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Bill Buckley died last week and his death will trigger a torrent of tributes. He is rightly called the "Father of Modern Conservatism." But lost among those accolades will be the stark reality that William F. Buckley graduated into a world gone mad with socialism and communism where Americans were taxed at 91% of their income over $50,000 and the liberal press turned the public against Joe McCarthy because - as the Venona Papers were to prove four decades later - he fingered paid communist spies in the Roosevelt administration. America was ripe for a return to conservatism – he couldn’t have written a better script for his moment in time.

I am not going to bore you with Bill’s accomplishments – just one example. The taxation of dividend income under his ever vigilant eye went from that 91% to 70% under Kennedy to 35% under Reagan to 15% under George W. Bush. This was his crowning achievement – the real test of his success in promoting conservatism. Even with that success under his celestial belt, we must recognize his job is not even partially completed.

In this election season with the Republicans so divided they are questioning what a real conservative is and who fits that bill they have managed to become so distracted they have nominated John McCain, a man so politically repulsive to the conservative base, the only reason he got nominated was because of the liberal media’s support for him. It followed as day the night that once his nomination was assured they turned on him like a pack of junk yard dogs.

All of which begs the question – what is a conservative and why should we care. The answer lies in the promise of conservatives to return to the principles of our founding fathers – no taxation of income or wealth and a small central government. When I hear that promise I laugh under my breath – we could hardly be considered what our founders envisioned – in fact they would be turning over in their grave if they could see what a nanny-state we have turned into with the concept of "shared prosperity" being actively advanced by one political party with little protest from the other. When you consider what conservatives have managed to tolerate over the years you get a little sick to your stomach.


Buckley managed to give us a cadre of conservatives led legislatively by Jack Kemp who reduced income tax rates from 70% to 28%, freeing up capital for the citizen to invest in his country – the ultimate in conservative theory. Unfortunately to agree to that bargain conservatives had to agree to increased entitlements that have paralyzed our government ever since. Those entitlements now comprise about 60% of our $3.1 trillion national budget, the ultimate tribute to the success of socialized democracy and the liberal Democrat party.

To be a modern-day conservative one has had to make massive compromises. They have had to accept punitive taxation of the poor and middle-class and absolutely paralyzing taxation of the ordinary income of the rich. The regulations imposed by Democrats – especially on the local level – seriously deter the creation and operation of small business. This year rather than advancing real tax cuts that would benefit the citizen Republicans have nothing to offer except protecting the status quo. Our Founders would be appalled.

Republicans have lost sight of the big picture – taxation is the enemy of the people – not the solution as the collectivists like Clinton and Obama would have you believe. They rely on the conservative blind spot to advance their socialist-type agenda. Jack Kemp’s "trickle down" theory while making America filthy rich, proportionally left the poor and middle-class on the outside begging to get into the party. Addressing that issue is the reason for Barack Obama’s rock star success. He claims that he will make changes to take money from the rich and give it to the ordinary Americans – and conservatives have no answer. After 25 years of trickle down, the underclass, while wealthier, has failed to achieve the American Dream and Barack is claiming he will rectify that.

Now if one is an ordinary American struggling to get by, why would he still believe in the "trickle-down" theory? In 25 years it hasn’t done him any good. It sounded good on paper , and yes many more are rich today than ever before, but he has no capital to participate in the great American economy. He can’t save a dime – his raises are all spent on higher priced products and services he has no control over. Yes he has a job, and he is thankful for that but an economy so successful should be able to deliver the American Dream - as Republicans are promising more of the same, that is why he will buy the "taxing the rich" solution.

Until modern-day conservatives construct a policy that lets capitalism solve poverty and middle-class malaise, the country is saddled with the tax-the-rich mentality. If you would like to see a proposed solution to all of this see here.