Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said that conservatives need to focus on initiatives that have succeeded in the states such as lower taxes, spending restraint and job creation.
“To win we need to remain united,” he told guests at a summit hosted by the National Review Institute. “Let’s focus on the 80 percent (where we agree) and not the 20 percent, and I think we’ll be more successful as a conservative movement.”
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The chairman of the Republican Governors Association said that conservatives also need to continue implementing school reforms and developing better transportation infrastructure programs, an initiative that he has recently been promoting.
McDonnell has been traveling throughout Virginia over the past week encouraging business and labor leaders to support his “Virginia’s Road to the Future” transportation plan. He said that his proposal would raise $845 million by eliminating the state’s 17.5 cents per gallon gas tax and increasing the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent.
At the breakfast McDonnell also stressed that the importance of taking a conservative governing philosophy and acting on it. He said that conservatives have good policies, but communicating them has become an issue. “Before people will listen to you, they have to like you. We’re not conveying the message that we need to be.”
He said that the effort needs to pivot to explain how conservative endeavors translate in the daily lives of Americans. They are people who only want to live freely and peacefully while ensuring that their children and grandchildren have opportunities for the future.
“We need to engage, emphasize and demonstrate why our principles will improve the lives of everybody,” McDonnell said. “That’s what I believe is important to the future of our republic and the conservative movement.”
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