Conservative Have Bailed: Now What?

North Star Writers Group ^ | May 12, 2008 | David Karki

[Invisigoth]

In my last column, I argued that conservatives must leave the Republican Party. That wasn't a conclusion I came to lightly, nor did I enjoy doing so. But I think we must, for three reasons:

• First, because I think a debacle is pretty much inevitable. The GOP has no money thanks to its alienating of its base. Congressional candidates have already been told it's every candidate for himself, and the one guy with enough of a bully pulpit to turn this around, Sen. John McCain, steadfastly refuses to do so, instead pre-emptively surrendering to liberals.

• Second, so that Democrats get held solely responsible for the equally inevitable disastrous consequences, which they wouldn't if President McCain were rubber-stamping all their liberal ideas – with which he agrees, by and large. (Or, if we must accept McCain in order to stave off the unthinkable in Barack Obama, let's not kid ourselves into thinking we still don't have to abandon ship apart from that one race.)

[P8riot]

It’s not a question of conservatives leaving the GOP. The GOP left conservatives several years ago.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

The GOP has no money thanks to its alienating of its base.

Evidently, the oft-bruited coalition of "moderate" 'Rats, illegal aliens and independents either somehow managed (essentially) to reach consensus, en masse, not to donate Dime One to the McCain 2008 campaign... or else: said coalition is, in plain point of fact, a chimera.

Based upon the evidence at hand, thus far: I'm going with "B," myself.

[meyer]

The GOP has no money thanks to its alienating of its base.

Somebody's finally waking up??!!

[laotzu]

conservatives must leave the Republican Party

I haven't seen a conservative Republican in more than a decade.

Republicans are embarrassed by conservatives, and; conservatives won't support socialists.

We are mutually exclusive.

[EBH]

One of the last calls I received looking for money, I asked the guy if he would contribute to a group that didn't reflect his values? He said “No, but....” I told him my money goes to the organization that meets my values and he asked who that was. I said, “My family.”

[jmaroneps37]

I smell psy-ops in articles like this.
Cui bono? Latin (for who benefits?) Who benefits from our staying home or voting rat? The forces that want to destroy our country, that's who.
Me, I'm an American before I am a Republican or even a conservative. I will NEVER EVER vote for a rat or stay home in a hissy fit to make myself feel relevant. We don't always get what we want in life or elections and Nov 4 will be no different. I believe barack mcgovern when he says he wants changes and I don't want his changes and will never do anything to help bring them about.

[org.whodat]

No all conservatives need to sick around and help fight global warming, with algore and mccain. LOL

[mo]

Does’nt matter. Conservatives just don’t like government. They don’t want to meet their congressional rep at the airport every time he returns to his district. they don’t want to facilitate his meetings with people and groups that want/need his efforts, they don’t want to help him achieve while in DC. They don’t want to be involved in local politics, don’t want to be on oversight committees..etc.etc.etc.

The left has been doing all of this since the 30’s-40’s.

Until conservatives yield their visceral dislike of centalized government, and spend time and MONEY shaping it accordingly, they will remain on the outs, whether in or out of the republican party.

[randita]

The GOP has no money thanks to its alienating of its base.

For years, McCain has decried the corrupting influence of money in politics. Let him run without money, then and see how far he gets.

[ImpBill]

"...the GOP is, for all practical purposes, a Dead Party Walking."

Great metaphor for what is continuing to happen to the GOP. They started their "walk", IMO, when the Senate, controlled by Republicans, refused to have a "real" trial, with witnesses for the Impeached William Jefferson Clinton.

[nathanbedford]

The author, whoever he is, has served a bill of particulars which is frighteningly on target. He might be more persuasive if his style style were less puerile. But there's something worse than mere style wrong with this piece, he does not tell us why running away from the Republican Party is the better route for conservatism. Why not attempt to take over the party after the debacle of this coming election? After all, the party as a vehicle is the greatest mechanism for the advancement of conservative principles that exists and it could not be replaced in several generations of election cycles.

