Dana Perino and Juan Williams both?
Summit Reservations, Page 4
Centennial Review
Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute
Volume 3, Number 6 • June 2011
ADVANCING THE
CONSERVATIVE COMEBACK
By Ralph Reed
One of the most significant
developments of 2011 is that
conservatism, a philosophy many
commentators were writing
obituaries for not long ago, is
making a comeback.
This is a startling turnabout. After
Barack Obama’s election, Newsweek
proclaimed in a cover story, “We
Are All Socialists Now.” “Whether we want to admit it or
not,” the editors opined, “the America of 2009 is moving
toward a modern European state.” Democrats controlled
both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue by wide margins, and
a new, youthful president in the model of John
F. Kennedy, with a background as a community
America’s
organizer, prepared to usher in a new era of founding
progressive reform. He vowed to repeal the Bush
tax cuts, close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, pass
principles
health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation, back in vogue. embedded in the DNA of many Americans.
and end the war in Iraq.
Three Reversals
But an interesting thing happened on the way to the liberal
renaissance. First, Barack Obama over-reached with the
passage of an $862 billion failed economic-stimulus plan
that relied on government rather than the private sector to
create jobs and economic growth. There has not been an
economic recovery in U.S. history caused by government
spending or federal “stimulus.” This was true during the
Great Depression, as well, when the financial calamity that
followed the stock-market meltdown of 1929 was followed
by a recession in 1937. The New Deal achieved a lot in
terms of the growth of government and many of the aims
of the Progressive movement for a social safety net, but it
did not generate an economic recovery.
Second, Obama’s health care reform package proved
to be the most deeply unpopular social program passed
by Congress in modern history. A March 2011 CNN/
Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted one year
after the Obama health care plan became law found it was
supported by only 37 percent of the American people and
Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Editor, John Andrews
opposed by 59 percent. This is roughly the same level at
the time of its passage. The biggest entitlement program
created since the Great Society is upside down in public
opinion.
Third, as if by spontaneous combustion, the Tea Party
movement emerged from the ashes of the Republican
defeats in 2006 and 2008 as the leading opposition force
to Obama’s governing philosophy. Initially organized by
citizen activists—many of them never involved in politics
before—utilizing Facebook and other social media, the
Tea Party movement exploded on the national scene in
the spring and summer of 2009. According to an election-
night 2010 survey by Public Opinion Strategies, 27 percent
of the electorate claimed to be members of the Tea Party
movement and 41 percent of all voters sympathized with
its goals and objectives.
In nations around the world (Greece, Portugal, Spain,
Great Britain) people have poured into the
streets to protest spending cuts. Only in the
United States did millions of people demand
that government programs be cut. An
are abiding distrust of big government remains
These citizens’ rallying cry was as simple as
it was startling: a return to constitutional government and
America’s founding principles. They want government
confined to its enumerated functions, with all other powers
devolved to the states, communities, churches, charities,
families, and individuals.
This is a characteristically conservative conception of
a free society, and it is America’s unique contribution to
Western civilization. Our founders understood that a free
society is possible only when the government is limited
by charter and the vital work of building a good society
is done by men and women animated by faith in God,
individual self-initiative, creative entrepreneurship, and a
sense of obligation to those less fortunate.
Ralph Reed directs the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a national voter mobilization
effort. He previously headed the Christian Coalition and chaired the Georgia
Republican Party. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Emory University. This essay
is based on his lecture at Colorado Christian University on Oct. 12, 2010.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizen-
ship, and renew the spirit of 1776.

