Posted on 11/09/2006 1:23:34 PM PST by MarkDel
"Social conservatives" need to get over the idea that government is an appropriate tool for advancing their social/religious agenda. Then they can band together with libertarian and fiscal conservatives to get rid of all the government programs that puch ANY social/religious agenda.
Start with the public schools, and on the federal level, the whole behemoth of the Dept. of Education, which collects taxpayer money from all over the country, and then redistributes it to public schools with onerous strings attached, and as college student loan subsidies and grants. The latter have enabled teenagers to bypass their parents' common sense in choosing colleges, majors, and course (and enabled plenty of adults to bypass the concept of financial self-sufficiency and study idiotic things with big taxpayer subsidies). Eliminate all federal student financial aid, and most of the pseudo-academic departments and courses, which are staffed by loony leftist professors, would quickly go out of business for lack of students. The loony leftist professors would find out the hard way what their real value is in the free market.
Given the hisotrical losses of other President's during the midterm elections, this was quite mild by comparison. Why allow the media to characterize this loss or the reasons.
I hear Australia is nice.
But Canada is more conservative than the US, and we can more easily move back after Pelosi has been hung.
I say Newt/Rudy would be a perfectly balanced ticket to encompass the entire Conservative/Republican ideology. Or even Rudy/Newt if that's what it takes to win...
What next....it's the fault of the Neo Cons?
We are at war and the MSM determined that it's not a just war. How to overcome that when most of the country thinks the ecnomy is terrible for the other guy. That the war is not fighting, even tho it's the other guy fighting, that the entire republican party is corrupt, nevermind that Enron began under slick willie, that the dot com bubble ws created during slick willie.
An educated voter is impossible to find in this country.
Don't forget, Newt won the R straw poll earlier this year. He's laid low to avoid DBM fire - good idea.
What are you talking about??? That's ALL you got out my initial post? Where did I say it was Christian Conservatives fault???????
Then you have the audacity to complain about "educated voters" when all you got out of my long and detailed analysis, which both supports and criticizes ALL conservatives, including the group I consider myself a part of, and you come up with the singular conclusion that I'm blaming everything on Christian Conservatives???
Perhaps YOU are a shining example of why we find ourselves in our current dilemma as the Conservative Movement...
What do we DO? Well, one of the first things we do is watch the congressional Republicans who are now in the minority and see who distinguishes themselves as fighters, and who decide to be collaborators with the Democrats.
When the Democrats start trying to organize committee investigation witchhunts against Bush, I want to see which Republicans start throwing wrenches into the gearbox with filibusters of our own. I want to see who the most ruthless and intractable bastards are, and who the Democrats hate the most.
I want us to learn from what the left wingnuts actually did right and adapt and emulate. Venues such as Youtube, Vidilife, and Google video need to be exploited. Vichy Republicans (rinos) need to be mercilessly hounded at every turn.
We lost a battle, not the war. We lost this battle because our opponents adapted and came up with some effective new stratagies, while our own leadership decided to diss it's own base.
This is just the start of what we need to do.
Yes, that all makes sense over the short term, but how do we address the long term "cracks" in our coalition, which I think are undeniable?
One way to address the "faultlines" would be to start stressing more federalism and devolving power back down to the states. Then the libertarian and social conserative areas of the US will have more control over thier respective backyards and not feel so immediately threatened by whatever consequences result from the ideology of the other.
Did I try to shoot you down? I like the sound of that one, actually. At least, we know where they stand on the issues...
That is also a very, very good idea. It was also part of the Reagan model that worked so well.
Jack Ryan, Please call Carl Rove's office.!
Maybe because I read your every word.......
WHAT???
This is what I actually said..."CHRISTIAN/SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES--This group has truly been the backbone of the Party in the Reagan era and beyond. They have been reliable voters who generally have accepted modest return on their investment in terms of their loyalty...though they do expect SOME return, and their demands have increased in recent years. They have drifted away ever so slightly the past two years, mainly because of their disgust with things like the Abramoff and Foley scandals, as well as some other issues related to Republican corruption. But also, there has been a general feeling pervading this community that perhaps they have not been rewarded enough for their loyalty. Their worst fears seemed to come true when Republicans foolishly compromised on the issue of Judicial Filibusters. When that fool John McCain and his so-called Gang of 14 led Republicans to drop the so-called "nuclear option" that confirmed the worst fears of many Social Conservatives that the Republicans either took them for granted, or they lacked the moral courage to do the right thing in the face of pathetic behavior by the Democrats."
How in the heck is that laying all the blame on Christian Conservatives??????
Please stop already.
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