To deliberately abandon a fine piece of machinery like a national political party only to wonder into the wilderness is a decision which should be taken only when all alternatives have been considered. The author offers us no argument at all except that he wants RINOS to get the blame for the coming catastrophe of the Obama presidency. Sometimes it works that way, as with Jimmy Carter and sometimes it does not as with Franklin Roosevelt. In the latter case the nation was committed to generations of leftist rule and a culture was created from which we have never emerged, not even Ronald Reagan could lead us completely out of that wilderness.

Before we all abandoned ship we ought to at least see whether or not we can mutiny.

[Bedford Forrest]

For years, McCain has decried the corrupting influence of money in politics. Let him run without money, then and see how far he gets.

Excellent. Until McCain [a] renounces the McCain/Feingersh CFRA monstrosity, [b] selects a true conservative as his running mate, [c] swears to close the border and deport ALL illegals, and [d] at every opportunity, holds up the mainslime media as a clear and present danger to the Republic, he is is on the BobDole track, right where he belongs.

[TheRobb7]

“Before we all abandoned ship we ought to at least see whether or not we can mutiny.”

Amen and thanks for the tagline!

[popdonnelly]

It’s too early to bail.

[brityank]

Before we all abandoned ship we ought to at least see whether or not we can mutiny.

Good idea.
But what makes you believe the next mutiny will be any better than the last one? The Overseers with their whips, chains, and innuendo beat Hyde, Gingrich, et al, back to the wilderness on the last iteration, and the new 'leaders' are craven cowards. I have two quotations on my home page that are as true today as they were when first written; recovery of our society will not be possible without another civil war like the one in '76.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Where have you been the last 30 years?

It’s a well known fact that Conservatives were the ones going door to door, making all the large contributions in time and money to support the GOP. In fact, it is the GOP that always beat the Democrats in total campaign funds every election. The Democrats wined about it not being fair because those Republicans had all the money. There was also an abundance of volunteers to help do the everyday tasks that kept the Campaign strong.

This election is a rare turn around from that standpoint. Why? Because McNasty has alienated us, does not represent us and we decided to let him sink.

Guess what, have fun on the maiden voyage of the HMS
McTitanic.

It’s not that we just don’t like government, it’s all about how that government performs and conducts itself. It was meant to serve America, not shape it. It was also meant to be as small as necessary without becoming a burden to the people or growing itself into the tyrannical monster that has plagued mankind for millennia.

Your hero McNasty is all about making government central, gargantuan, unaccountable and all powerful.

[levotb]

That’s precisely correct, P8triot!

Real conservatives left the GOP years ago. I thought Dole was just about the worst candidate that party could find. Now, the RINO heads have propped up Old Man McCain! They just won’t learn their lessons.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I fully understand your logic and agree for the most part.

But, this party reminds me of a productive garden that has been taken over by weeds. you can try to selectively pick those weeds, but they still keep coming up because of their robust nature. That also takes excessive time and unnecessary effort. But the weed keep coming back all the more in number and strength

Sometimes it is necessary to give the ground a rest, by tilling the surface regularly for one entire year. That means no crop on that ground, but the following year will be clean and bountiful with no weeds. Any weeds that try to grow then, are easily removed and the harvest will be double to make up for the off year.

We need to do this with this weed infested party. And we are doing it.

[levotb]

I disagree, mo.

There are MANY conservatives who are involved in local politics. However, if you value your life and don’t wish to get stoned of verbally pilloried by those attending and runing the local town council meetings in your area, you take your “political action” to the internet or elsewhere...if you’re smart, that is!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Me, I'm an American before I am a Republican or even a conservative. I will NEVER EVER vote for a rat or stay home in a hissy fit to make myself feel relevant.

