What they really need

So CPAC's annual meeting is over.

You know, the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual meeting, deciding who they are now, where they are, where they're going and what they ought to do next.

It brings up so many thoughts.

Some of the information that came out of the meeting was blatantly laughable and, if you're a Conservative, sad.

The fact is, the Republicans and Conservatives have been damaged--almost destroyed--by George W. Bush, his administration and their 8 years of antics.

If being conservative means shrinking government, forget it. George shot that to heck.

Why didn't we just give the CIA and FBI the tasks we needed as a nation, instead of creating the new, bloated Department of Homeland Security. No one asks that question, it seems.

If being conservative means spending less and being financially responsible and downright thrifty, again, forget it. W laid budgets to waste. George inherited a budget suplus and turned it, after his blown-out 8 years, into the boondoggle deficit we have now.

If being conservative means keeping government out of people's lives, again, forget it. George reached that same government further into people's lives than any President in the nation's history since at least Abraham Lincoln, and at least President Lincoln had the Civil War as his reason.

W had no such excuse. History will prove that out.

So here we are, at the beginning of 2009 and conservatives are trying to figure out what happened to them and what to do next.

Here's what they have to do:

Recover from George W. Bush, like the rest of us.

Don't get me wrong, he isn't the reason for EVERYTHING that's wrong in the world. (Almost, sure, but not everything).

But yeah, conservatives need to disavow everything W did that flies in the face of what they're about.

They need to say that government cannot and should not reach into people's personal lives via the internet and phone searches, etc.

They need to say--and mean it--that they won't preempt the Supreme Court and the court's need for warrants to get information.

It worked for the previous 300 years.

Government must play by its own rules, too. And that includes the Executive Branch and all others.

They need to get government out of religion.

And they need to get religion out of government.

Shrinking what we pay out, as a nation, is a great idea.

And to do it, Conservatives should help us shrink the military and the Department of Defense.

We need to stop fighting WWII and the Cold War.

And this starts bringing up exactly what was wrong with the Republican Party and Conservatives.

They are both too much in bed with Big Business and corporations. They've given both of them too much of what they ask for. (It doesn't even have to be what they want or need. All Business has to do is ask for it and the Rebubs and Conservatives give it to them, usually for a campaign contribution of a mere $2,000.00 to $5,000.00. A pittance.)

Repubs and Conservatives need to then go much further.

Go back to the way they both used to be in their heyday--think Barry Goldwater and President Eisenhower--and REALLY get government out of people's personal lives.

Get government out of homes and bedrooms.

That gay problem they have?

Lose it.

A woman want to have an abortion?

Butt out.

Look, in the first place, IT'S BEEN THE LAW OF THE LAND FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS. For pity's sake, be realists. Wake up. It's done.

But it's much more than that. The fact is that poor women need the option of abortion.

Should there be lots of them? No. Certainly not.

Should we, as a society, use abortions as birth control? Again, no.

But instead of trying to go against those nearly 40 years of legal precedent, why not put a ton of energy and resources--very publicly--into sex education and helping people adopt?

Both these things make much more sense. Then maybe we could all work together to reduce the number of abortions in the nation.

There's a thought.

Americans working together.

Wouldn't that be refreshing?

So sure, shrink government. Reduce spending. Shrink the military. Get us out of Europe--Germany and Italy, for starters.

Sell Camp Pendleton, California. Can you imagine how much all that Southern California beachfront property would sell for, in a recovering market, hopefully in a few years from now? Then move those Marines to some unused part of Arizona or Nevada or somewhere. They don't need and shouldn't be on the beaches of Southern Callifornia.

There are a ton of good, positive things Conservatives could do for themselves and the country that would make them vital and positive again.

Being divisive, separatists is not one of them.

But listening to and taking direction from Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh isn't, either.