The major  mistake that Liberals and Democrats have made about the Tea Party Movement is that Conservatives are all Republicans and avid George W. Bush supporters.  The truth is that the Tea Party Movement is comprised of individuals from all over the political spectrum and, although the majority are Conservatives, many are libertarians, independents and recovering liberals.  Tea Party participants are united in the belief that the government,  which includes Democrats AND Republicans, has not been working for the People.  Our elected officials have become bloated on power and corruption and are out of touch with the common People.

We believe that Washington has been broken for a long time and it needs to be fixed.  Conservatives, in particular, have been silent for far too long and we are done being silent.

Republicans have not represented Conservatives since the Reagan years and it has been that long at least that Liberals have confused Conservatives with Republicans.  Let’s clear that bit of misinformation up right now – A Lady Libertas Reality Check if you will…why should the White House have all the fun with Reality Checks!?

What is the definition of Conservatism?

• a political or theological orientation advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes (Princeton)
• Conservatism is a political and social term from the Latin verb conservare meaning to save or preserve. As the name suggests it usually indicates support for tradition and traditional values (wikipedia)
• A political philosophy that favors maintaining limited government involvement with respect to religious, cultural, or nationally defined beliefs and customs (wiktionary)
• A political ideology that embraces individual opportunity, public order, and traditional values. Over the past few decades, more Americans have self-identified as conservative than as liberal, with moderates sometimes surpassing conservatives in number. (source)

Ronald Reagan described a core Conservative belief in his first Inaugural address:

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

Recognition of the responsibility of the individual and the call for the least amount of government intervention is fundamental to Conservatives.  As Barry Goldwater said:

“Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development. The choices that govern his life are choices he must make: they cannot be made by any other human being, or by a collectivity of human beings.”

Through our system of checks and balances and by spreading out power over the three branches, the Fed may be checked (in most cases) from running rampant.  As well, Conservatives hold the Tenth Amendment to be a cornerstone when analyzing the reach of the Federal government and how much it may interfere in our daily lives; “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The belief in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the defining documents for governance of the United States is also very important to Conservatives.  We do not take loose interpretation lightly.  Those words are the foundation of the United States of America and carry as much weight today and are as efficacious today as they were when written.  The Constitution should prevent an abuse of power or the encroachment of Socialism and Communism – the enemies within.  In these current times, under the leadership of Obama, we will find out the fortitude of our Constitution and I have faith that it will hold strong.

Another defining principle of Conservatism is the belief that Freedom is more important and different than Equality.  The Right will always prefer freedom over equality and the Left will prefer equality over freedom.  Conservatives do not hold to a perfect, or in many cases with the Left, a manufactured equality as we believe in Exceptionalism.  Because Conservatives prize Individualism, the fact that some individuals are endowed with greater skills, intelligence or abilities and that those individuals will benefit all of us as a whole is Exceptionalism and reality.  Conservatives deplore the Liberal tendency to drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator rather than allowing exceptionalism to be an inspiration of achievement.  As John Stuart Mill stated: “Genius can only breathe in an atmosphere of freedom.”

While most Conservatives are Hawks, it is a hawkishness born from the stance that the United States of America is not going to be threatened or bullied by any other country.  If we are attacked, we will attack back and finish the fight; however, Conservatives stand for less foreign entanglement.  We do not care if we are popular in the world – we want to protect and support our interests and allies.  For that reason, many Conservatives disagreed with the war in Iraq.  Lady Libertas disagrees with the war for several reasons, the primary being that war is not politically correct.  If we go to war, then we need to do just that and not fight a war based upon attempts to win an internation popularity contest.  If American boots are on the ground, then we are there to win and get out, not play peacekeepers or engineers to rebuild Iraq.  Lady Libertas’ solution to Afghanistan?  Nuke the poppy fields, remove the financial backbone of the Taliban and walk away.  Conservatives are frequently accused of being warmongers but the fact is, we simply believe in waging war properly and getting out and not to spread Global Democracy .  Bush broke all of those rules and Obama has not only followed in his footsteps but has increased our engagement in Afghanistan which is now resulting in the four deadliest months in eight years.

