GOP gets a boost from its convention

Despite the dour opening mood of the Republican convention due to the onslaught of Hurricane Gustav in the Gulf Coast, the GOP delegates and attendees made up for lost time. Polling suggests that the convention delay was the wise thing to do given how unappealing the images would have been of Republican politicos partying as devastation hit Louisiana (especially given the Bush administration's mishandling of the Katrina disaster three years ago). And as the storm passed, so has the gloom.

The convention schedule got back on track, and Republicans had their opportunity to make their case to the American public on prime-time television. There's no doubt the nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has energized the party's conservative base. Conventions are attended by activists, and we haven't seen this much excitement among Republicans for several years.

Republicans are back in form: blasting the liberal media for bias, defending the conservative values of its nominees against the tax-and-spend plans of the other party and championing a candidate who also is a war hero.

Tuesday night's event was a coup. Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who had been on Al Gore's ticket in 2000, made an impassioned plea for a McCain presidency. He depicted McCain as someone who would defend the country and reach across party lines to get things done to benefit Americans. Lieberman criticized Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as someone captive to his party's interests and - strange as this sounds - praised former President Bill Clinton for working with Republicans to achieve welfare reform and free-trade agreements. It was an odd night - a Democratic senator praising a past Democratic president while endorsing a Republican presidential candidate. Lieberman even praised McCain's efforts to battle global warming and to impose new federal campaign-finance laws on the political process - an assault on the First Amendment that was bitterly opposed by conservatives. Yet the convention-goers cheered Sen. Lieberman's bipartisan message.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, a one-time presidential candidate and actor, played the partisan, but in his characteristically good-natured and folksy manner. Here he defended the choice of Sarah Palin as the vice presidential nominee: "Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit. Well, give me a tough Alaskan governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the union - and won - over the beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week. Let's be clear ... the selection of Gov. Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic. She is a courageous, successful reformer, who is not afraid to take on the establishment."

Politically speaking, this is good stuff. Republicans should be relieved that their convention got on track, that their base is energized, that the gloves have come off against an opponent who should rather easily be tarnished as the tax-and-spend liberal his record proves him to be.

Nevertheless, the Republican convention themes, platforms and candidates leave us with significant concerns, as well. The campaign themes have been, "country first" and "service." While we all support the idea of honoring one's country and serving our fellow man, we find this to be a troubling message coming from the potential leaders of the federal government. We would much prefer "freedom first," given that the founders' vision of government was that it was instituted to protect the natural rights of the citizenry, not to prod its subjects into serving one cause or another. "Country first" can easily lead to blind support for the policies of this country's government, which is not a good thing.

On a more substantive note, the GOP focused heavily on national security issues, and its platform called for more of the same: empowering federal authorities to wage a continuous War on Terror. Few delegates we talked to showed serious concern about civil liberties issues or the cost of war. Convention programs focused heavily on "Islamo-fascism" and the platform took a belligerent tone toward Iran. The Iraq War was celebrated as a success. Laura Bush - to hearty applause - praised her husband for bringing freedom to 50 million Iraqi and Afghan citizens.

There wasn't much for a libertarian to enjoy, although former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis offered a pleasant diversion. About 10,000 people attended a program of prominent speakers who urged the Republican Party to return to its limited-government, non-interventionist roots. That's not likely to happen anytime soon, but at least there's a burgeoning movement to remind Americans that the main goal of government is to protect our liberties.