Well, aren't you just special? You seem to believe that a person standing by a principle or two equals pitching a hissy fit ... yet you regard your principle of voting (R) no matter what as somehow being a proud American with the right to hurl insults at others? Wow.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I agree, this is no “Hissy-fit”. This is a calculated plan, supported by an amazing collective conscience among dedicated Conservatives.

[nathanbedford]

the party machinery is controlled by the president until a new nominee is selected at which time control pass from Bush to McCain. McCain will be no better than Bush, and fact, he will undoubtedly be far worse.

There is little that can be done until McCain loses the election at which point the Republican Party will become no man's land and will be up for grabs by whatever faction and prevail. In the meantime, every conceivable fight against McCain forces should be undertaken at the convention. Every fight will be lost but at least the ground will be staked out.

I believe it is up to every conservative to search his conscience about whether not to vote for McCain because there are compelling arguments on both sides. Doughty One has posted some compelling arguments to the effect that a John McCain in the oval office going over to the dark side would be a worse situation for conservatives van even an Obama presidency. I still intend to hold my nose and vote for McCain and immediately afterwards drink hemlock. However, I reserve the right to change my mind and vote against McCain if my conscience palsies my hand as I reach for the lever.

After the debacle in November, we conservatives, having staked our position at the convention, can say we told you so. However, in the absence of a paladin at the convention, conservatives are likely to be unfocused and irresolute to the degree that we are ineffectual and unable to make our point.

There really is no good way and no good options. We need a Reagan or a Gingrich but there is no one in sight who can seize the baton.

[SUSSA]

Before we all abandoned ship we ought to at least see whether or not we can mutiny.
###

We’ve been there and done that. It didn’t work. What we used to call the Rockefeller wing of the party simply started calling themselves conservatives and retained control.

Cheney, Bush the Elder, Rumsfeld, etc., were all against Reagan and the conservative movement. In one memo to President Gerald Ford, after Reagan’s unexpected success in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado, Cheney called the Reagan Republicans “highly motivated right wing nuts”, and said Reagan’s primary victories were “the result of skillful organization by extreme right wing political groups in the Reagan camp.”

They opposed Reagan’s run against Ford and backed George the Elder rather than Reagan 4 years later. When Reagan won the nomination some of the Party elite changed their tune and gave lip service to Reagan’s policies in order to retain power within the party. By the time Reagan won his second landslide all these Rockefeller Republicans were claiming they were Reagan Republicans. But they never really changed. They backed Bush, Dole, Bush, and McCain rather than conservatives in the elections since Reagan left office.

The party elite never gets purged. They are entrenched and in control and learned to talk about conservative ideas while rolling right along with their socialist light, mercantilist agenda. They don’t like conservatives and don’t intend to implement our agenda, ever.

Well, it’s time for Reagan’s “extreme right wing nuts” to leave the Republican Party to the Rockefeller wing and start our own party. The little people who gave Reagan two landslides haven’t gone anywhere. They are out there just needing the “right wing nuts” to once again become highly motivated and skillfully organized and give them a real conservative to vote for.

[RachelFaith]

An Obama Presidency would mean three things:

#1: A United, Conservative and Aggressive Opposition party, that sweeps into office in the midterm elections.
#2: No Moderate “R” as President to have to watch sell us out while we are force fed the BS line that we “must” support “our” President.
#3: A Conservative Nominee in 2012.

---

A McCain Presidency would mean three things:

#1: A divided party which remains weak, divided and in effective for the midterm elections and gives the Democrats a super majority for the next 20 years.
#2: Everything socially: from health care to global warming to Amnesty that a Barak Presidency would give us anyway.
#3: A nominee weaker and further yet to the left than McCain if not McCain himself, just moving further to the left in 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, etc etc.

---

CHOOSE WISELY !!

[TADSLOS]

Great encapsulation.

[nathanbedford]

I find very little in the review of the Republican Party since Reagan to quarrel about. While perhaps I might argue that, while you have the facts right about Cheney's remark, I think Cheney is reliably conservative today. God knows where we would be without him in this administration.

