Hum 'reform conservative', that almost sounds like an Oxymoron if you take the official definition of conservative seriously which I do. Because reform means to change and generally improve something whatever something is. A conservative is supposed to be someone who believes in the status-quo. That is keep as is. To put it simply and risk stating the obvious a conservative believes in conserving. Its the progressive who is supposed to believe in changing and moving forward, adapting with the times.
But having gotten past that and lets say reform minded Republicans are only throwing out terms like 'reform conservative' because they grasp the obvious of the current state of the Republican Party. Which is a party that simply doesn't appeal to enough Americans to be a governing party. A party that can run more than just the lower chamber of Congress the House of Representatives with a tight divided majority. But could also run a united Congress that includes the upper chamber the Senate and win back the White House as well.
And for the Republican Party to be able to achieve these goals they are going to have to appeal to more than just their business lobby, libertarian anti-government right and the religious-right. As well as Americans besides their Anglo-Saxon Protestant base. And however they label an agenda that can do that 'reform conservative' or whatever it is going to have to bring in non-traditional (going back forty-five years) Republicans for them to be a true national governing party again.
But having gotten past that and lets say reform minded Republicans are only throwing out terms like 'reform conservative' because they grasp the obvious of the current state of the Republican Party. Which is a party that simply doesn't appeal to enough Americans to be a governing party. A party that can run more than just the lower chamber of Congress the House of Representatives with a tight divided majority. But could also run a united Congress that includes the upper chamber the Senate and win back the White House as well.
And for the Republican Party to be able to achieve these goals they are going to have to appeal to more than just their business lobby, libertarian anti-government right and the religious-right. As well as Americans besides their Anglo-Saxon Protestant base. And however they label an agenda that can do that 'reform conservative' or whatever it is going to have to bring in non-traditional (going back forty-five years) Republicans for them to be a true national governing party again.