Sunday morning, the conservative Townhall.com featured an essay by Congressman Walberg (mistakenly published as by "John Campbell" because of a problem on the website).

Townhall.com began as a project of the Heritage Foundation, and is a very conservative online community. Read the Wikipedia article, but just for an idea of how conservative the website is, I'll add this: many of the comments criticized Walberg for being too moderate in his rhetoric. Yes, this is the same Tim Walberg we all know here in the 7th District.

Anyway, Walberg shared with his readers his thoughts on reclaiming the Republican brand and moving beyond the negative connotations apparent during the 2006 election. The whole article is worth reading, only because it offers a glimpse at his thought process. I'll be sharing just a few highlights, and my own thoughts.

I agree with my respected House colleague Mike Pence, who often says Republicans lost the majority in Congress last year "because we walked away from the limited government principles that minted the Republican Congress."

Pence, Republican from Indiana, is a fellow member and former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus of House Republicans devoted to pushing their party leadership further to the right. He's another favorite of the Club for Growth, and is a "rising star" in the conservative wing of the GOP, and has even been suggested as a potential (though unlikely) presidential candidate for 2008.

Both Pence and Tim Walberg refer to their "limited government principles" and quote Ronald Reagan whenever possible. I can't speak to their personal relationship, but politically, they're kindred spirits.

Congressman Walberg then complains about a lack of leadership in the party, which is odd, considering his willingness to accept President Bush's policies in Iraq without any questions. He then proceeds to list four core principles of governance, which he feels will lead his party to success.

- Bring fiscal responsibility back to Congress

Just as American families in my district make difficult decisions every day to ensure their budgets are balanced, Congress must operate within its means and reduce federal deficit spending.

Really? This sounds like the sort of thing he said last summer, but it's not the way he voted in January! If he's serious about this, why didn't he vote to support making the earmarking process more transparent? Why didn't he support new rules that would require new spending to be accompanied with a revenue source?

The thing is, he's not actually interested in fiscal responsibility. If he were, he would recognize that sometimes, tax increases are necessary. Instead, he just wants to cut taxes and cut spending he doesn't like.

Congress should immediately make strides to bring long-term entitlement spending under control. By expanding personal investment accounts for retirement savings and allowing people more control over their health care, we will restore financial stability and foster wealth accumulation in our programs.

Entitlement spending is Social Security and Medicare, mostly. In other words, Congressman Walberg supports efforts to privatize those programs-- efforts that were such a bad idea that few in his party support them any more Both Congressman McCotter (MI-11) and former Congressman Schwarz came out against the plan. Rather than explore the possibility of re-examing who receives benefits and possibly raising payroll taxes, Walberg embraces a bad privatization plan (which, by the way, did nothing to financially secure the institution).

- Conduct ourselves with the highest ethical standards

Recent Congressional scandals have diminished the reputation of Congress in the eyes of the American people. In order to restore public trust, we must remember that serving constituents is the primary responsibility of an individual in Congress.

This, I agree with. Congress should be the best and brightest leaders of America, standing for what they feel is right, not what will benefit their buddies in X industry. When it comes to ethics, a member of Congress should follow the rules to the letter, and then go out of his way to avoid even the slightest hint of impropriety.

But then, this is coming from Tim Walberg, who had an ethics complaint filed against him from Day One, and who's still got issues with the Club for Growth and the FEC.

I'm just saying...

- Defend America's hard-earned freedoms

While it is important to acknowledge mistakes have been made in Iraq, we must ensure that the war on terrorism is not fought on American soil.

As the war in Iraq is debated further in Congress, I expect to be writing a lot more about this in the future. For the moment, I'll just say that I have yet to meet anyone who sincerely believes the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq has made us safer.

We also must work to improve our broken immigration system by pursing policy initiatives that toughen border security and end illegal immigration.

Those of you that have been reading this blog since the beginning may remember Tim Walberg's immigration position and the support he received from the Minutemen.

- Pursue effective and innovative solutions to problems we currently face without expanding the size and scope of government

Despite our minority status, Republicans can play a major role in policy debates during the 110th Congress.

We should take a look at policies that will make health care more accessible. Residents of my district continue to stress to me that they want health care decisions to be made by patients and doctors, not by the government and insurance companies.

The thing about government making health care decisions is a false argument, for starters. No proponent of universal health care is saying that they want a bureaucrat to step in and say, "No, you're not going to have surgery, you'll be fine with an asprin!"

There's a case to be made for innovation and efficiency in government, but what Walberg wants is to cut the Department of Education, block any efforts for effective universal health care, and cut taxes so low that government is forced to give up its responsibilities.

It's all part of his view of the role of the federal government: As far as he's concerned, you're on your own.

That's his vision for the Republican Party.

Labels: Republican Party, Tim Walberg