As a Republican I seek a return to our traditional roots.  Now before you start thinking, "Oh, no, another paleo-conservative rant about Barry Goldwater and Robert Taft!" let me assure you, we needn't go so far back to grasp what I'm talking about.  Just take a look at the GOP's 1996 platform.  There are many things in it that could be considered purely rhetorical, and there are things in it I'm not that enthused about, but have we forgotten things like this:

"As a first step in reforming government, we support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding or privatization of agencies which are obsolete, redundant, of limited value, or too regional in focus."

Or:

"In addition, we support Republican-sponsored legislation that would require the original sponsor of proposed federal legislation to cite specific constitutional authority for the measure."

And who can forget:

"We will end welfare for lobbyists. Every year, the federal government gives away billions of dollars in grants. Much of that money goes to interest groups which engage in political activity and issue advocacy at the taxpayers' expense. This is an intolerable abuse of the public's money."

Our best hope for the future is to conserve those things from the past that have helped make us great.

Long Live The Spirit of '96!