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« Back to Opinion & Analysis
Conservatives Have New Leader in Palin
Editorial for the Houston Community Newspaper
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
September 4, 2008
Nature abhors a vacuum and there has been a vacuum in conservative leadership in our nation for 20 years.
Now, remarkably, it seems that Sarah Palin has been raised up to provide that leadership, just as Margaret Thatcher rose up to lead England.
Governor Sarah Palin ignited the Republican Party and Middle America in her stirring acceptance speech for the vice presidential nomination. In October of 1964 I watched Ronald Reagan burst onto the political scene when he gave his first nationally televised speech for Senator Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican nominee for president against Lyndon Johnson. Governor Palin's speech equaled Reagan's.
Goldwater was resoundingly defeated, but Reagan went on to be elected Governor of California in 1966 and President of the United States in 1980. Reagan boldly confronted the powers that be in the Republican Party, the Washington establishment and the liberal news media. He was derided and mocked by the political pundits but he believed in liberty and the opportunity which America provided for anyone who was willing to dream big and take personal initiative. He promoted free enterprise and opposed the growth of an intrusive, burgeoning federal government that was seeking greater control over the lives of the citizenry.
When Reagan entered office, the inflation rate and the interest rates were around 15%. The U.S. economy was in desperate straits. Had Obama been running at that time, he would have promoted the socialist mantra of more government control of the economy, an expansion in government entitlement programs and an increase in taxes; the same things that he is advocating today. Obama sees the government as the solution to any and every problem.
Reagan offered just the opposite. He was elected in two landslide elections. In his first inaugural address Reagan rightfully proclaimed that "government is the problem." He believed that if he could get the government off the backs of the people, then American ingenuity, entrepreneurship and determination would right the ship. Reagan dramatically cut taxes, attacked the bloated government bureaucracy, strengthened our military and promoted family values in the face of an overwhelming liberal Democrat congress and a moderate Republican establishment. Reagan was right and Americans overwhelmingly agreed with him.
Reagan restored pride in America. His audacity brought down the same communists in Russia who had defeated Hitler. Reagan was the real McCoy. He knew what he believed and why he believed it.
What Reagan accomplished in America, Margaret Thatcher accomplished as Prime Minister of England.
Governor Palin is cut from the same cloth as these two, and has their charisma and stage presence. Palin is a woman of conviction who has lived her faith and remained true to her principles. She is the authentic article. Palin took on and beat the good old boy political network and the lobbyists to be elected Governor of Alaska. She's tough and Washington won't be the same after she arrives there.
Mark it down: Sarah Palin will one day be President of the United States.
About Conservative Republicans of Texas
Steven F. Hotze, M.D. is president of Conservative Republicans of Texas and founder of Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas.
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