During the campaign season last year, I wrote for a now-defunct newspaper called The Old Guard. My article was titled “Reform Republicanism.” In it, I hypostulated on the future of the Republican Party, especially in light of the political tremors leading up to Democratic victories on election night. I was concerned by McCain’s inability to focus on the overarching themes of his own campaign, one based on his reputation as a maverick, which was reinforced by picking fellow maverick, Sarah Palin. Already beginning to fear what the election might bring, I began to ponder what Republicans actually stood for and what they would need to stand for in order to be politically successful in the future. My solution then, and now, was Reform Republicanism.

What then, I’m sure you’re asking, is Reform Republicanism? You may have heard about it recently, but under an alternate moniker: Populist Conservatism. This strand of conservatism, recently popularized by people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, has manifested itself in the angst and concern that has marked the Tea Party movement. It is at odds both with the nanny-state liberalism of the Democratic Party, but in the same breath, is fed up with the Republican Party that did little in the years following the Contract with America to reduce or even contain the size of the federal government.

Reform Republicanism is based on libertarian thought, while being channeled by a conservative mentality. It begins with the basic concept that the government should stay out of the way of business, people’s business and everyone’s wallets. I often refer to conservative columnist George Will’s concept of the constant struggle between freedom and equality in American political thought. The goal of Reform Republicanism is to bridge the gap between these two disparate aims. It offers greater freedom to people, but insures greater equality by not giving special treatment to certain, well connected individuals and companies.

The bedrock of Reform Republicanism is the free market, and the belief that freer markets will lead to expanded political freedoms. Because of this belief in the free market, Reform Republicans believe in creating a more level playing field for businesses, not through taxation and regulation, but through a less active government. The aim would be to eliminate many of the subsidies, tax breaks and tariff protections that distort the free market, and prop up companies that could not survive otherwise (Government Motors, anyone?)

The focus, instead, is on battling excessive and unnecessary regulations and high taxes that halt innovation. The goal would be to create a good business environment where the best, safest and most effective products can revolutionize our economy and significantly improve our lives. It is an ideology that is not pro-big business or pro-small business — it is pro-all business.

With a freer market must also come greater political freedom. Part of this is having a clean, open and honest government. A transparent government is an unbiased government that is less likely to bow down to special interests and lobbyists. This type of government would work for the people, not by inserting itself into every minute concern, but by being as effective and responsible as possible by staying out of the way of businesses and individuals. It is a government that is beholden to the people rather than the deep-pocketed special interests in the pay-to-play D.C. culture.

This does not mean the infringement of free speech rights that accompanies campaign finance laws. Instead, it means that politicians must accessibly list every contribution made to their campaign. This allows for the people to judge if a politician has engaged in conflicted interests, and allows for the people to decide their fate, either at the ballot box or through the judicial system. This is a very brief overview of the basics of Reform Republicanism, but I hope it gives readers an idea of the type of guiding philosophy that seems rare in many politicians today. It is an ideology that is populist in its demands for a clean and accountable government, and conservative in its stringent defense of the free market as the greatest arbiter of change and progress, President Obama not withstanding of course.

It is also an ideology that can help to weld the pieces of a Republican majority back together by joining Ron Paul and libertarian Republicans with more traditionally conservative Republicans. Both share a belief in free markets and free people, though often the difference is mainly one of degrees, as each would propose specific policies that go beyond what the other is comfortable. But, with one another, they can often moderate the other to fashion policies that will appeal to wide swaths of the American public.

We have already seen the ascent of the Tea Party movement, often based on many of these principles. This movement has emerged as a response to the bailout, the stimulus and the health care bill. The bailout, because it socialized the losses of irresponsible and irrational executives; the stimulus, because it further compounded our debt by ineffectively pumping public funds into the economy; and the health care bill, because it would be the greatest expansion of federal power and bureaucracy in recent history.

If Republicans can embrace these principles, they can once again reclaim the mantle of reform and responsibility. We have failed before, as the last few years showed our inability to contain and reverse the growth of government while we held all of the levers of power. However, a commitment to open government would hopefully lead to rules that would prevent the excesses that brought down the recent Republican majorities. With that, we would have a government that is interested in the needs of the people rather than the special interests, and would not sacrifice our personal and economic freedom in order to protect those who are afraid to compete fairly.

The government does have a role in our society, namely functioning to maintain that society. But, the prevailing powers in D.C. are more concerned with shackling business and individuals by insuring stability through expanding the government. But what is the cost of absolute stability? It is the stagnation of our economy and of our liberties. Instead, if we have a government that aims to aid its citizens by protecting and enhancing their freedoms, and insuring that businesses are dictated by the free market instead of the government, we can help to ensure that America can remain a beacon of hope for political and economic freedom throughout the world.

Seth Williford is a junior political science major from Wilson, N.C.