Bill Berkowitz: Dueling Declarations

BUZZFLASH COMMENTARY
 
In a crowded universe of conservative mandates, declarations, and statements, two more, ‘The Mount Vernon Statement,’ which aims to unify the three legs of the conservative movement, and the ‘Contract From America,’ which wants nothing to do with social or national defense issues, may end up dividing the conservative movement.
 
By Bill Berkowitz
 
If it seems that mandates, declarations, and statements are flying out of the offices of conservative movement leaders faster than participants in short track skating at the Winter Olympics, that’s because they are. In the past few months, desperate for an identity other than “Just say No-ers,” conservatives have become quite adept at issuing documents declaring the tenets of principled conservatism.
 
At the recent National Tea Party Convention, long-time Religious Right leader Rick Scarborough unveiled his “Mandate to Save America,” a ten-point program -- signed onto by a bevy of veteran conservative leaders – designed to attract Tea Party activists to the Religious right's social agenda.
 
Last November, it was the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” which, according to its website is a “4,700-word declaration speaks in defense of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty.”   
 
And, coming soon – April 15 to be exact – is a Tea Party-initiated “Contract From America.”
 
On Wednesday, February 17 – on the eve of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) -- a group of conservative leaders gathered at the Collingwood Library and Museum in Alexandria, Va., to issue yet another document. They hope that this one – called “The Mount Vernon Statement: Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century”  and which was signed onto by many of the same Religious Right leaders that have embraced the other documents -- will "codify what it means to be a small-government, principled conservative."
 
According to a press release issued by Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council, “The Mount Vernon Statement” is “a new document that brings together the three legs of the conservative movement - social, economic, and national security.”
 
Perkins pointed out that “The Mount Vernon statement” is modeled on the 1960 Sharon Statement, the historic affirmation of conservative principles launched by William F. Buckley, Jr.”
 
The statement declare that: “A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.”
 
•                     “It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.”
 
•                     “It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.”
 
•                     “It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.”
 
•                     “It supports America's national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.”
 
•                     “It informs conservatism's firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.”
 
Interestingly enough, Richard Viguerie, the guru of right wing direct mail and the chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, at first suggested that “The Mount Vernon Statement” was “pablum,” and would cause “the tea party people … to make them [the document's signees] seem irrelevant.”
 
Nevertheless, Viguerie signed on, saying: "This is an attempt to draft a document that conservatives -- whether they're Tea Party conservatives or social or economic or foreign policy conservatives -- can get behind and begin the process of reclaiming the Republican Party for small-government conservatives."

‘Contract From America’
 
Just how groundbreaking and game-changing is “The Mount Vernon Statement”? People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch, called it a “pretty underwhelming” and “utterly meaningless” statement whose lack of relevance is underscored by the fact that “its unveiling was timed to coincide with the beginning of the annual CPAC conference ….” Thus, “The Mount Vernon Statement” was unveiled at the same time that the “Contract From America” campaign is being launched. Newt Gingrich, one of the originators of the 1994 “Contract With America,” recently pointed out that "the Tea Party Patriots will unveil a grassroots-generated, crowd-sourced, bottom-up call for real economic, conservative and government reform."
 
Gingrich, who continues to be a ubiquitous presence in D.C. and environs but who has never been a popular public figure. is savvy enough to declare that the “Contract from America” is “not the handiwork of me or any public official.” He assures supporters that “It is the genuine voice of the American people.” 
 
The idea for a new “Contract” apparently comes from a fellow named Ryan Hecker, a national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots and a member of the Houston Tea Party Society. Hecker, a lawyer based in Houston who was an opposition researcher for Rudy Giuliani’s ill-fated presidential campaign, claimed that “We started this to give every American the opportunity to make a difference and to tell elected officials that it’s now time for them to listen to the people. We also see this as a way to help unite the Tea Party movement and transform it from a purely protest movement to one calling for proactive and positive reform.”
 
Tea Party activists will have the opportunity to vote on the issues that will be included in the “Contract.” Thus far, there are no so-called “family values” issues (abortion, same—sex marriage, stem-cell research) or national defense issues among the choices. "By putting social issues in, we would immediately be dividing our movement," Heckler said. National defense issues also “might be somewhat divisive for our base. Especially libertarians versus conservatives."
 
"Our movement is free markets, constitutionally limited government, economic freedom," said Hecker.
 
Thus far, the list includes: 
 
•                     Amending the constitution to require a balanced budget and a two-thirds majority for any tax hike.
 
•                     Permanently repealing all tax hikes scheduled to begin in 2011.
 
•                     Requiring every bill in Congress to be made public seven days before any vote can be taken and all government expenditures authorized by any bill to be easily accessible on the Internet before the money is spent.
 
•                     Requiring each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.
 
•                     Permitting all health insurance plans to be sold anywhere in the United States through the purchase of insurance across state lines. Allow small businesses and associations to pool together across state lines to buy insurance.
 
•                     Adopting a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and “replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words — the length of the original Constitution.”
 
•                     Imposing a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.
 
•                     Allowing Americans to opt out of Social Security and Medicare and instead put those same payroll taxes in a personal account “they own, control and can leave to whomever they choose.”
 
•                     Preventing any regulation or tax on the Internet.
 
•                     Improving education by eliminating ineffective and wasteful programs, giving parents more choices from pre-school to high school and improving the affordability of higher education.
 
•                     Authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition.
 
•                     Prohibiting the Federal Communications Commission from using funds to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
 
•                     Creating a Blue Ribbon task force that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs.
 
•                     Blocking state and local governments that receive federal grants from exercising eminent domain over private property for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.
 
•                     Preventing the EPA from implementing costly new regulations.
 
•                     Placing a moratorium on all earmarks until the process is fully transparent. Also requiring a two-thirds majority to pass any earmark.
 
•                     Making all lawmaking regulators, including presidential appointed czars, be affirmatively approved by Congress and signed into law by the president.
 
•                     Audit the Federal Reserve System.
 
•                     Making sure the federal government does not bail out private companies. The government should also immediately divest itself of its stake in the private companies it owns from recent bailouts.
 
•                     Amending the constitution to require congressional term limits. No person shall be elected to the Senate more than twice or to the House of Representatives more than four times.
 
•                     Making all regulations “sunset” after 10 years unless renewed by congressional vote.
 
•                     Broadcasting all non-security meetings and votes on C-SPAN and the Internet.
 
According to ABC News, Ryan Heckler, who claims that he’s “not AstroTurf,” has been “aided in this process by former House Republican Leader Dick Armey, whose conservative group, FreedomWorks, has established close ties with many Tea Party activists around the country.” Later this month, online voters will have an opportunity to vote on the top ten to twelve issues that will be officially contractified and unveiled at April 15 tea parties.
 
The fact that Heckler’s “Contract From America” might eschew social and/or national defense issues could disturb long-time Religious Right leaders as well as the GOP's neo-conservatives. It would appear to leave Rick Scarborough and his “Mandate to Save America,” and the authors of the “Manhattan Declaration” and “The Mount Vernon Statement” twisting in the wind.
 

This article was cross posted from BUZZFLASH: http://blog.buzzflash.com/contributors/3007

Berkowitz is a freelance writer and longtime observer of the conservative movement who documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right. In addition to BuzzFlash, his work -- which has been cited in a number of books -- has appeared in Alternet, Inter Press Service, The Nation, Religion Dispatches, Z Magazine, and numerous other online and print publications.

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