I LIKE MIKE and you should too

The real culture warrior

By Andrew R Quinio
From the February 2008 Print Edition

Since the defeat of congressional Republicans in 2006, there has been a sense among the GOP faithful that its leaders have lost touch with the American people. Much of this discouragement has carried over into the presidential election, with the current hodgepodge of candidates leaving an enduringly bad taste among conservative voters. The vanguards of our party have almost become a mirror image of our foes, emphasizing politics over principles. Ultimately, we get the feeling that our values simply aren’t valued anymore.

Yet in Iowa, voters seemed to have sent a message that the Republican Party must re-tether itself to the ideas and beliefs that have made America meaningful. With some loose change in his campaign treasury, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee managed to convince the Hawkeye State that he is the best hope for the United States. Faith, family, and freedom — the three central values Huckabee has emphasized — were able to overcome a strong rival campaign that outspent the Arkansas governor 20 to 1. In the end, the message still mattered.

Huckabee was able to climb out of second-tier status by showing sincere concern for the cultural values that matter to conservatives. Critics have marginalized Huckabee, dismissing his supporters as just a bunch of evangelicals, but many conservatives, non-evangelicals included, are not yet ready to abandon this segment of the movement. It may be because we are not yet ready to surrender in the culture war. It is true that evangelicals drove the so-called Hucka-boom, but it continues beyond evangelicals because the course of American culture remains a deep concern among grassroots conservatives. Huckabee is the one candidate who has given a strong and trustworthy voice to an American way of life that is besieged from both inside and out.

Huckabee’s time as governor advanced a more conservative agenda in a state where the old Clinton machine dominates. Huckabee was able to cut taxes 94 times, saving taxpayers almost $380 million. As president, he hopes to eliminate the IRS and replace it with the Fair Tax, a tax on consumption instead of income. Behind this plan is the desire to prevent the government from punishing Americans for working hard and earning as much as they want. As the former governor puts it, the American citizen’s greatest competitor is “not the guy across town or across the country. His greatest competitor is his own government.” His plan is indeed ambitious, but the goal of reducing IRS intrusion in our daily lives necessitates a bold first step.

Huckabee also looks to defend our national sovereignty, proposing an immigration plan that has no tolerance for amnesty. He will make border security the highest priority, which means he will oppose economic arrangements with Canada and Mexico that will leave our borders wide open. Huckabee has earned an endorsement from Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, who declared, “Governor Huckabee actually wrote a plan that I can embrace.”

Many of the other candidates have said in several different ways that they are the biggest, baddest tough guy to go up against the Islamo-fascist threat. Yet Huckabee’s position stands above the rest for it is driven by a deeper understanding of the historic and global weight that every U.S. president must bear. America’s enemies should be met with force, and Huckabee knows that force must come from sterner stuff. As he explained in a New Hampshire debate in September:

“You get on your knees and then you get on your feet and you make a decision. Rather than just say ‘here’s what button I would push,’ I’d say I would go with every bit of preparation, not only in my head but in my heart, to make a decision that would best protect the American people for generations to come.”

It is no secret that Huckabee’s deep religious faith drives much of his campaign. His strong commitment to Christian values is an important source of strength for the broader conservative movement. The movement that Reagan led is really more of a restoration than a revolution, as conservatives have never sought to turn the country upside down. Restoring the Christian principles that contributed to this nation’s founding is a task to which Huckabee is surely devoted. That many others find the governor’s faith so troubling indicates an unfortunate course in which the country may be headed. Mat Taibbi of Rolling Stone, for example, describes Huckabee’s faith as a “commitment to religious wackohood.”

While conservatism rightly dictates that government must not be used to change a culture, the Executive should at the very least represent the culture the American people envision for their country. Because of the romps of one former president, the national dialogue in 1998 centered around oral sex, marking a sad cultural setback that American society has had difficulty bouncing back from. So it would be naive to think that the conservative movement can advance entirely independently of the White House.

Campaign issues come and go, but the great abortion debate seems forever trapped in our national political discourse. Perhaps it is because we want our stance toward life to define the country we would like to become. After all, Life does come first before Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Declaration of Independence. Huckabee’s respect for life is unequivocal, and it wouldn’t hurt the conservative movement to have a prominent leader articulately defending the unborn. As governor, Huckabee signed practically every piece of pro-life legislation that came to his desk. His strong pro-life stance has been unwavering, and under his leadership the country may actually get serious about overturning Roe v. Wade.

While some candidates only see Reagan’s shining city upon a hill and talk about it, Mike Huckabee still believes in it. Sometimes, you just gotta have faith.

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