It is easy to forget how radical the founders were for their
time (See sidebar, page 3.) They asserted in the Declaration
of Independence that all men are created equal in the sight
of God and endowed by their Creator with the inalienable
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They
proclaimed that, if any government ever fails to protect
these inalienable rights, the people have the right to
overthrow that government and start afresh.
America wasn’t settled by a Department of Covered
Wagons operating out of Washington, D.C. It was settled
by free men and women with three tools: a plow, a gun,
and the Holy Bible. As the population moved west,
these pioneers formed communities and built schools,
courthouses, and houses of worship. The latter were
viewed as indispensable to the social fabric of
the young republic.
Covered-wagon
This is why, when Congress passed the Northwest bureaucrats didn’t
Ordinance in 1787, it specifically authorized the
distribution of Bibles and the propagation of
win the West.
the Gospel in the western territories. The members of
Congress understood that America’s greatness lay not in
its boundless natural resources or its distance from the
political and social upheavals convulsing Europe, but in
the character of its people and in its reliance on God.
This is what John Adams meant when he said, “Our
Constitution was made only for a moral and religious
people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of
anuthoer.” He did not mean there should be a religious
test to serve in government or be active in civic affairs.
Quite the contrary, for the United States was the first
country to specifically forbid a religious test for public
service in a written Constitution. Adams’ point was far
more profound: the only way to maintain a free society
with a government limited in scope and function, without
a standing army or a king or a national police force, is to
have a virtuous citizenry animated by a moral compass that
derives from religious faith.
Centennial Review, June 2011 ▪ 2
It has always been so. In his study of Quaker society in
colonial America, Meeting House and Counting House, historian
Frederick Tolles pointed out that the same creative and
compassionate impulse that led Quakers to work hard and
engage in commercial enterprise also led them to found
the first lending libraries, hospitals, primary schools, and
houses of worship in Philadelphia. Their conception of
entrepreneurship and the good works of their religion
were one and the same.
George Gilder makes a similar point in The Israel Test,
arguing that today’s anti-Semitism and antipathy for
the state of Israel have become indistinguishable from
hostility to capitalism and the time-honored values that
define Western civilization. In this sense, Judeo-Christian
values, faith in God, and free enterprise are not disparate
concepts, but composite parts of a coherent whole.
What Reagan Knew
This is the vision for society that conservatives must
reclaim in our time. Ronald Reagan once observed, “Man
is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear
cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a
law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Conservative opposition to the expansion of government
and chronic deficit spending is not based on an antipathy
for the proper role of government in administering justice,
securing the borders, or protecting the homeland. It is
based on the recognition that wherever government
intrudes, it necessarily restricts freedom and liberty.
How to bring this vision into reality? I
believe there are four main strategies
for conservatives and Christians.
First, we must participate. St.
Augustine wrote City of God in 413
A.D. against the backdrop of the fall of Rome. His timeless
volume was an apologia for Christianity, a response to
those critics who claimed Christians had contributed to
Rome’s downfall by undermining its pagan religion and
respect for its gods.
The idea that there is a city of God and a city of Man is
as old as Scripture itself. In the Book of Acts, the Apostle
Paul asserts his rights as a Roman citizen when a mob tries
to have him killed for preaching the Gospel. He ultimately
appealed to Caesar, the most cherished right of a citizen
CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at
Colorado Christian University. The authors’ views are not necessarily those of
CCU. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free
upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood,
CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at www.CentennialCCU.org.
Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial
donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
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- John Andrews, Director
of Rome. By so doing, he carried the Gospel to the highest
level of the Roman government, all as a consequence of
asserting and exercising his civic responsibilities. Our
earthly citizenship requires that we be registered to vote,
pay taxes, be informed and educated, go to the polls on
election day, and make our views known to our elected
officials.
Second, we must be prophetic witnesses in a world in which
good and evil are always battling. Eric Metaxas’ wonderful
biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer captures this idea in the
life of a young Lutheran pastor whose obedience to God
and moral courage led him to oppose Adolf Hitler when
many in the church chose the path of least resistance. It
ultimately cost Bonhoeffer his life when he was implicated
in a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was executed by the
Nazis in April 1945. But his call to discipleship and his
rejection of what he famously called “cheap grace” remain
a powerful example to us all, 66 years after his death.
In Reagan’s War, author Peter
Participate Schweizer documents a similar
calling in the life of Ronald
prophetically, Reagan. As president of
persuade the Screen Actors Guild in
Hollywood in the late 1940s,
prayerfully. Reagan resisted communist
infiltration of the union. When
the Communists responded with violence, death threats,
and at least one attempt on his life, Reagan vowed that
he would dedicate the remainder of his life to destroying
Communism.
Faithful to the Call
This calling, not his subsequent political career, is what
gave Reagan’s life such transcendent meaning and power.
Few understand that Reagan’s anti-Communism was not
merely ideological; it was personal and spiritual. It was
what led him to say in 1983, in a famous speech to the
National Association of Evangelicals, “There is sin and evil
in the world, and we’re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord
Jesus to oppose it with all our might.” He urged religious
leaders not to yield to the temptation to blithely “call the
arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove
yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and
good and evil.”
These are startling words from a president of the United
States. White House aides reportedly tried to remove
the words “evil empire” from early drafts of the speech;
Reagan insisted they be reinserted. He knew his calling,
and his faithfulness to that call changed the course of
human history.
Third, we must persuade. This means recognizing that not
everyone shares our theology, even as many may share
our values. We have a responsibility as men and women
Voices of CCU
CONSERVATISM AS RADICALISM?
By Thomas L. Krannawitter
It’s important to remember that
American conservatism is not very
conservative. It’s radical. After all, what
are we conserving? A revolution. What
are we celebrating each 4th of July? The
most revolutionary document in history,
the Declaration of Independence.
When we invoke our Founding Fathers,
who were they? Revolutionaries who refused to be ruled
without their consent; who would make war rather than
allow anyone, even a crowned king, to violate their God-
given natural rights; who would replace an established
church, political privilege, and inherited rights, with a new
republican order of the ages based upon universal natural
law.
Consider religion: The founding principles of equal rights
and individual liberty are inconceivable, historically, without
the “Good News” delivered by Christ. But conservatives
who nostalgically call for America’s return to a “Christian
nation” raise deep questions that need answers.
The Christian nations of Europe were wracked by
persecution within and wars without. In the Old World,
Tocqueville observed, “the spirit of religion and the spirit
of freedom march[ed] in opposite directions.” Only in
America were Christianity and freedom “intimately united.”
So Christianity influenced America, yes, but America
influenced Christianity too.
Consider also America’s horrific civil war to preserve
freedom and rid itself of the ugliest of evils, chattel slavery:
Both sides were Christian. “Both read the same Bible and
pray to the same God,” remarked Lincoln in his Second
Inaugural, “and each invokes His aid against the other.” So
what does it mean to be a “Christian nation”?
Americans of 1776 understood Christianity to be compatible
with the politics of freedom, requiring the inalienable rights
with which all men have been endowed by their Creator
to be vindicated by responsible government, just laws, and
spirited citizenship.
American conservatism bears a noble mission: preserving
the principles of the freest and most just regime the world
has ever known. But to succeed, conservatives must be
clear on what those principles mean and how to apply
them prudently. Agreeable-sounding slogans aren’t enough.
Conservatism must be smart. And radical. ■
Thomas L. Krannawitter (Ph.D., Claremont
Graduate University) is professor of political
Centennial
Institute
science at Colorado Christian University. The
Colorado Christian University
author of Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the
Politics of Our Greatest President, he formerly
taught at Hillsdale College.
Centennial Review, June 2011 ▪ 3
 Centennial Review Centennial Institute
June 2011 Colorado Christian University
8787 W. Alameda Ave.
Advancing the Lakewood, CO 80226
Conservative Comeback
By Ralph Reed Return Service Requested
Eclipsed in 2006 and 2008, our
heritage of political and economic
freedom rooted in faith has now
rebounded. To sustain the trend,
Americans must participate,
prophetically witness, persuade
and prayerfully stand.

