That’s not what voters want.

Conservatives should vow to cut spending, and they should lay out particular programs they’ll put on the block. Farm subsidies would be an excellent place to start. In the last four years, prices for critical crops have increased more than 200 percent. Americans feel the pinch every time they go to the supermarket.

Yet the federal government hands out some $25 billion every year in farm subsidies, with most of that money going to big agribusinesses. Consumers pay for food at the cash resister, and through their taxes. It’s time to let farmers, who are doing very well, sink or swim on their own.

Finally, conservative lawmakers should revive an idea President George H.W. Bush proposed but shelved prematurely. Every tax return contains a box asking if taxpayers want to contribute to the presidential election campaign fund. We should create something similar to allow taxpayers to dedicate at least a portion of their taxes to a specific program.

Liberals seem to think Americans love the welfare state, so let’s find out. Allow Americans to dedicate, say, 10 percent of their tax burden to the program they choose: defense, roads, housing, Social Security, whatever. We taxpayers are the paying customers, after all.

Most of us are relieved we don’t get all the government we’re paying for -- but we’d certainly get less government if people were able to decide which programs were worth paying for (the Army) and which weren’t (bridges to nowhere).

Voters deserve a real choice. Politicians should offer our country real -- conservative -- solutions. Doing so would prove them worthy of our votes.