By definition, freedom requires a set of laws, restrained government, a supervised and heavily controlled police force and intelligent courts. Security requires a big Government. Freedom requires the ability to fail.

The argument confronting the great middle class of America---who only stand to go into greater debt if this bailout is passed---is that yes, you have behaved responsibly, paid your mortgages on time. But unless you fork over $10,000 per household to those who should have never given 1.9 percent mortgages and those who should never have been granted 1.9 mortgages, we cannot guarantee you financial security. For most Americans, this bailout is little more than extortion, a 21st century “corrupt bargain.”

The security philosophy of the GOP new extends to Wall Street, whose argument is simply to ask the taxpayers to help Wall Street protect itself from---itself. Republicanism may be beyond ideology as one K Street lobbyist recently argued. But conservatism certainly is not. Russell Kirk said, “From the moment I began to reason and possibly the hour I began to feel, I have been a conservative.” True conservatives have reasoned that this bailout is a bad idea.

Some have argued that the GOP needs to move on from Reaganism but this is akin to saying Americans should abandon the ideals of Jefferson and Lincoln, who like Reagan, embraced the expansion of freedom. After all, if Barack Obama can invoke Reagan, surely Republicans still can. American conservatism---Reaganism--- is alive and well, knows what it believes, and stands for. It is not elitist, it is populist; it is moral and not relativistic. It is hopeful, not cynical, egalitarian, and not hierarchical. The two, Republicanism and Conservatism, are now separate and apart, competing philosophies, not complimentary.

The Bush Administration’s proposed bailout is good for the elites and the cynical. It is not so good for the productive members of society. Some conservatives in Congress are commendably standing up to the enormous pressure being brought to bear on them they know this is a “Panama Canal” moment for the GOP as it will forever stain those who support this massive expansion of governmental power. Those conservatives with the courage to oppose this will be stamped with honor.

They know this bailout may pass but they also know that any Republican who supports it can never again call themselves a conservative.