Posted on 04/20/2012 8:09:50 AM PDT by xzins
Fourth, Remember the Difference Between Republicans and Conservatives.
Conservatives look at the endorsements Mitt Romney has garnered from such establishment figures as former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and most importantly from business-as-usual Washington insiders, such as lobbyist Ed Gillespie, and they see advocates of positions they often opposed, not friends of the transformational agenda that won the Tea Party wave election of 2010.
Surveying Romney’s record and agenda, and most importantly the people he is likely to bring to Washington to implement his agenda, movement conservatives see little likelihood a Romney administration will differ from a Bush administration, or a McCain administration, or a Dole or Ford administration.
This is why conservatives remain so deeply skeptical of Mitt Romney’s candidacy for President. They look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts and the policies he espouses and see no commitment to the kind of transformational change the conservative movement has been working for the past 50 years to achieve.
Republican Party insiders still can’t come to grips with the reality that the rebellion of the small government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party is as much a rejection of their stewardship of the government – the earmarks and massive spending and debt of the Bush years – as it is a rejection of Obamacare and Obamanomics.
Let’s be quite clear – there is a difference between Republicans and conservatives. The goal of the Republican political party is to elect its candidates to control the levers of government power. Conservatives should not get so swept-up in the Republican Party’s campaign for power, that they loose sight of the fact that the goal of the conservative movement is to hold the government to constitutional principles, no matter what political party is in power, and in the process rejuvenate our society and culture.
Fifth, Don’t Get Suckered into Supporting the Republican Party.
If the difference between conservatives and Republicans is based in the conservative movement’s commitment to holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power, then one of the most important things conservatives can do is to support organizations that are committed to that same goal.
This also means declining to support organizations, including the national, state and local Republican Parties if they are not committed to holding the government to constitutional principles.
The folly of conservatives supporting the Republican National Committee, and many state Republican Party committees was made readily apparent during the presidential primary. In state after state the establishment GOP did its best to thwart the will of the grassroots conservative voters by using its power to tip the scales toward Mitt Romney to the disadvantage of the conservative candidates in the race.
In the same vein the Republican National Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have become virtual incumbent protection rackets – appearing to sell influence and access in return for donations to keep incumbent members of Congress in power.
Thanks in part to the ability of the new and alternative media, especially the internet, to empower grassroots activists it is now possible to bypass the establishment Republican Party. There are now dozens of sound organizations committed to constitutional conservative principles that are doing everything from training volunteers in grassroots campaign techniques to recruiting and training conservative candidates to run for Congress and their state legislatures.
Just because an organization has conservative in its name doesn’t mean the organization is actually conservative – especially if it is headquartered in Washington DC. Too many Washington-based organizations, even ones that began with the intention of fostering conservative government, have become part of the inside-the-Beltway Republican establishment.
Very often the best organizations to support are not the state parties and national committees, but the local groups; County Republican Committees and Tea Party organizations who share our values and are doing the hard work to elect conservative candidates to office up and down the ballot. By supporting these local organizations, which are always struggling to raise money, it is possible to know their leadership, know whether or not they share our values and determine whether they are accountable and effective.
During the Bush – Hastert – Frist years too many Washington-based policy organizations sold their souls for a few tickets to the White House Christmas party or a seat at the State of the Union Address. They failed in the real test of whether they were effective advocates of conservative policy – holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power.
Don’t get suckered into supporting the Republican Party’s incumbent protection racket. Donate only to small government constitutional conservative organizations and committees dedicated to holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power, and electing small government constitutional conservatives to office. Avoid establishment Republican-oriented organizations and Party committees that don’t hew to conservative principles, and work against conservative candidates and blindly support Republican incumbents even when they oppose conservative policies.
Sixth, It’s the Primaries, Stupid – Support Small Government, Constitutional Conservative Candidates
If 2012 is another big wave election, like 2010, but it sweeps into office the usual big-government, establishment Republicans, then we will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
Supporting small government, constitutional conservatives, no matter how far down the ballot they are is crucial to our long-term success, and running for any office, no matter how far down the ballot, is worthy of your efforts.
If constitutional conservatives are to govern America, we must not only elect a President and a Congress, but also city council members, school board members, state legislators, Secretaries of State, Lt. Governors, etc.
Of course, there are many good candidates already running who are with the Tea Party movement. However, the vast majority of positions on the ballot this year do not have small government constitutional conservatives running, and many will have incumbents who have not faced a contest in years.
We who want constitutional, small-government should be running candidates even when it appears they have little or no chance of victory. The mistake of assuming good candidates will emerge from the regular party process does not work most of the time because the establishment Republican Party has no real interest in the kind of transformational change sought by conservatives.
Do you really trust Party leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to build a Republican majority of small government constitutional conservatives? If we leave it to the national congressional and Party leadership to recruit the candidates we will end-up with a Congress just like them; incumbents such as Bob Bennett and establishment figures such as Charlie Crist, and Trey Grayson.
When making decisions about where to put their financial support, conservatives should remember that if the national Republican committees had their way, such now-stalwart conservative Senators as Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee would never have been elected.
The only time we are guaranteed to lose is when we don’t compete. In today’s volatile political environment, no establishment candidate is truly safe. The American people want the chance to take out the big-government, establishment politicians; put your money and your hard work directly behind those candidates who are committed to small government, constitutional principles.
Might as well vote for Obama.
So, you are telling me you are a Romney supporter.
Good, now look us conservative FReepers in the eye and say to us that Romney is a conservative.
