Welcome to ConservativeHome

Our goal is to cover the ongoing debate about the future of the Republican party and conservatism in America. And to help spur it along.

We are not affiliated with the GOP. But we exist to help it grow stronger and better. As conservatives, we hope to make conservatism in America stronger and better, too. 

ConservativeHome's editor is John Rossomando, and contributing editor is Tim Montgomerie.

> What we do and what we believe. Find out about our unique offerings and how we view the world.

> Our shields. Find out what that colorful banner across the top of the page means.

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Why does ConservativeHome have those shields up there?

ConservativeHome believes that Republicans and conservatives in America should have ideas and policies that address a wide range of issues. This is because the world is too complex for conservatism to be too narrow.

For this reason, ConservativeHome serves as a platform for a wide range of opinions within conservatism. In addition, we have a core set of convictions rooted in what we believe is both a historical and relevant understanding of American conservatism.

These convictions are reflected in our shields. All of the shields are set against a common backdrop of limited government.  None of the values on the shields can be upheld if the federal government is not restrained.  Not all conservatives will agree with what we say below, but we think our shields represent the basic of a conservatism of the future.

Family.  The family is the fundamental building block of a civil society. Conservatives have long argued that family flourishing is at the heart of a healthy society. Contrary to the left, which roots social dysfunction primarily in institutional failure, conservatives have long recognized that we’ll never fix social breakdown if we’re not honest with ourselves about family breakdown. This is as true when dealing with crime and welfare as it is when dealing with household debt and educational achievement.

Families are also where the habits of productivity are instilled. To the extent that policies make it harder for families to save, invest, or launch an enterprise, they’re anti-family policies and need to be fixed. Parents expect their children to have a better life than they had. If our policies are making this less likely, they need to be fixed.

Economic growth.  America has always been the land of horizons. It has long been the place where people come to get a new start, to pursue dreams, to “make it.” Aspiration and economic growth are completely intertwined in the American experience. Conservatives have long argued that we need to remain a nation first and foremost where people can get ahead by working hard and pursuing new ideas.  We’re not the land of opportunity for nothing.

Conservatives understand productivity. They believe the state’s role is to set the rules by which productivity results in growth and an increase in standard of living, not to seize the goods of productivity for its own ends, as the left would have it.

Some have noticed this shield is kind of green. That’s intentional. We believe that sound environmental policy and economic growth can go hand-in-hand, and that conservatives should lead the way on this front. Otherwise, “green policy” debates will be dominated by the left, which uses green policy as a way to achieve statist ends.

What we do and what we believe

WHAT WE DO

• Selections of the day's most important GOP and conservative news and commentary, posted here or delivered to your inbox at 6.30am EDT.
• The Republican, the daily blog of ConservativeHome's editor, Ryan Streeter, with contributions from Tim Montgomerie and Natalie Gonnella. The blog covers the main challenges facing the Republican party and looks towards building a strong, sustainable GOP majority.
• The Big Ideas page profiles individuals, think tanks and organizations that are meeting tomorrow's challenges with good ideas.
• ConservativeHome runs two weekly surveys:
  • The Republican Panel polls thousands of grassroots GOP members, ensuring they have a say in the future of their party. It also includes ConservativeHome readers, so apply to join by sending Natalie your email.
  • The ConservativeHome100 is a weekly survey of what leading movement thinkers and watchers are saying. Members of the panel include think tank chiefs, journalists, bloggers, senior aides to elected officials, and other opinion-shapers.
• Although ConservativeHome's editors have their own views, the Platform exists for every Republican and conservative. Libertarian, socially conservative, hawkish and Tea Party voices are all welcome to submit contributions.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe in a broader Republican Party as represented by our eleven shields, explained here.