Bush spat in the face of Conservative beliefs of balanced budgets and fiscal prudence and Obama has not only continued to fly that flag but he has hoisted about a trillion of his own little flags.  Conservatives support commerce, trade and business, in particular small business which provides 70% of new job growth in the United States every year.  We all know about Haliburton and their no-bid government contracts but Liberals wave this flag as if it is a tenet of Conservative politics.  It is a tenet of “politics as usual” PERIOD.  Every politician in Washington DC seems to adhere to this tenet – Democrat and Republicans alike.  Under this same “politics as usual” tenet, we have also watched the reveal on tax evasion by high-ranking Democrats and members of Obama’s administration.  And Lady Libertas is here to say, NONE OF IT IS OK.

Bush increased the agriculture subsidies, destroying our farms and setting us up for corporate welfare programs while setting the stage for more costly corporate welfare in the form of TARP and bailouts.  Conservatives say – let them fail and we do not want our tax money paying for bonuses, retirement programs, unions and all other manner of nonsense.  We are all struggling to support our families, save money for retirement and succeed – paying for the bailout of companies that deserve to go bankrupt does not help anyone except to set up dangerous precedents of crony capitalism.  As well, the idea of our government owning portions of any private businesses is anathema to Conservatives -  More dangerous precedents that lead to increased deficits and rampant government expansion.

And the Patriot Act?  Well, you could hear Conservative heads exploding throughout the country.  For those of us who want less government involvement, inviting them into our homes via wiretaps was a bit much.  Now before the Libs jump on the Bash Bush Bus again, let me remind you that Obama has continued the Patriot Act.  It has been a long and cold wait at the Hope and Change Bus Stop.

Under the Tea Party Movement, the Conservative movement has coalesced and charged forward.  We have had it. Notice to the Liberals – keep the Bush blaming to yourselves, because many of us blame him as well.  And now that we have found our voices, we are not going to be silent anymore.  Rush Limbaugh has the top radio show in the country and Glenn Beck has the #3 show.  Fox News eviscerates the other cable news outlets.  We marched on Washington DC by the hundreds of thousands.  And we are not just putting Liberals on notice, we are putting ALL POLITICIANS OF BOTH PARTIES ON NOTICE – 2010 IS COMING & WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!

Lady Libertas is a Conservative.  Not a Republican.  And you may consider this your Conservative Reality Check.

by scot cerullo

Conservativsm is on the rise in the United States. Several recent polls reveal that self-described conservatives outnumber liberals in all 50 states. According to Gateway Pundit, the only jurisdiction in the US in which liberals outnumber conservatives is, wait for it… wait for it… Washington, D.C.

A powerful argument can be made that the reason why so many people are turning to core conservative principles has to do with the massive amount of tax dollars being spent irresponsibly by our elected officials. Add to that the lightening speed with which the White House agenda is moving us toward a socialist nation and the explosion in the size of government, and it’s no surprise formally apolitical folks are marching in D.C., attending Tea Parties and raising hell at town hall meetings.

The slow, unrelenting march of progressivism in the United States has hit critical mass, where bewildered citizens watch as the long arm of government and its endless armada of agencies, encroach on our daily lives, telling us what light bulbs we can use, what we cannot do, and even beginning to use taxes as a means to socially engineer desired outcomes.

The problem, simply, is that there is an elite group of liberal, career polititions who truly believe that the unwashed masses must be led, controlled, engineered to make “the right choice”, and that private wealth is the property of the government, not the people.

I won’t mention any names, Barrack Obama, Charles Shumer, Barney Frank, Chriss Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, but suffice it to say that one decisive difference between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives do not believe their job is to tell others how to live, what light bulbs to use, what kind of car to drive, etc.

As voters continue to watch as their hard earned tax dollars are being spent on pork projects and Wall Street bailouts, while taxpayers are provided only a pittence of a tax cut, they realize something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

But the 2010 midterm elections are coming, and conservatives are more motivated, more informed than in many years. They will turn out to vote, and their votes will shift the political balance in the House of Representatives.

Support conservatives. Get out the vote. We can establish a beachhead against this socialist agenda.

by scot cerullo

We are always trying to improve and streamline our message. Part of that process involves taking a serious, objective look at the layout of our website pages. If they do not sufficiently reflect our goal of clean, crisp minimalism, well then, we need to update.

