[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 21918-21919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              CONSERVATISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Emerson). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 31, 2006, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
McHenry) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McHENRY. Madam Speaker, voters did not reject the core values of 
traditional conservatism: Lower taxes, smaller government, traditional 
family values, and strong national defense. They did not reject that 
when they went to the polls on November 7. In the words of George Will, 
``Republicans were punished not for pursuing, but for forgetting 
conservatism.''
  This election represents neither a defeat for conservatism nor a 
victory for liberalism. The American people are a conservative people. 
While the election results put a majority in power in both the House 
and Senate for the first time in 12 years, we see that 36 percent of 
the American electoral describes itself as ``conservative.'' That is 
double the number that consider themselves ``liberal.'' We are a 
conservative nation.
  A Rasmussen poll conducted after the election found that 61 percent 
of the American people think that higher taxes will hurt the economy. 
We are a conservative Nation, Madam Speaker. And I would tell you that 
what the voters said on Election Day is that they want conservative 
policies in place. Voters opted for the more conservative candidate and 
more conservative side of most issues. Nine States passed measures to 
restrict the government's ability to take land through eminent domain, 
taking private property for government use or public use.
  Voters in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, 
Virginia and Wisconsin passed constitutional amendments to define 
marriage as between one man and one woman. Now a majority of States 
have enacted those constitutional protections stopping liberal judges 
from redefining marriage. We are a conservative Nation, Madam Speaker, 
and similar amendments on marriage have passed across the country in 
previous elections and will continue to happen going forward.
  Previous Democratic wins in 1974 and 1986 swept into office new and 
very liberal freshman classes. If we look at the new Democrat freshman 
class of 2006, they are not liberals, Madam Speaker. What is striking 
is that this freshman class campaigned as conservatives. In fact, I 
know of one candidate who went out and advocated for certain 
principles. They might ring true to me as a Republican. He said he is 
pro-life, he is pro-gun. He is for traditional marriage, tax cuts, and 
for balancing the budget and a strong national defense. Sounds like a 
Republican to me, but he is a registered Democrat.
  Pro-life Democrats were elected in North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and

[[Page 21919]]

Pennsylvania, just to name a few. Pro-gun Democrats were elected in 
Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas 
and Vermont. Wow, those are conservative principles, and I will tell 
you that it is a call to conservatives, to Republicans, to be true to 
those conservative issues we ran on originally.
  After the Republicans' last electoral disaster, then-California 
Governor Ronald Reagan spoke before the Conservative Political Action 
Conference and said, ``Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it 
a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, 
raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it 
unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the 
people.''
  Madam Speaker, Ronald Reagan said that in 1975. These bold colors 
underpin our conservative platform, and that is what we must return to 
as a governing majority in the next election. As Republicans, that is 
what we should stand for.
  Ronald Reagan went on to say, ``We have just heard a call to arms 
based on that platform, and a call to us to really be successful to 
communicating and reveal to the American people the difference between 
this platform and the platform of the opposing party, which is nothing 
but a revamp and a reissue and a running of a late, late show of the 
thing that we have been hearing from them for the last 40 years.''
  He said that 30 years ago. So I would submit to you today the 
Democrat platform is just what it has been for the last 70 years, but 
the new freshman class advocated a platform similar to what the 
Republicans have been advocating for the last 50 years.
  Madam Speaker, I would tell you this election was a wake-up call for 
us to return to those bold colors and return to conservative values.

                          ____________________