can’t hear the people and join us in compassionate conservatism is a mystery.

The Republican Party has a proud tradition of being compassionate and conservative, and we should embrace and promote both. Compassion is defined as sharing the suffering of another, together with the inclination to give aid or show mercy.

Our party’s leadership in the abolition of slavery, creation of economic opportunities for the less fortunate, restoration of dignity through welfare reform and defense of the unborn are ways in which we have given aid and shown mercy to the vulnerable and helpless.

“Conservative” is defined as preserving traditional values and restraining the challenges to those values. We have done so by fighting against the encroachment of the federal government into local, personal and economic affairs.

The Renewal Alliance has worked to forge a “compassionate conservative” agenda that gives aid and shows mercy while preserving the traditional values that made our nation strong. Our initiatives address three areas: human, economic and educational needs among the less fortunate in our communities.

We do this primarily by helping individuals, neighborhoods and charities address these needs. Our proposals include measures to increase contributions to charities at the discretion of individuals instead of government bureaucrats, create jobs by addressing the needs of economically devastated communities, increase educational opportunities by giving parents more choice and remove red tape for public schools in low-income communities.

Quayle is a friend; I know he believes deeply in the principles and initiatives we are promoting. I assume the same is true for Alexander. My only conclusion is that they are positioning potential presidential candidates who are self-identified “com-cons,” such as George W. Bush of Texas, Elizabeth Dole and John Kasich of Ohio, as liberals in order to gain political advantage among the typically conservative Republican primary voter.

I believe it is counterproductive to the long-term viability of the party and for the country to denigrate the term “compassionate conservatism.” I have encouraged both Quayle and Alexander to embrace the term and work with us to help those in need and to remind Americans that we stand with Lincoln when he said, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right . . . .”