STANDING FOR SOMETHING....so you won't fall for anything.

There are calls from some in the Republican party to become more "moderate." I agree with Mark Steyn that this is the last thing we need to do. People don't vote for middle of the road squishiness, changing position to fit changing poll numbers. People respect and admire people that stick to their principles, regardless of which way the wind is blowing. The left is framing the debate labeling belief in the Constitution as "extremist." Bowing to their lies is not the way to go.

...The aim of a large swathe of the Left is not to win the debate but to get it canceled before it starts. You can do that in any number of ways: busting up campus appearances by conservatives, “hate speech” prohibitions, activist judges’ more imaginative court decisions, or merely, as the Times does, by declaring your side of every issue to be the “moderate” and “nonideological” position — even when, in many cases, the “extreme” position is supported by a majority of voters. Likewise, to Colin Powell, it’s Ann Coulter who’s “vicious,” not Michael Moore, who compares the jihadists who blow up Western troops in Iraq to America’s Minutemen and gets rewarded with a seat next to Jimmy Carter in the presidential box at the Democratic convention.

It’s a mountain, and it’s getting steeper. Promises of “free” government health care will make more voters susceptible to the blandishments of the nanny state. The Democrats have plans for talk radio and the Internet that will diminish conservative voices. Another retirement on the Supreme Court, and the First and Second Amendments will start getting nibbled away. Obama’s buddies at ACORN, already under investigation in multiple states over fraudulent voter registration, will have a prominent say in the 2010 census.

But, when the going gets tough, you don’t, as General Powell advises, “move toward the center.” You move the center toward you, as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher did. It’s harder to do it that way, but if it’s a choice between more government and more taxes, or more liberty and more opportunity, I’ll stick with the latter, and so should the Republican party — however difficult it is. Unlike Colin Powell, conservatism does do mountains.