New Conservative Magazine Declares Independence from GOP

Conservative Battleline Online To Speak For Limited Government Conservatives Against Big Government Right

December 15, 2003

Alexandria, VA – Donald Devine, a vice chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, announced the publication of a new online conservative journal of opinion to be called ConservativeBattleline, located at conservativebattleline.com.

Current features include: the Republican Party as the new welfare state party, the limits of the Bush plans for democracy in Iraq, the culture wars, the GOP sell out on Medicare and critiques of National Review, The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal, among others.

“The $7 trillion unfunded liability of the new Medicare prescription drug bill created by a Republican Congress and signed by President George Bush this week is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, as it is the largest expansion of non-defense discretionary spending since the Great Society. We are forced to act,” Devine explained. “I had written a memo to conservative leaders six months ago explaining the drift of the GOP and the need for an independent voice but hesitated to make the break. But we are forced to act or see limited government conservatism become irrelevant. So we are now going forward with the magazine.”

“The vote on the massive drug entitlement had one beneficial effect. It helped us sort the sheep from the goats. While only nine Senators and 25 House members stood firm for principle, these few did make their stand and we owe them our support, especially in the face of the threats from Congressional leaders and the White House staff. But the fact that so few did muster the courage of their convictions makes a revitalization of limited government conservatism essential from our point of view. Forty-two conservative activist groups and virtually all think tanks also stood for principle on this terrible bill–and they also deserve a new voice not tied to the defeatist tone of so much of mainstream ‘conservative’ journalism. ConservativeBattleline will speak for them too.

“ConservativeBattleline recreates online the original publication of the American Conservative Union. It will be housed at the ACU Foundation but it will be an independent voice. ACUF and its board of directors will not be responsible for its content, which will be my responsibility alone, as editor of the new journal. David A. Keene will be publisher. Contributions will be solicited from the conservative community at large.

“Revitalizing limited government conservatism will be a long term undertaking but it might as well start now, right here in the first edition of ConservativeBattleline Online,” Devine concluded.

(Editor’s note: The American Policy Center supports this latest initiative from the American Conservative Union Foundation. APC was a member of the ACU coalition opposing the horrendous Medicare bill. Due to this and many other issues on which so-called “conservative” Republicans have faltered, we feel the time is now for an independent conservative voice. APC will continue to be that voice, and we welcome ConservativeBattleline.com to the fight. Property rights, education, sovereignty, limited government and American liberty don’t take a back seat to ANY political party. It’s time to remind our elected officials what it REALLY means to be conservative. You can check out ConservativeBattleline Online at www.conservativebattleline.com.)

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Tom DeWeese
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Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence.