Posted on 11/12/2012 4:44:25 AM PST by IbJensen
If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.
— President Calvin Coolidge
For five years I have consistently maintained that Mitt Romney could not be elected President of the United States. The only thing that changed was Barack Obama’s terrible debate performance and I made the unfortunate mistake of going with the herd toward “he can win now.” A year ago — to be precise, November 8th of last year — I wrote that Mitt Romney would be the nominee, conservatism would die, and Barack Obama would win. Regrettably, I told you so.
As I wrote would happen, Mitt Romney tried to blur lines with Barack Obama. He did not defend social conservatism, but let those attacks go unanswered. He did not articulate strong fiscal conservatism and he never repudiated Romneycare, thereby failing to make any credible attacks on Obamacare.
Conservatives and conservative institutions who embraced him early on are now scrambling to make excuses. They were so invested in a failure they cannot bring themselves to admit Mitt Romney and his campaign were failures. They were, to Republicans, what green energy is to Barack Obama.
Because these conservatives cannot accept that they were wrong, they must conclude that conservatism itself is somehow broken.
The darndest thing is I’m listening to all this handwringing and most of it is coming from a lot of people who’ve never really been conservative or supported conservatism. These people hated our ideas and values when we were winning and now choose this opportunity to sell us out the way they’ve always wanted. The conservative herd is headed off a cliff led by a consultant class that would otherwise now be swimming in pools full of dollar bills like Scrooge McDuck.
These people would have us believe that we must make fundamental changes to draw in new voters. We must exile social conservatives to bring in young people and single women. We must exile fiscal conservatives to bring in hispanic and black voters. With whatever is left from having exiled both, these geniuses would have us believe the Democrats in whose camp these groups already find themselves will just sit back and let it happen.
The Republican Party will never out Democrat the Democrats. Conservatives will never out liberal Liberals. We should not try.
I believe conservatism is the correct solution to our problems. I believe the Republican Party has a better chance of advancing conservatism than the Democrats. I believe many Republicans and conservatives embraced a failed, flawed messenger and now, instead of admitting their mistake, would fundamentally transform the Republican Party and the conservative movement into something it isn’t so they do not have to admit they were wrong all along. I believe that many of our present party leaders have no desire to advance any public policy other than that which they think is best poll tested to keep them in power and advance their career, regardless of the soundness of the policy or the intellectual underpinnings of idea.
No thanks.
At RedState, our front page contributors will continue to be pro-life. Our conservatism is not negotiable with the ebbs and flows of electoral politics.
We will continue to fight the left, but we will also continue to clean up the right.
Our Republican leaders in Congress are intent now on caving on virtually every issue. Karl Rove is signaling he will play in primaries to fight against conservatives. Even some conservatives think we should give up the fight against Obamacare, set up state healthcare exchanges, and succumb.
I have no intention of giving up the fight. I have no intention of succumbing. More bluntly, I have no intention of standing athwart history yielding to the Republicans who got us to this point and you shouldn’t either.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley
Well said.
If I don’t stand for something, Then I don’t stand for anything. This isn’t over.
“We will continue to fight the left, but we will also continue to clean up the right.”
Works for me. But can we PLEASE kick a little Lib @ss while we’re at it? Hurry, 2014! :)
Finally someone says it. So tired of all the “we quit” crap going on. We ran a rino and lost. Conservatism did not lose. In 2010 the tea party led to 60+ house seat pickups, we only gave back 3. We now have a record 30 governors that are republican. On to 2014! Fight!
Watch what dems think about the GOP-e plan to win votes by granting amnesty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KnXz_qZ5RE
Yes. BTTT.
Excellent post! We cannot back down from our principles!
Can’t help but think if Romney wasn’t a mormon he would have had a much better chance. I was not happy voting for a mormon. Maybe in 2016 we can nominate an atheist. Makes as much sense.