However, I do not conclude from the review that the best path is to abandon the party. The machinery is simply too valuable. When you say we should walk away and start our own party I think of the birth of Republican Party when it left the Whigs as a rump and watched them wither away. Perhaps that would also happen to the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party. But It simply will not happen, if it happens at all, for several cycles.

Anti-bellum Republicans had Abraham Lincoln at the birth of the party and we have no one with any charisma on the horizon to perform the same role. Moreover, we have no issue like slavery or the preservation of the Union which galvanized whole sections of the country. We have no savior and we have no overweening cause. Under these circumstances, starting a new party is a nonstarter.

[SUSSA]

You’re right that it took 3 presidential election cycles and a split in both major parties for the Republican Party to replace the Wig party and I agree that today we have nobody with the charisma needed to finish off the Republican Party.

However, had the groundwork not been laid years before, Lincoln wouldn’t have had a Republican Party to run in.

I’m optimistic that Bob Barr will get the Libertarian Party nomination. That will give conservatives a conservative to vote for who is on the ballot in 48 states. It will also mean that an influx of Reagan conservatives can start shaping that party and eliminating some of their crazy platform planks.

By 2010 we could have Libertarian congressmen and a Reagan style leader that neither you nor I know is out there could emerge by 2012.

It will be far easier to move the Libertarian Party than to move the Republican Party especially since their ideas are about 95% conservative any way.

I believe that is a better option than spinning our wheels sitting in a party that has shown nothing but contempt for us and our agenda.

Either way, if Barr wins the nomination I’ll be voting for him in November. He’ll be the only conservative on my ballot for president and I will not vote for another liberal.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you for your comments. They express the fact that you are looking at all angles here. I’d like to think you will be convinced to join me over time, but you khow what, I’ve argued both sides of this issue over time. I know where you are coming from. You take care.

[Antonio C]

And yet McCain is beating Obama in most polls. John McCain didn’t need money to win the GOP nomination, and he won’t need it to win the presidency. This election is about character and not $.

[Antonio C]

Let me guess: you supported Adolph Buchanan in the 96 primary and Howard Phillips in the general.

[mo]

“Your hero McNasty is all about making government central, gargantuan, unaccountable and all powerful......”

Unless you have two more conservative Supreme Court Justices somewhere, or a arsenal and militia behind your talk, The alternative to “McNasty” is an internationally well-funded anti-American alternative whose administration WILL, probably in its first hundred days priorities, figure out how to use the Patriot Act to shut down Rush Limbaugh, Free Republic and you and I. Just for starters. You are free to “stand on your principles” ....for which your fellow Americans may well pay dearly.

[airborne]

FWIW, McCain supported Harriet Miers, hardly a conservative.

[mo]

Ya...well a bunch of folks had to get up from the computer, head to the phones and faxes and spend some time and energy with their elected reps and lobbyists to fix that one.

The same folks also had to get up and stand in the way of amnesty last spring. So they’re to lazy or too worried about supporting Senator McCain...’cause they might have to do some work for their Republic if he’s elected. At least they’ll have some hope at having a say and influence in the outcome.

[dragnet2]

Before we all abandoned ship we ought to at least see whether or not we can mutiny.

My spyglass tells me the mutiny ended several years ago, when mutineers gave no quarter and were keelhauled, sold out for pieces of eight and then marooned..The ship sailed left into the sea of corruption, eventually taking on water, rolling on it's port side under the waves.

[sasportas]

Libertarian, eh? We social conservatives know only too well what we will get with a libertarian. No, nein, nyet, absolutely not.

[SUSSA]

You expect better from McCain?

If the LP nominates Barr I’ll vote for him. If not, I’ll leave the president slot blank. The Constitution Party isn’t on the ballot here so that isn’t an option and I will not vote for another liberal.

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/about/