Conservatives

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is the “most conservative” member of the Senate, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is the “most liberal,” according to National Journal magazine.

In response to the report, Inhofe issued a statement on Feb. 26, saying, “I strongly believe that the conservative principles of less government, lower taxes, greater individual freedom and responsibility, and a strong national defense are the best answers for our nation.

“I will continue to stand for common sense Oklahoma values and against the liberal agenda of socialized medicine, run-away government spending, cap-and-trade, and the disarming of our national defense,” said Inhofe....

Since Richard Nixon was president, the Conservative Political Action Conference has provided the American Right with an annual occasion for self-evaluation. On Thursday, when some 10,000 activists gather in Washington for this year’s conference, they will find themselves part of a conservative movement significantly different than it was during the Bush administration, or even in 2009.

A jolt of anti-Obama populist energy has upended the movement’s traditional hierarchy, lifting some new or previously low profile groups to unprecedented heights while leaving traditional powers struggling to adapt.

Ascendant are groups that focus on fiscal issues such as reducing government spending and taxation, which last year drove tens of thousands of new conservative activists to the streets and town halls in protest of big spending initiatives backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats...

Leaders from different branches of the conservative movement are planning to release a document today in Washington that one longtime activist hopes will "codify what it means to be a small-government, principled conservative."

Conservative leaders have been meeting in small groups since the 2008 election, trying to figure out how to relaunch the conservative movement. Tomorrow, a group of economic, social and foreign policy conservatives will be gathering at George Washington's Mount Vernon home to sign the "Mount Vernon Statement."

Among those in attendance will be Richard Viguerie, the chairman of Conservative HQ.com, who believes the conservative movement "got seriously off track during the big government days of George Bush, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay." This document, Viguerie says, is designed to unite conservatives...

Here's the vision for this year's Conservative Political Action Conference: Outside, Lou Dobbs is waxing cranky on the country's economic decline. Inside, the hip crowd will be playing video games, watching movies, eating snacks and listening to rap music.

In a bid to make conservative chic, organizers of the annual meet-up of Republican Party faithful and right-wing firebrands are taking pains this year to gear their summit toward students and the under-30 crowd. Added to the menu are a slew of new media workshops and an entertainment lineup befitting a college campus.

Organizers say the conference, which kicks off Thursday in Washington, has had a large college-age contingent for years now. But they are making an extra push to attract and entertain that crowd with youth-oriented talks and the addition of something called the XPAC Lounge -- a room one organizer dubbed the "hub of fun."....

(CNSNews.com) - The nation's top conservative leaders will gather Wednesday at Collingwood in Alexandria, Va. — a property that was once the site of George Washington’s River Farm — to sign a document organizers are calling the Mount Vernon Statement. It is designed to signal that a united and resurgent conservative movement is declaring philosophical war against the big government and moral relativism advanced by the nation’s liberal cultural, academic and political establishments.

The statement emphatically says no to the type of "change" pushed by political leaders who ignore the Constitution's limits on government power.

“In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics,” says an excerpt from the statement. “The self-evident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist.  read more »

(CNSNews.com) - Michael Reagan is the spokesman for a new conservative political action committee that bears his father's name.

Reagan PAC says it is dedicated to supporting Republican candidates who recognize the "contemporary conservative principles" of President Ronald Reagan and are “committed to their realization."

Reagan PAC's Web site says it supports only candidates who have signed the group's ethics pledge and its conservative principles pledge. "Holding elected officials accountable is as simple as holding them to these pledges. When a candidate fails to keep his pledge, REAGAN PAC works to replace that politician by recruiting and funding their Republican opponents," the Web site says...

(CNSNews.com) – Lech Walesa, a Nobel Laureate and former leader of the Solidarity trade union in Poland, which helped topple 50 years of Soviet occupation there and end the Cold War, went to Chicago, Ill., last week to endorse a conservative Republican in the gubernatorial primary race but the local media largely ignored him.

This near-blackout by the media occurred despite the fact that 1 million people of Polish nationality live in Chicago, making it the city with the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw, Poland, and despite the fact that Walesa himself was the first post-Soviet president of Poland (from 1990 to 1995).

On Jan. 29, Walesa endorsed Adam Andrzejewski in the Republican primary for governor of Illinois at a rally in Chicago. Walesa stressed that he and Andrzekewski shared the same conservative values and commitment to freedom and opportunity.  read more »

The only thing missing was quills and powdered wigs.

Eleven House conservatives on Wednesday signed a “Declaration of Health Care Independence” at an event staged by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), and there was no shortage of Revolutionary War rhetoric and tea party references.

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) compared Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts last Tuesday to the battle of Lexington in April 1775. The congressmen signed their names at the bottom of the so-called declaration, which had been printed in a small font to mirror Thomas Jefferson’s calligraphy.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) noted that the signers of the original Declaration of Independence put their lives and property at stake. The Republicans who signed Wednesday afternoon appeared to be in no grave political danger, since they all have fairly safe seats...

(CNSNews.com) – More self-identified Independents are labeling themselves as “conservative” in 2009 than at any time during the past decade, the Gallup organization found in a recently released study.

In fact, the percentage of American Independents who identified as conservatives – 35 percent – increased at the fastest rate in 10 years between 2008 and 2009, the latter Obama’s first year in office.

“The rather abrupt three-point increase between 2008 and 2009 in the percentage of Americans calling themselves conservative is largely owing to an increase – from 30 percent to 35 percent – in the percentage of political independents adopting the label...

(CNSNews.com) - "Senators Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.) gave mere lip service to protect the most innocent among us by placing their stamp of approval on government funding for abortion coverage" in the Democrats' health care bill, a pro-life group said after Senate Democrats advanced their bill in 1 a.m. vote on Monday.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the Senate's middle-of-the night, 60-40 vote to cut off debate -- thus allowing eventual passage of the bill -- reflects the "ugly, partisan and dangerous process" that has characterized the proceedings all along:

"This legislation was drafted by a handful of people, supported by only one political party and will negatively affect every single American citizen"...