I have no intention of giving up the fight. I have no intention of succumbing. More bluntly, I have no intention of standing athwart history yielding to the Republicans who got us to this point and you shouldn’t either.
Sadly there are way more of them than us in the Republican Party. Time to form a Conservative Party and elect conservatives to local, state, and federal offices. It is easier to gain a majority in a smaller pool of voters. That will build a party from the ground up and force the GOP to the right. Nothing says we have to run a Conservative Party candidate for President in 2016, but watch out in 2020 and beyond. I just don’t believe we can change the Republican Party from within, but I do believe we can cause them to wither on the vine by growing an independent CP.
Malarky. That is the same garbage I hear every time on FR.
You mean to tell me that conservatives sat at home in ‘protest’ to not vote for Mitt knowing the alternative is Obama?
That makes no sense, no matter how many times Freepers squawk it.
Conservatives will never get control of the GOP. Even if we could, it would take 20 years. The only logical thing to do is cut our losses and start a third party.
Kill the GOP and launch something new, built from the ground up. It could be done in 8-10 years.
As a nation, we might not survive that long, but I see no alternative. The GOP no longer wants Conservatives, and we no longer want them.
I’m not quitting the fight. Working locally, starting within my own soul and that of my daughter. Rereading our history of our founding Fathers. Working with friends (those that remain) Working on election fraud. Working on a lot. But not giving up and not caving. EVER.
Why did you care that he is a Mormon?
Because I believe mormons are deceived people and I don’t want a president easily deceived.
Oh. Okay.
Remember one thing. According to the Bible, God chose Obama to be our leader. We don’t know the reason.
When God chose Clinton to be our leader in 1996, we despaired just as much but it later became a burden for the Democrats. If Clinton had resigned, Gore would probably been elected President in 2000. Instead, voters were sick of Clinton and his excusers and Bush won.
1. Obama being president means that the mainstream media cannot criticize the White House for another 4 years. “Scandals sell papers. “ You could some major shakeups.
2. The Democrats I know wanted to win the election but not necessarily with Obama. Like Clinton, he comes with a lot of negatives. The Recession is the biggest and Romney was the only hope of ending it. The Democrats don’t have a plan for the Recession.
I don,t think any one who truly believes something is going to give it up, i could not give up my belief in God even if i knew that i could have riches by doing it.
But conservatives who base their political belief on their belief in God should also be able to see the writing on the wall.
The Bible tells us plainly that these days would come, so if we pretend that it is not happening we are just fooling our selves, so i say keep up the fight but be aware of what we are really fighting.
I have been for a legitimate, conservative party of the far right for years!
I’m getting too old to do all the work, but see no reason why it shouldn’t start here. The Republicrats will never give America what it needs and perhaps this third party could siphon enough votes from the two establishment parties to elect a president and mess up control of Congress by either party!
It’s either this or a revolution! D.C. looks as bad off as Madrid did in 1936. We do have the communists and the homosexuals running things and ruining our lives and our nation.
Au contraire, mon ami.
(A little French talk there to toss a fish to our great allies.)
God allowed Obama to be elected twice just to see what we would do about it.
'Evil personified' is the definition that should be given to this most despicable administration in the history of mankind! Satan has kept working through people like Obama and his minions for eons. These people who he's surrounded himself with and those zombies who support him can't be human. Rather they're agents of satan himself!
I respectfully disagree.
Romney lost because he is a Mormon.
I thought he would perhaps still will, but he was outmaneuvered.
This changes things. I had hoped Romney would help straighten out America. Bring back some American jobs.
I do not see that happening much now. The sellers of America have won for now. More important they have a majority now also.
What we must do is to stop supporting the sell-out. Buy American. Switch sides if you have to.
America first.
Support companies which are American.
Stop selling us out.
“That’s Karl Marx Obama. That’s Hugo Chavez Obama. That’s Joseph Stalin Obama. This is a very dangerous man.” “This man is the most dangerous, most divisive, most evil – I’ll use the word evil – president in the history of America.”
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.