Conservatives: As Good As it Gets (And Getting Better)

One of my favorite movies is “As Good as It Gets”. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, a successful romance novelist with obsessive compulsive disorder—and a mean mouth. He falls in love with a waitress, Carolyn Connelly (played by Helen Hunt) whose plain-spokenness aggravates and attracts him.

After a series of awkward situations (including the sudden robbery and assault against his gay neighbor Simon Bishop (played by Greg Kinnear), Udall and Connelly work together to help Bishop get back on his feet.

It seems that way with Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee.

“Is this as good as it gets?” conservatives wonder.

Yes, this may work out for us.

Trump is foul-mouthed counterfeit to some, but in the end, he might do more good than bad. He has helped people in the past, and his quirks may work for us in the end.

Yes, a well-coifed rodeo clown has won the GOP nomination.

Yeehaw!

Someone has to lasso up the cattle. Washington is an Augean stable of corruption, you know.

Let’s understand some other things in perspective.

The conservative movement is not dead, as embittered, embattled political conservative pundits claim.

Far from it.

Obama—and Obamacare—turned conservatives into concerted activists. Finally.

God bless the Tea Party. They were already riled up with George W Bush and his Big Governor statism. President Obama forced us to reckon with the last sixteen years of government growth at the expense of Middle America, within our own party, too. Who can forget TARP, the forced minimum wage hikes? The foreign interventions with no long-term plans for victory?

“Money does not grow on trees, Mr. President!” This rallying cry screeched the airwaves throughout the country. Not just to Democrats, but the Republicans of the Bush era—both of them. Yes, the statist, special interest temperament has metastasized in both political parties, and We the People need to excise it, now!

Donald Trump

From 2010 to the president day, Republicans—conservatives who understand the meaning of limitations and the value of a hard-earned dollar—took over statehouses across the country.

Let’s look at the incredible record of results:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Act 10 reforms have saved Wisconsin families, taxpayers, and homeowners billions of dollars. The Big Labor lobby is getting clobbered all over the country. A majority of states are now Right to Work.

That’s right! The right is working!

Civil asset forfeiture reform is now a necessity, not a trivial nicety for state legislatures. Cut off the pipeline of illegal seizure of private property, and left-wing interest groups have less money to play with to promote their destructive, illiberal agenda. Nebraska just passed similar reforms, along with Michigan, and even in liberal California, a freshman Republican (my first GOP representative in Sacramento in two decades) is working to protect private property from public piracy.

Republicans are learning a lesson which has taken them two decades to accept: winning election is one thing, but confronting the cultural malaise is essential. Raising money is important, but connecting with voters and showing them that you care is priceless. They won’t care what you know until they know that you care.

Republican Governors cut taxes and spending, balanced their budgets, engaging local businesses and international firms. Republican state legislatures have redefined the federal government, restricting legislative districts to benefit pro-growth, limited government advocates. The media and liberal political classes screamed that spending cuts and shut-downs would destroy the Republican Party. Look at the vast sea of red from sea to shining sea.

Sorry, illiberal regressive lunatics: Republicans are here to stay.

Larry Hogan (R-Maryland)

Even in the blue states, Republicans are making inroads. Maryland’s own Larry Hogan is building the Republican brand while rebuilding his state, including the crime and race-torn city of Baltimore. #HoganStrong will set the stage for #USAStrong in two years. Just keep your eyes on the Old Line State.

Charlie Baker (R-Massachusetts)

Even the uber-liberal Republican Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts is starting to respect his erstwhile conservative adversaries of the Massachusetts GOP. The Bay State may be three-to-one Democratic, but Baker has stopped the tax hike state legislature. Even as he toys with LBGT agendas, concerned activists are pushing back, fighting for life and family. And the central Mass is turning bright red underneath everyone’s noses. Some blue states are getting bluer, like a victim strangled by his own stupidity. New York, Rhode Island, and California are losing large firms and their jobs. The red states are getting redder, heated with economic growth and a thriving citizenry, shining brightly like a glorious rising sun.

While Washington DC has grown lethargic and frustrated, the states are regaining their footing. Subsidies for failed energy fantasies are getting cut. Concealed carry permits are proliferating, and individual American are embracing the spirit as well as the letter of the Second Amendment. The Constitution means something for those destined for protection from an encroaching federal behemoth.

Obamacare has gone to hell. The most liberal states in the union embraced the Unaffordable Care Act’s mandated state exchanges. Now they find themselves in a spiraling death-grip, unable to escape. States which rejected the exchanges will enjoy a healthy head-start to implement free-market health care reforms while expanding access and increasing the number of health care personnel and resources.

The homosexual lobby has “achieved” their end-game: forcing an attempted legal redefinition of marriage down everyone’s throats. The same line of attack seemed to work with abortion following the abortive Roe v. Wade decision. But wait … Abortion clinics are closing all over the country. Mothers do not want to kill their unborn children. Pro-marriage and pro-family advocates have shouted “enough!” to the LGBT Hate Machine. Red states are protecting individual liberty (Mississippi) and protecting the privacy of women and children (North Carolina).

Conservatives knew how to talk. President Obama forced them to fight. We have a long fight ahead of us, but at least we are fighting.

With that, let this theme from my favorite movie encourage you to  “Always look on the brighter side of life”.