Reagan Republicans?

There are 2 kinds of political conservatives in the United States. There are religiously motivated conservatives. I keep searching for a word to describe them, because they are not all evangelical Christians, but they all share the same moral values. For them, being conservative seems to mean conserving the institutionalization of their value system. I think Social Conservative may be the best description. This group is well meaning, but they seek to enforce their value system through a system of laws. This is a dangerous idea. Your interpretation of morality may be the right one, and the world my be a better place if we all lived by moral laws, as you understand them. But what happens when somebody else is in power who has a different value system. The proper way to promulgate morality is through religion and philosophy. It is not through force or threat of punishment that we change peoples hearts and behavior, it is through understanding and insight. It is through conversion.

Then there are the Libertarian Conservatives. Although Ronald Reagan had a deep sense of Christian faith, he fell more into this camp. Although, he was also socially conservative in many ways, he believed that the less government was involved in people's lives the better it was for everybody.

Reagan left office with a very high popularity rating, he rejuvenated the Republican Party, re-started the American economy, brought inflation under control, re-built the U.S. military and was crucial (some would argue the cause) to the end of the cold war.

The result is that now, everybody running on the Republican ticket claims to be Reagan Republicans. They are not. I haven't seen one since 1989. We need one.