of faith to speak in a language others can comprehend.
Paul did this in Jerusalem when threatened by the mob and
nearly flogged by Roman centurions, insisting on speaking
to the crowd in their Hebrew dialect.
It has been said that Martin Luther King was so effective
in advancing civil rights because he could speak of the
suffering of blacks in a way whites could receive. In his
Letter from the Birmingham Jail, replying to white pastors who
condemned his involvement in politics, King asserted,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We
are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a
single garment of destiny.” In other words, if segregation
denied the rights of African-Americans, it denied the rights
of everyone because it debased the larger society. This was
a brilliant insight, similar to Lincoln’s claim that slavery was
evil not only for what it did to the slave but for what it did
to the white man.
Advancing justice is about more than preaching to the
choir. It is about more than just speaking truth to power.
To be successful in a free society, we must win others to
our cause, which means using language they will receive.
Finally, we must pray. No amount of political action and
civic engagement will succeed absent our humility and
dependence upon God—and this comes through prayer.
We should not make the mistake of equating God’s plans
with our own, or associating His Kingdom with the
victory of one political party or a politician. Sometimes
God accomplishes His purposes in our defeats, not in our
victories.
Peril and Opportunity
We are living at a moment of great peril and opportunity.
The world is hungering for leadership and authenticity. As
men and women of faith, we can and must provide it.
If we will remain true to our principles, participate as
citizens in the arena, be faithful to our call to be witnesses
in a sometimes dark world, persuade, and pray, we can
make our country and our world a better place and touch
many with God’s grace and His love.
There is much to do. Let’s get to work, trusting God for
the outcome. ■

Rise to Ralph Reed’s Challenge

Western Conservative
Summit 2011
“Fulfilling America’s Promise”
Dick Morris Dana Perino John Bolton Juan Williams
You’re Invited • Bring Friends
July 29-31 • Denver Marriott City Center
Confirmed speakers are shown. More to come.
Individuals $250 • Host a Table $2,500
Arthur Brooks Dennis Prager Kevin Jackson Pat Caddell Centennial Institute’s second annual rally on the right is
selling out fast. If you love liberty, don’t miss it!

For tickets and information go to WesternConservativeSummit.com

Centennial Review, June 2011 ▪ 4