The Old Guard or The New Guard: McInnis vs. Penry

Where has fiscal Conservativism gone? The actions in recent months of our President and Federal Legislators have unleashed a litany of outrage among the voting body. Moreover, contrary to our mass media’s insistence, Conservatives cannot boast a monopoly on the nation’s growing frustrations. The immense bi-partisan concern for our government’s outrageous spending has swelled to epic proportions. Our elected officials’ treatment of our hard-earned dollars have left many asking what has happened to fiscal responsibility. It has left most conservatives asking what has happened to the Republican Party. There is no denying the Democrats have not been known for their fiscal discipline but Republicans, at least during the Reagan years, had once been able to boast of a reasonable degree of spending restraint.
As we approach the sunset of 2009, a new era of monumental spending has erupted. Undoubtedly, our current Democratic leadership is to blame for much of our bloated budget but Republicans are not exactly free of guilt. That growing ambiguity between the spending habits of Democrats and Republicans segues nicely into Colorado’s 2010 Gubernatorial Republican buzz. Of particular interest is the state’s captivatingly diverse concoction of Republican Candidates. With current Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s approval rating plummeting as consistently as President Obama’s, the spotlight has begun to shift to the growing list of Republican contenders. Three names currently fill that list, two of which I will address in this article. In this climate of swelling government spending and subsequent voter outrage, I thought I would dedicate an article to the fiscal track records of Colorado’s three Republican Candidates vying for the party’s gubanertorial ticket.
Scott McInnis, former five-term Colorado Congressman from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, announced his Gubernatorial Candidacy in May of this year. What McInnis brings to the political table is evident: experience. It should come as no surprise then that his campaign has chosen to build their message around the former Congressman’s proven track record. More specifically, the campaign has gone to great lengths to highlight McInnis’ record of fiscal discipline, something most voters will likely take into consideration as they cast their 2010 ballots. Colorado’s state budget deficit has been growing alongside its national counterpart for some time. Many feel that government program expansion in conjunction with rising unemployment and exorbitant tax increases are much to blame. McInnis has made consistent efforts toward linking the state’s rising unemployment with an executive leader whose fiscal experiences and disciplines are scant.
Running on the same message of return to fiscal conservatism but with a whole-heartedly new approach, State Senate Minority Leader, Josh Penry, threw his hat into the gubernatorial ring in July. Penry, a thirty three year old success story, has challenged McInnis’ call for more experience in our leadership by arguing the failure of that exact group of leaders to carry the torch of fiscal conservatism for the better portion of the last decade. According to Penry’s campaign message, only through the emergence of a fresh new generation of Republican leaders, will the solution to the party’s current identity crisis be resolved. Like McInnis, Penry promises an administration of fiscal Conservatism. Unlike McInnis, Penry asserts that only new guard Republicans can be trusted with the responsibility of a renewed commitment to Reagan Conservatism. Whether the solution to our party turmoil is found in the reinvigoration of experienced and proven leaders or by way of fresh new faces, one point is inarguable: Ritter’s support among Colorado voters is in serious jeopardy.

Both at the state level and nationally, Republicans have some monumentally important decisions to make in the coming months. Indeed, some have come to view Colorado’s current gubernatorial ticket as a reflection of the larger decision currently before the party. With our nation in fiscal peril, what path more likely guarantees a return to a Reagan policy of fiscal responsibility? With any degree of appreciation for the fiscal principals of our Founding Fathers, there is no denying Conservative ideals of limited government and a decreased burden on American taxpayers are the only roadmap to economic recovery. Thus the 2010 question before the Republican Party: will it turn to the wisdom of the past or forward to the wave of the future? Only time will tell.