Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works Read Online Free Page A

prospects.
    Bigger and fatter federal entitlement programs will not bring hope to the Harrisons and their children. They don’t want food stamps. They want the dignity of a decent job and a fair shot at a better life for their kids. Hope lies in a vision of families and communities in which human beings thrive, and in policies based on that vision. I’ll have more to say later about incentives for manufacturers and small businesses, a tax system that encourages marriage and strong families, and education that is affordable and practical.
    In the meantime, the Ohio town where the Harrison family lives sits on the Utica Shale, which promises well-paying jobs in the oil and gas industry for James and his sons and thousands of others. There are also powerful political forces that want to strangle that industry, and they have the sympathetic ear of the president and his party. Yet Republicans have somehow ended up as the bad guys in this story. I’m going to show you in this book how we can change that.

    Ultimately, the American Dream has never really been about the dreamer. My grandfather, like millions of others,came to America seeking a better life. But the better life he was after was for his children. In this exceptional country, he was able to nourish in his children the values of faith, family, work, freedom, service, and patriotism. He prospered here, and I thank God for the economic blessings. But my grandfather built something more important than wealth. He built a family, a spiritual legacy, and he built it to last. Over a million immigrants a year come to this country in search of the same dream, because they still believe that dream is within their grasp.
    We need to remember, as we debate about policies and fight our political battles, what’s really at stake. The American Dream is about a country of prosperous communities, strong families, a decent life today, and a realistic hope for a better tomorrow. Blue collar conservatives understand that, and it’s time Republicans let them know that we do too.

CHAPTER THREE
    A GOP THAT STANDS UP FOR EVERYONE
    A mericans are more pessimistic than ever. Washington is a mess. The economy has been sputtering along for years. The culture is getting even coarser. It is harder to find a good job, much less climb the ladder of success. For a working young man or woman who wants to raise a family, the search for a good spouse feels like finding a needle in a haystack, and the odds against a lasting marriage are sobering.
    Though some of today’s problems are new, Americans have faced serious challenges before, and we have always prevailed.Sometimes in the hour of crisis, we have been blessed with a great leader. Abraham Lincoln guided us through the Civil War. Franklin Roosevelt inspired us with the determination to defeat Nazism and fascism in World War II. Ronald Reagan restored our confidence after the economic, military, and political crises of the 1970s and led us to victory in the Cold War.
    There is no such leader in the Oval Office now, no one who can appeal to the values that make this country great because he believes in them himself. President Obama doesn’t understand America. Maybe that’s because he was raised in a radical family, much of the time overseas, and educated by people who saw only the worst in this country. He abandoned the slogan of “hope” a long time ago. When Obama appeals to Americans, his themes are envy, resentment, and fear. He can mobilize his base on the Left with that talk, but it falls flat with everyone else.
    Borrowing a page from the unhappier chapters of European history, Obama promises that the government will take care of every want and need. All the public has to do is cede control of their lives to the benevolent functionaries of the omnicompetent state. Uttering the world’s stalest political pickup line, he woos an anxious electorate: “Trust me, your leader, with more power and control because I really do care for you,