Tom Ellis

Jeff Bell’s two most notable books, The Case for Polarized Politics and Populism and Elitism are must-read resources for anyone wishing to understand the conservative – populist politics that gave rise to the election of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. There could be no better memorial to Jeff Bell than to read his books and build upon his ideas.

There are a lot of parallels between 1964 and 2016, but the most important one is this: By defeating Goldwater, establishment Republicans created the opportunity for Democrats and their progressive Republican allies to bankrupt the country in a war that lacked a strategy for victory and to enact the regulatory and welfare regime that continues to plague our economy and limit our liberty fifty years on.

As conservative Fred Gruber proved by winning election as Virginia’s 7th District Republican Chairman, if you want to govern America according to conservative principles, first take back your local Republican Party from the progressive establishment Republicans, like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who have hijacked the Party and turned it into a vehicle to preserve their own personal power.

Ronald Reagan built his coalition by taking all the discontents within the Republican Party and molding them into a coherent conservative ideology and a winning coalition that defeated the Republican establishment in the primaries. After just five short years the grassroots limited government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party movement are well on their way to doing the same thing.