Ladies and Gentlemen, We stand at perhaps the most important juncture in recent American history. The events of the past several years, and most especially of the past year, should be alarming to every American patriot. The threat to our beloved Republic is very real and quite imminent. I do not say this lightly, but resolutely from the standpoint of a patriotic American and U.S. Army veteran who has been actively engaged in the study of American government and history since my 1959 freshman class in what used to be called “civics”.
Open Letter to the leadership of:
The Conservative Party, USA
The Republic National Committee
The Constitution Party
The Tea Party
The Natural Law Party
The Libertarian Party
To borrow a phrase from “President” (quotation marks intentional) Barack Obama, “I’m not a newcomer to this”. I remember well a statement from the presidential campaign trail back in the 90’s when Sen. Phil Gramm said, “One day I’m going to wake up in a different country than the one in which I was born”. How sad it is to note that I’m already there!
The good news is that We The People have an opportunity beginning this November to take steps to turn around this dire situation, provided we are astute enough to seize it and intelligent enough to devise an effective game plan to be successful.
While I laud many of the positions of several of the groups to which I address this letter, I am a pragmatist. The history of our great nation clearly shows that this is a two-party system. As undesirable as that reality may be for many people, it is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Thus, it is most improbable that any third party will displace either of the two major parties anytime soon.
This does not mean that the established smaller parties or the emerging movements will not or should not have a major influence on the political future of our country in the short or long terms. Given the seriousness of the threat facing our nation at this time, it is my earnest hope that a way might be found for us – as patriots and concerned citizens – to coalesce around the principles of the Founding Fathers and forge a national consensus which will unite to rid the government of those who are clearly bent on forcing upon the citizenry an unwanted “fundamental transformation” of our constitutional democracy.
It is for this reason that I wish to propose for the mutual consideration of all the groups addressed herein some concrete steps which can facilitate the cooperation which will ensure the continuation of our Republic. Please be aware that, while this may not be an easy task, it is imperative that we join forces to avoid another “Ross Perot” moment in our history. Every effort must be made to avoid the fracturing of groups of well-meaning, like-minded, patriotic Americans into splinter groups and thereby risking the very result all of us should individually and collectively fear – returning to the halls of government a majority of people dedicated to transforming America into a European-style, quasi-Socialist society! As was the case in 1992, whenever that happens, the forces of the far left are victorious. They can’t defeat a united conservative movement, but they can prevail over one that is fractured and divided. At this critical juncture of American history we simply dare not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good!
Clearly, no coalition made up of disparate groups, whatever the degree of commonality they may share as to seminal principles, will totally reflect the view of all its members on the myriad of issues often raised in the contemporary American political arena. The left relies on this and thus has injected a multitude of “wedge” issues into the political debate in this country over the past eight decades or so.
Our Founders understood this pitfall and labored long and hard to assemble the forces necessary to create the most wonderful nation the world has ever seen. Had they stood unmovable, with each insisting on getting everything be wanted, there would likely never have been a United States of America. Many, as you know, opposed slavery and wanted it abolished from the outset. However, the pragmatists prevailed and the nation was founded. They knew that an evil such as slavery would one day perish, as it fortunately did. But they made some tough choices and we owe our very existence as a nation to their ability to come together and reason as patriots. We must now do the same.
There is already talk in the land of such dissatisfaction with both major political parties as will tempt people of good will to launch separate political parties. Some would like to see the emerging Tea Party movement established as a third party to “throw out all the bums”. While this appeals to many (including many conservatives), such an approach is fraught with danger for the reasons heretofore stated.
This must not be allowed to happen. To borrow from Sir Edmund Burke by amending his famous statement, we now face a situation where we can say, “All that is necessary for the forces aligned against the American Republic to prevail is for well-meaning patriots to fail to unite against those forces”.
Rather than fall victim to this danger, I am proposing that the Republican Party be given a chance to reform itself from within by returning to its roots. I am herewith urging the Republican leadership to work with the other groups addressed in this letter to develop a platform of basic, core principles and beliefs around which we can all rally in our effort at returning the power of this government to its rightful owners: We The People.
In order to accomplish such a major task, it is critical that we do not attempt to forge too broad a consensus across too wide an array of issues. Entering into the weeds in this way risks alienating too many people in too many of our constituent groups. Rather, what must be done is to establish firm principles which will guide the Republican Party in its selection of genuinely conservative candidates for office at every level – federal, state and local. After all, if we elect people of good character who genuinely believe in the foundational principles which I think we can collectively enunciate, there will be less reason to fear that such people will stray from their roots and be lured into compromise with the left. Rather, such principled individuals will be much more likely to base their decisions as to how to vote on the myriad issues of the day against the backdrop of proven, valid, mutually shared conservative principles.
If Jesse Jackson could hold a “Gang Summit” in Kansas City some 15 years ago, I would ask why the groups enumerated above cannot hold a “Patriot Summit” prior to the opening of primary season this year. The leadership of the various groups should be able to divine a set of foundational principles around which we can all rally. However, if our like-minded people in each of the aforementioned constituent groups bow their necks and stubbornly insist on getting the loaf, the whole loaf, and nothing but the entire loaf, our forces will remain divided and the loathsome statists will remain in power. Were this to happen, it would likely sound the death knell of our Republic as we have known it.
I honestly believe the best way to avoid this is for well-meaning, basically like-minded people of good will to join together to defeat a common enemy: the leftwing Democrat Party. One way to do this is to come up with a list of common principles around which we can all rally in an effort to preserve our wonderful Republic. Such principles might be found among the 28 foundational principles listed in the outstanding book “The 5000 Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen. Another excellent book containing the foundations of our country and conservatism is “Liberty and Tyranny” by Mark Levin.
The point is that we must now unite under a common banner and there is no reason to believe that the Republican Party has not learned its lesson from the profligate spending and related policies they fell prey to during the last decade. If they can be persuaded by the other conservative groups to hold fast to constitutional principles of responsibility, accountability, limited government, and personal liberty, then there should be no reason not to unite with them and forge an alliance which promises to unseat a sufficient number of the profligate spenders and anti-constitutionalists of the leftwing Democrat Party now serving in Congress so as to re-establish fiscal and societal sanity in the Congress. This would also lay the groundwork to finally seat a genuine conservative in the White House in 2012 and perhaps add to a growing conservative majority in Congress.
Failure is not an option! To miss this opportunity to rescue our country would be nothing short of tragic. In unity, there is strength. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Charles Cole
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