It would be worse from my perspective simply because I don’t know if I could take another two years of the brown-nosing I’ve seen in the freshly-uncovered establishment media. Romney worship is spreading like a cancer over everything I used to enjoy listening to.
I don’t think you’ll have to wait until 2014 for a group of Tea Party renegades like yours truly to branch off into a third party, though. Any success of Romney’s candidacy spells the end of the GOP.
I understand the question is about what is best for the “Conservative cause,” but I would ask instead, “What is best for America?” The thought of a second term for Obama scares the daylights out of me. To suggest that there’s not much difference between Obama and Romney seems remarkable to me. Really? I personally am in the Santorum camp at this time, but I would take Romney over Obama for several reasons: Supreme Court appoints, a Republican Congress and Senate will pull him to a more conservative side, and I do think Romney has become more conservative over time. It’s not just flip-flopping, it’s growth, as has happened to all of us!
Now, regarding a win for Obama is a win for conservatism, I think is making a big assumption. It suggests that America will finally wake up and see the light of conservative principles. I don’t think that will happen in such a short period of time because American education and media inundate us with the evils of conservatism. If people did vote in a Tea Party candidate in 2016 it will likely be a result of simply wanting change, not because they’ve converted to a conservative view of life. Most American’s simply are not conversant enough with political philosophy to see the ramifications of their vote. Seeking political office has become a PR scheme and with the media calling the shots a third-party conservative is many years away from the Presidency (as much as I’d like that option). The longer we fail to support whoever is running against liberalism the harder it will be to turn back the behemoth of socialistic, statist, trends in America. Having said that, I can hear the objection that Republicans are simply becoming more and more liberal and it requires a radical rebellion to put an end to it once and for all. That point is valid and many will embrace that. I just don’t think it will happen in my lifetime.