Time: Where Will The New Conservative Ideas And Leaders Come From?

We subscribe to Time in the Grassfire office. It's an excellent way to keep tabs on the liberal media's "spin" on things as well as what is on the agenda horizon. Time offers subscribers a nice feature -- an "Ahead of Time" email with access to the upcoming issue a bit in advance of the normal distribution channels.

You may have already seen the cover of the most recent issue -- the doctored photo showing the Gipper supposedly shedding a tear over the wayward conservative movement. The article is entitled, "How The Right Went Wrong," and it includes some good lessons for conservatives and some good questions we must address. Where are we headed? What is the conservative vision of the future? What ideas will propel us forward? And, as the article says near its conclusion,

        "Where will those new ideas and leaders come from?"

I would offer to you that those new ideas and new leaders will arise from an unlikely place -- from the grassroots, and from the virtual world where citizens can discuss and debate issues like never before. It's what is called the Web 2.0 platform in which wisdom arises from the bottom-up instead of trickling down from a few at the top. That's what FireSociety.com was built for and I encourage every grassroots citizen taking part to keep this challenge of formulating new ideas at the forefront of your discussions. here on FireSociety Have a listening ear when reading the comments of others. Be respectful in your contributions. Submit articles with bold ideas and facts to back up your points.

Of course, Time would love to be writing the obituary of the Reagan revolution. Not a chance. The grassroots political and cultural indicators are still trending in our favor. Now, it's time to take this to a new level. And you are the key.

Steve Elliott, Grassfire.org

Below are some excerpts from the article. Go here for the complete article.

Excerpts from “How The Right Went Wrong”
Time, 3/26/07

These are gloomy and uncertain days for conservatives, who have dominated political power and thought in this country since Reagan rode in from the West. Their tradition goes back even further, to Founding Fathers who believed that people should do things for themselves

The principles that propelled the movement have either run their course, or run aground, or been abandoned by Reagan's legatees.

Reagan restored a sense of America's mission as the "city on a hill" that would be a light to the world and helped bring about the defeat of …"the evil empire." After 9/11 Bush found his own evil empire, in fact a whole axis of evil. But he hasn't produced Reagan's results.

Then there are the scandals and the corruption. The dismay that voters expressed in last fall's midterm election was aimed not so much at conservatism as at the G.O.P's failure to honor it with a respect for law and order.

The challenge for Republican conservatives goes far deeper than merely trying to figure out how to win the next election. 2008 is a question with a very clear premise: Does the conservative movement still have what it takes to redeem its grand old traditions — or, better, to chart new territory?

I'm not focusing on 2008," Richard Viguerie says. "Realistically, it will probably take until the year 2016" before the movement regains anything resembling its former glory.

And where will those new ideas and leaders come from?