A New Star Emerges

In 1964, aspiring politician and former actor Ronald Reagan hit the campaign trail for Barry Goldwater. In late October with the election looming, Reagan gave a nationally televised speech that has gone down in history not for its aide to Goldwater, but for the philosophical ideas and sentiments put forward by the future President. The speech, known as “A Time for Choosing”, would vault Reagan to the Governorship of California a few short years later and laid the groundwork for his anti establishment grassroots Presidential runs. In 1980 Reagan was elected President. The rest as they say is history.
       
A popular theme of Reagan’s stump speeches, and of his famed 1964 speech, was a focus on the greatness of America and the opportunities it has provided to people all over the world.  He talked at length about wasteful government spending, the growth of government, and the problem of growing dependence on government by the American people. All of these themes were the framework for the explosion of a blue collar conservative movement that swept Reagan to the White House by wide margins in 1980. Recent years haven’t been as promising. For the past decade conservatives have had no movement to follow as Republicans in D.C. have joined progressives in wasting the people’s money and helping to grow the government.
  
Last week American conservatives, following a year of tea parties and public discontent with out of control government, finally seemed to find their principles. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C. a young fresh face in the Republican Party stepped to the podium and gave a speech that would have made Reagan proud. His speech was one that channeled the feelings of disgruntled Americans and conservatives looking to find their way.

"See, I was not born to a wealthy or connected family. And yet I have never felt limited by the circumstances of my birth. I have never once felt that there was something I couldn't do because of who my parents were or weren't. Now, why is it that I've been able to accomplish the things that my grandfather could not? Why did my dreams have the chance that his didn't?

The answer is simple. Because I am privileged. I am privileged to be a citizen of the single greatest society in all of human history. There's never been a nation like the United States, ever. It begins with the principles of our founding documents, principles that recognize that our rights come from God, not from our government -- principles that recognize that because all of us are equal in the eyes of our creator, all life is sacred at every stage of life.

These principles embody the commitment to individual liberty which has made us the freest people in history. They also made possible our free-enterprise economy, which has made us the most prosperous people in history. The result is an America which is the only place in the world where it doesn't matter who your parents were or where you came from.
You can be anything you are willing to work hard to be. The result is the only economy in the world where poor people with a better idea and a strong work ethic can compete and succeed against rich people in the marketplace and competition. And the result is the most reliable defender of freedom in the history of the world."
 
The speaker was Marco Rubio, the 38 year old former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who has shocked the political world by surging past Florida Governor Charlie Crist in polls for the GOP’s Senate primary. Rubio is up by 18 after trailing the once popular Governor by wide margins over the summer and into the fall. None of the big wig D.C. politicos or Florida insiders saw Rubio coming; only the people did. The National Republican Senatorial Committee didn’t see him coming; they endorsed Crist from the get go. It was the people who were outraged by Crists progressive agenda and his support of Barack Obama’s stimulus package (and their infamous stimulus hug). And it has been the people- workers, tea partiers, students, whatever labels you wish to give them- who have embraced the limited government and fiscally responsible principles of Rubio. Following the peoples lead some key Republican Senators, such as Jim DeMint of South Carolina, have endorsed Rubio against the will of their own fund raising Committee.
    
As Rubio stepped to the podium in D.C. last Wednesday he had already accomplished a great deal by unifying Florida conservatives and shaking the foundation of a misguided GOP in D.C. Once his speech began it was clear by his words and the crowd’s response to them that Rubio is the quintessential conservative candidate for the 21st Century.

He spoke ambitiously about eliminating unjust taxes, reforming insurance to the benefit of consumers, and protecting Americans by “doing whatever it takes…for however long it takes, to defeat radical Islamic Terrorism”. The young voice of the new right laid out the ground work for clear alternatives to the progressive agendas being pushed by D.C. insiders.

More importantly, though, Rubio spoke of America as though it is exceptional. That kind of speaking is something we haven’t heard articulated well in a while; especially in recent tough times. It was incredible to hear. Rubio said the kinds of things Americans haven’t heard from a conservative since, well, Reagan.
 
"It's a clear choice between two very different futures. And the task this year for us is to make sure that Americans choose the right one. You see -- my four children, your children and grandchildren are members of the most important generation in American history. If we succeed in convincing the American people to follow up, theirs will be the most prosperous generation in the history of our country. But if we fail, they will be the first to inherit a diminished nation.

The final verdict on our generation will be written by Americans who haven't even been born yet. Let us make sure they write that we made the right choice, that in the early years of this century, faced with troubling and uncertain times, there were those who believed that the great American story had run its course. But we did not agree. Fear did not lead us to abandon our liberty. Uncertainty did not lead us to abandon the entrepreneurial spirit. We fought for and held on to those things that made us exceptional. And because we did, there was still one place in the world where the individual was more important than the state. Because we did, there was still at least one place in the world where who you come from does not determine where you get to go.

Let us ensure that history's record of this time is clear that like those Americans that came before us, we rose to face the challenges of our time. Like those Americans who came before us, we made the right choice. And because we did, at least for one generation more the American miracle lived on."
 
Marco Rubio is likely the next Republican- correction American- Senator from Florida. His speech last Wednesday was clear and concise. The United States is an incredible place, and its brightest moments still lay in the future. Rubio has a strong grasp on the idea that is America and he articulates that idea better than anyone since Reagan. Time will tell if Rubio follows his speech last week up in the manner that Reagan followed up his in ’64. One thing is clear though: at just 38 years of age a conservative movement began to coalesce around Marco Rubio last week and as a result Americans have a brilliant young star to look to for principled guidance in the coming decades; the decades in which America will continue to be exceptional.