So that brings us to our current, updated templete. We hope you like it. We hope it is easier for you to find what you are looking for and that navigation has been made easier.

The bottom line is that the content of this site is the most important element, and the goal of design is to build around that content in a manner where the postings always take precedence.

Please share your thoughts.

by scot cerullo

Hello friends. I want to inform you that @zombieshootout (twitter) and I will be launching an edgy, informative conservative weekly podcast very soon.

Our goal is to provide listeners with a free, funny, informative conservative program that is useful, entertaining and thought provoking.

There will be conversations, interesting guests, spoofs, analysis, and much more.

We agreed at the onset that listener feedback was essential, so we will be providing friends of the program with a variety of ways to contact us, including this website, forums, Twitter, etc.

We are not interested in creating an over-produced, slick podcast. Instead, our goal is to create an organic media vehicle where the listener plays an important role. We want to involve listeners in every way possible, including reading emails, considering suggestions, and welcoming folks who want to participate in the weekly production.

Stay tuned for more information. We are on the cusp of launching our first episode and we will make it available on iTunes, this website and other places.

Thanks in advance for your suport and feel free to email us with ideas and suggestions.

“The Persistent Conservative” – The Podcast- to launch soon.

As Congress debates health care reform and consequently taking over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, it’s instructive to review the government’s resume in search of prior successfull efforts to create large-scale, nation-wide agencies or departments and judge their performance.

Consider the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Invented by Benjamen Franklin in the 1700’s, it was a  brilliant logistical achievement. At a time when America was largely a collection of rural outposts connected with challenging roads, horse and buggys, Franklin established a means whereby anyone, anywhere in the continental US, could receive a letter quickly. Mail routes were established and an infrastructure put in place that allowed mail to be delivered at incredible speeds, even by today’s standards. In fact, some of the postal speeds today only match but do not surpass the speed enabled by the original Franklin plan.

Fast forward to today and you find the once brilliant invention of Mr. Franklin running a major deficit, asking Congress for billions to keep afloat, even as thousands of postal workers come to work to do nothing. No, really. It’s called “Standby Time”, and due to a union rule over 11,000 employees continue receiving full pay for coming to work and spending the entire day doing nothing. They never interact with a customer; never touch a piece of mail.

The USPS is a great example of the lethargy inherent in any government organization which, due to layers of bureaucracy, unions, restrictive protocols, lack the vision, imagination and general ability to change with the times. Rather than be lean and mean, they are slow and cumbersome, unable to adjust to a new world, fully lost in developing a business capable of functioning meaningfully in a completely different environment.

It reminds me of the days when representatives of the USPS went before Congress to patiently explain why it was simply naive and silly to think that a package could be delivered overnight, anywhere in the world. They trotted out charts and gave eloquent, educated speeches arguing their point.

Meanwhile, the private sector stepped in and, being far too preoccupied with efficiency and evolution of their industry, proved the USPS incorrect.

While no one said that government run programs should necessarily earn a profit, not that one ever has, it is instructive that these programs fail against even the weakest alternatives offered by the private sector.

The USPS is operating in a world that has passed them by. Their employees are not compensated for thinking outside the box, so no “outside the box” thinking happens. Postal workers perform monotonous functions, never noticing that the volume of snail mail is reducing by the minute. There is no sense of “ownership in the company”, no drive to innovate, no genuine pride in blazing a new path. Just virtual automatons performing redundant functions, occasionally aware that with each passing hour they are deeper in debt, yet not sure why.

Solutions to health care lay in the private sector, not in centralized government. Solutions to most of the problems and challenges of modern America lay in the free market, where the dollars spent are personal and willingly given to a new idea, not confiscated by an inept government that, to this very day, remains unable to demonstrate a successful program that is not, or will not soon be, bankrupt.

Progressives and liberals put their faith in government, indeed welcome a centralized planning formula that has wreaked havoc throughout the world countless times.

Conservatives and Libertarians have a different approach. They believe that minimizing government and allowing entrepreneurs and the business community to solve problems will yield far more impressive results with more accountability, less waste and more vision.

Smaller government that respects the genius and creativity of its population will lead to smarter decisions, amazing inventions, a better quality of life, and fewer wasted tax dollars.

To our elected officials I say, “Leave people and businesses alone!”.