1. We start with the belief that the USA is an exceptional nation. We reject the Left’s ‘Europeanization’ of America. We reject the notion that America's greatness stems from its powerful elites rather than its grassroots, its families, its enterprises, its ideas. We reject the view that the world is safer when multilateral bodies like the United Nations rule our foreign and defense policy.  
2. We are fiscal conservatives. We believe that a nation that lives beyond its means is destined to decline. Unless America reduces borrowing quickly and reforms entitlements, it will become a declining power, transferring wealth and leadership to China, the Middle East and to other rival centers of global power.
3. We believe that faster growth is essential to solve America's current problems. Simpler and lower taxes, freer trade, less regulation, and education reform are essential if American families are to become more prosperous.
4. We believe in smaller but more effective government. We reject a draining of power from individuals, families and states to an enlarged federal government. Although we believe that government should be smaller and more focused, we also reject an anti-government mentality. Conservatives believe in a government that devolves power to local communities, protects the homeland, protects free markets, fights crime and protects the vulnerable.
5. Government should be the poverty-fighter of last resort. Strong families, a good education and a job are the best protections against poverty. We must revive the American dream by encouraging and rewarding hard work and enterprise, but we also need to be the nation of the second chance, relying on each other and our civic ambitions to bring new hope to those who have fallen on hard times.
6. We are social conservatives. We believe in the special nature of marriage and the traditional family as the basis of happiness and prosperity. As conservatives we must strive to protect religious freedom, counter judicial activism and protect every human life, at its natural beginning and natural end. We also need to build a society that respects its own colorful diversity by upholding the dignity of all our citizens, ensuring equality of opportunity, and helping broken families get their lives together.
7. We are internationalist conservatives. We believe that a strong America is a huge force for good in the world. Sharing our ideas. Resisting economic protectionism. Leading the global war on terror. Keeping the seas free from piracy. Standing with the oppressed. Helping poor nations develop. 
8. We are conservatives who conserve. Protecting the environment is about much more than the climate change debate. We should conserve the rich diversity of the natural world, but we reject the anti-growth policies of the climate change lobby. Developing nations are rapidly growing richer and using more energy. America needs to invest in cleaner technologies as a way to lessen the overall cost of energy for families and businesses and to reduce the negative effects of energy consumption on the natural environment.
   
9. We reject the stridency in some quarters of the conservative movement. Our politics need to be unashamedly principled without forgetting to be thoughtful. We also need to be gracious to our opponents, within and outside the movement.

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Introducing Tim Montgomerie

Tim Montgomerie founded ConservativeHomeUK on Easter Monday, 2005, with the aims of championing grassroots party members and advocating a balanced, authentic conservatism.

He is a contributing editor to ConservativeHome USA and from the UK timezone helps prepare the newslinks that are posted here at 6.30am EDT each and every day. He lives in the English cathedral city of Salisbury.

He was an economist at the Bank of England from 1992 until 1998; launched and ran the Conservative Christian Fellowship from 1990 until 2003 (first in his spare time and then full-time); has written speeches for Tory leaders William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith; was co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice; and is a regular contributor to a number of British newspapers, especially the London Times.

Follow Tim on Twitter or email him.

Michael Ashcroft and Stephan Shakespeare

ConservativeHome is owned by Political Investments Limited. PIL's two principal shareholders are Lord Ashcroft (majority shareholder) and Stephan Shakespeare.

Michael Ashcroft was appointed to Britain's House of Lords in 2000. A former Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He founded the Crimestoppers charity in the UK; is Chairman of Trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy; Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University; and is a Trustee of the Cleveland Clinic in the USA. The Lord Ashcroft Gallery at London's Imperial War Museum hosts Lord Ashcroft’s collection of Victoria and George Crosses, the largest in the world. He is currently Treasurer of the International Democrat Union.

> His recent writings for ConservativeHome are here. More information at LordAshcroft.com.

Stephan Shakespeare is founder and Chief Executive Officer of the YouGov polling organisation, one of Britain's most successful internet companies and now established in America. A former parliamentary candidate, expert on London politics, he now chairs the Network for the Post-Bureaucratic Age. Stephan was the first investor in ConservativeHome, sustaining it in its embryonic years.

> His recent writings for ConservativeHome are here.