Former Vice President Mike Pence is now promoting his new book, “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the American Conscience.”

Distinct from most stuff appearing now for the nation’s 250th birthday, Pence’s book is targeted not at the nation as whole, but at the Republican Party in particular.

Pence’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal discussing the book is headlined, “A Republican Time for Choosing.”

He uses the title of Ronald Reagan’s famous speech delivered Oct. 27, 1964, at the Republican National Convention, which put Reagan on the national stage, and was his initial salvo in his struggle to establish the conservative agenda as the agenda of the Republican Party.

Pence is taking on a similar mission.

“The Republican Party faces a momentous choice: Will we remain a party of conservative beliefs, or we follow the siren song of populism?” he writes.

What troubles Pence about populism? It is “progressivism in disguise,” he says.

Basically, as the left — liberals and progressives — choose to use government activism to advance their agenda in the framework of the Democratic Party, so populists, per Pence, choose to use government activism to advance their agenda in the framework of the Republican Party.

Particulars that trouble Pence are the federal government taking ownership in private companies, use of tariffs and protectionism to interfere with free trade, and price controls in areas such as prescription drugs and credit cards.

Other departures from the traditional conservative agenda that trouble Pence, which fit less neatly under the heading of government activism, are weakened federal government support for traditional family values and against abortion. He is also troubled by the inclination of populists to want the country to withdraw as a global leader to promote the ideals of freedom and limited government.

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the speech given by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the University of Texas Austin celebrating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

In that speech, Thomas articulated practically the identical agenda that Pence is talking about: individual freedom, limited government, free markets.

He talked about the Declaration, the principles which it articulates — all men are created equal, with God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Thomas presented these as American principles, the principles that define what the United States of America is uniquely about. He defined them as American as opposed to conservative.

He discussed how progressives intentionally rejected these principles in exchange for a belief in ideas of government activism and management imported from Europe.

The entitlements that consume 40% of our federal budget today — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — are the results of this progressivism and what Thomas and Pence would call departure from the principles of our Declaration of Independence.

Thomas also brought in the critically important perspective of race. Bringing race into the picture takes on the progressives.

Progressives bring the history of slavery to reject the principled founding of the country, to portray the nation as founded in bigotry.

Thomas argues importantly not so. “The slaveholders used the power of government to deny the fundamental natural rights of slaves; the segregationists used the state to oppress the freed men and women — including my ancestors.”

Regarding America’s global leadership, the Declaration of Independence is a universal statement about rights — it talks about the rights of “all men” — not just Americans. So, if we choose to claim these universal rights, we must equally bear universal responsibilities. We cannot claim what happens outside of our borders is none of our business. Practically speaking, our first responsibilities are at home. But this does not negate our universal responsibilities.

Mike Pence has written an important and courageous book. However, its message is for all Americans, not just Republicans. Today almost half the country, 45%, identify as independents.

He must reach everyone.

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