Core principles

Ronald Reagan got it:

Boy, did he get it:

Dick Armey gets it:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602742263407769.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Russel Kirk gets it, more eloquently:

http://www.kirkcenter.org/kirk/ten-principles.html

Barry Goldwater got it:

Even Rudy Guiliani seems to get it:

But G. W. Bush just doesn't;

And neither does John McCain.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31673.html

Conservative core principles, mean different things to different people. But here are a few fundamentals;

-small, efficient, fiscally responsible government

-limits to government power

-freedom, individual liberty and rugged individualism

-strong national defence

-equality lies in equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome

-pro-growth policies that espouse the above elements

Next we can discuss how to apply this to things like party purges and ideological purity, something the Republican party can waste little time on now if it wants to recover some ground in 2010.