My main point of opposition with your post lies right here:
"I don't agree with you (from your previous posts on other threads) that the Republicans need to sacrifice conservative goals in order to appeal to the moderates."
Self-described conservatives seem to believe that they own the GOP, and that everyone else who belongs needs to adhere to their ideology.
The Republican Party, in order to survive, must be a coalition, that coalition must recognize dissimilar points of view, and honor its membership by supporting their causes.
If conservatives feel that this is something that they can't tolerate, then they need to form the American Conservative Party, and advance their own ideas.
Luis Gonzalez wrote: "The Republican Party, in order to survive, must be a coalition, that coalition must recognize dissimilar points of view, and honor its membership by supporting their causes."
I don't disagree with that. Just remember recognition goes both ways. It doesn't mean I give up everything I want so you can get what you want. And, that's the point I've been trying to make throughout this thread. I don't think it's a big deal for libertarians to let us social conservatives have a few things while they get what they want. I ask again, was it really that great a sacrifice for the libertarians or moderate Republicans when we tried to save Terri Schiavo? What was so unreasonable about trying to save the poor woman's life?????
"Conservatives" have regularly supported bigger government and more government intrusion into the lives of citizens; convincing voters that you mean what you say when it comes to supporting the notion of smaller government, is going to be difficult a best as our record points in the exact opposite direction."
How so? If we could actually declare war on someone or something in particular, the wiretapping and Patriot Act could be limited to only a wartime initiative. No one here is in favor of these things as a general rule of thumb, but we are fighting a new kind of war - one where the enemy is living among us.
Other than that, conservatives do not support more intrusive government. We want the federal government to do what it was intended to do, which is mainly protect us. If the Dems were not blackmailing us in order to give us financial support for the war, there wouldn't be such a big problem.