Posted on 07/31/2007 4:51:01 AM PDT by Valin
The Upcoming Presidential Election Should Be All About The Supreme Court for Social Conservatives
Big Trouble
We are in big trouble. Whether you consider the historical cycle of presidential elections; the results of the 2006 election; the mood of the country; or the unfavorable ratings of the President, the odds are that conservatives will have our heads handed to us on a silver platter in 2008. Unless our movement gets its act together quickly and gets on the same page, one thing is for sure-- we are in big trouble.
No Perfect Candidate
Many conservatives are frustrated by the field of candidates running for president--and understandably so. There is no perfect candidate in 2008. There is no Ronald Reagan. Even the best of conservative candidates (announced and unannounced) have political warts. We have hawks with liberal views on social issues, recent conservative converts with questionable policy histories, and social conservatives with histories of personal moral failure and others just not able to mount a viable campaign or raise money. Whether the problems are policy, personal or political in nature, all the 2008 choices have considerable weaknesses. Folks, welcome to the fallen world in which we live. As Francis Schaeffer used to say, "Things are not as they ought to be..." Actually, there was one perfect candidate-but we crucified Him 2000 years ago.
Principled Pragmatism
As principled citizens how should we now respond? Whine and complain? Protest and not vote? Let a liberal win and hope to come back in four years? None of these options are the highest or most principled expressions of our citizenship. As social conservatives, we should always wrestle with how to reconcile the tension between principle and pragmatism. If we support only what appear to be front runner candidates, we will sell our souls to be political insiders. If we support only the purist long shot candidates, we risk foolishly forfeiting any realistic opportunity to affect public policy through political change.
All The Marbles Are For the United States Supreme Court
Most of all of the great culture war issues of our day can be directly traced to bad decisions by the United States Supreme Court. Consider this: duly elected legislative branches of government are not ultimately responsible for abortion on demand, legalizing same sex marriage, protecting pornography as free speech, removing faith symbols from the public square, and undermining private property rights. Instead, these moral and social ills are the responsibility of unelected, unaccountable members of the federal judiciary who refuse to recognize their limited and restrained role as jurists and insist upon acting as social change agents.
Changing of the Guard
Between age and ailing health, most legal observers believe we are all but certain to see two, maybe three, US Supreme Court justices resign between 2009 and 2012. Since most of these justices are liberals, the 5-4 majority our opponents have enjoyed could be either dismantled or reaffirmed for the next couple of decades. In the final analysis, the 2008 election presents us with the most significant window of opportunity to change the direction of the court (and hence the culture war) that will occur over the next 15-25 years.
The Bottom Line
There are really only two equally important questions conservatives should ask about the upcoming presidential election: 1) Which candidate is most likely to pick the best judges AND 2) Which candidate is most likely to win both the primary and general elections. Every other issue is just window dressing. If we all stick together, work hard to reach a consensus and use these questions to think about the election, we might have a chance to elect a conservative who could produce historical pro-life and pro-family victories in battles many of us have been fighting all of our lives. But, if we all act independently and support our favorite sounding, best looking, or even "most conservative" candidate, well, then--did I mention? We are in big trouble.
John Stemberger is an attorney in Orlando, Florida who serves as the President and General Counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council. The mission of the FFPC is to strengthen Florida's families through public policy research, issues research, and grassroots advocacy. The FFPC is associated with Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family.
In other words: Get behind Fred!!
Yes, Supreme Court judge nominations are extremely important, however I don’t consider the WOT “windowdressing”.
Save it, bud. I'm not voting for RINOs.
Hunter or Paul. period.
Of late I’ve come to understand those who obess on immigration, as I am the same on the GWOT/Iraq.
It would be nice if social issues were at the top of the heap, but they aren't. The only thing that counts right now is what we are going to do to overcome the Muslim menace.
ML/NJ
Sheriff Joe is the way to go.
Best of luck
I am not frustrated with our candidates, there are three or four good ones I would be happy to support. And I am excited about our chances to get a real conservative who could whip the over-hyped Clinton/Obama.
This is spot on!!!!! I have been sounding this alarm for years now, the libs know the power is in the courts, and have been using the courts to issue mandates to the unwashed masses...we cannot make changes to our government without the supreme court, period. If another vacancy occurs on the court right now, there will be no replacement confirmed. This is because conservatives chose to stay home last election. We need the senate and the white house one more time to make the changes. This WILL be the last election I hold my nose on, but without the court, all other battles are pointless....
yeah I know.
Damn straight!
We sure showed them in 2006! To hell with SCOTUS, we’ll fix that in the 2030 election.
Same here. If Giuliani gets the nod, I'm voting 3rd party or write in.
_________________________________________________________
My first thought was that the article made a lot of sense, and mostly it does, but: what good are socially conservative judges if we have to face Mecca 4 times a day and pray or lose our heads. The WOT has to be our first consideration. The Muslims keep saying that we are fighting the crusades and I say they are right. This is a holy war. It is not only a holy war, for these Muslims want world domination I think their stone age religion is only an excuse and tool to use for domination. I will not be forced to pray to the Muslim god, I will lose my head first.
All that being said I am not anxious to lose my head. We need to win! We need to win big! If we do this right it may keep this nonsense religion in check for another couple hundred years. During that time we can work on what is right for society until The Lord comes and takes control.
Which candidates can win the WOT? That is the real question we should be asking ourselves. I think all that are running right now for the Republican primary except McCain could do a creditable job. There is a lot not to like about a couple of them. Some have no management experience, some have flip/flopped and some sound naive but they all sound committed to the WOT. I may not like the nominee but this election cycle I will work for whomever wins the primary, this is war after all.
Republicans mimicking Democrats just to win, would no longer be representation for me.
It would be likely that a candidate, tough on immigration, would be also for good SCOTUS justices.
yeah, but thanks to bush boy
there will be almost certainly a democrap president 2008.
bush boy was too self absorbed to come out and defend his policies
after abu ghraib and guantanamo
.
to the american public.
i have tv-moron neighbors that were foaming-at-the-mouth angry at bush after abu ghraib and guantanamo.
democrap tv media knows how to control the masses.
the “support our troops” bumper stickers are almost gone.
i live in a republican u.s. congressional and state assembly district and almost no republican supports bush boy.
The perfect reason to avoid Giuliani.
President Hillary Clinton thanks you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.