Follow that by saying, “Romney is NOT a liberal.”
I agree. Their is little difference between the dem establishment and the gop establishment.
Just look at what Romney has supported. The other day, Rove sent a media message to Romney that it’s time to soften up on illegal amnesty.
You know...the Romney who gave honest candidates like Gingrich and Perry heck over their efforts to offer their solution.
Romney is a loser...he won’t win anyway. He’s not going to have his money advantage against Obama that he had against Perry, Gingrich, et al. Nor will he have major news, hollywood, newspapers, etc., all pushing his case. They were just make sure they got a liberal to run against a liberal....a win/win for them.
A liberal win in the republican party will turn that party totally against social conservatism for good. It will put the US back in the hands of “republicans” who thought Dick Nixon’s wage and price controls were just fine and dandy.
It will make cronyism (whether crony corporatism or friendship nepotism) the “socialism” practiced by republicans. It will be the type of government control of resources and production done via connections, understandings, and deals.
A vote for Romney or Obama is a vote for the end of American freedom.
If we checked the record, we’d find that Mussolini operated largely in the spirit of corporatism/elitism.
Excellent post, Doughty. There is no doubt that decades of “lesser of 2 evils” voting has driven this nation to the brink of socialism and into the pit of immorality.
You're like an obese person who argues that he's going to lose weight by cutting back from eight pieces of cake a day to seven and gets spitting angry when the fallacy of his strategy is pointed out to him.
So, you’re saying that my feeling of self worth and the way my wife and dog feel about me is dependent on who the Pubbies put up for president?
Wow...
Obama is the devil.
I'm really sorry you can't see that.
I have to ask this question. Why do you not despise Obama and see how evil he is? As for Romney, I happen to think he will govern pretty much according to the polls if he is elected, which isn’t good but is much better than what we have now or will have if Obama wins.
“I see two things dominant in your posts: wishful thinking contradicted by the evidence as to what Romney won’t do, and extremely emotional clouding of perception on all things anti-liberal, anti-Obama, and anti-Democrat. You’re like an obese person who argues that he’s going to lose weight by cutting back from eight pieces of cake a day to seven and gets spitting angry when the fallacy of his strategy is pointed out to him.”
PLUS, just as FR is likewise divided today, a republican congress will be divided between the “support a repub prez at any cost” crowd and those who will not compromise our conservative values, and conservative representation for the next four years will be essentially, neutered.
Dems will chortle about the “do nothing” republicans, give the people-pleasing Mormon Bishop a sniff of cooperation, lead donkey Romney with a carrot stick of connections and influence, and face little hindrance in their continued downgrade of the country, and introduce their next Messiah with the preamble that whatever cannot be blamed on Bush, is now Romney’s responsibility, and Obama was a misunderstood genius whose ideas were never permitted to bear fruit due to republican obstruction. At that point people will be so sickened by anything that comes from a flip flopping republucan party, that the Dems could get Charles Manson paroled and elect him.
Our only shot is to be a conservative party, because the former definitions of Republicanism are now meaningless. Whether or not a President is a true conservative during this uphill battle, is as vital a question as whether a lump on your wife’s breast, is benign or cancerous.
People are afraid...they’re facing hard times,
and rightly so, when a clear and present danger to the security of the United States is presently resting his Italian leather shoes atop the executive desk in the Oval Office. Those that are comforted by anyone Caucasian and Republican in office must hink a Republican nightlight will keep the boogeyman away for four years.
They fail to realizethis is no longer an uncompromised electoral process, what America is truly facing is not a conflict over what our country should be, this is a cold war intended to destroy what America is.
We cannot contemplate being led by closet Nazis onto our present-day Omaha beach, nor can a man hailing Emperor Hirohito retake our Phillippines, it is suicidally asinine to employ liberals in a war against socialism...such a betrayal spits in the face of every American family that has suffered during this long retreat.
We face a long road ahead. The Tea Party secured a beachhead, conservatives have dug in. It’s time to start battling for every inch of ground and cut off our enemy at the knees. Do you choose leaders who will frustrate the enemy’s every design, or those who will acquiesce at every opportunity?
Which flag will you follow?
Hell yes I support Romney but you go ahead and vote for Obama.
Yep. The Free Republic stopped being fully conservative around the TEA party time. You heard the calls for the TEA parties to abandon their calls to cut spending and to end their push for small-government in favor of abortion and gay marriage.
And it’s snowballed since.
At best, this place is just a traditional values and religion site, now.
No, I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying, is that I will not vote for a man who has been a willing participant in the violation of every patriotic/conservative principle that I hold.
Doing such would be compromising my personal honor and integrity to a degree that would shame me for life. I could never again look another conservative in the eye, and tell them that I can be trusted to stand firm on our mutually held core values. I'd be a liar, if I did.
Once a person has lost their personal integrity, they've lost everything. It's all downhill from there.
Now, having said all that, if you can't see any other choice but to violate your personal integrity in this election by abandoning your principles, then I'm sorry for you. I'd rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.
Liberals quite clearly want the Democrats to win the election, because they know if they win they get more of what they want.
While a protest vote, stay at home, etc might give a very temporary bite of protest satisfaction, the reality is that you will then have less of what you want, and you will get a more liberal candidate in future elections.
More Obama means more Kagan and Sotomayors on the SC. More Obama means more Solyndras and less Keystone pipeline. More Obama means Eric Holder can continue to safely race bait with his AG title. More Obama means Cap and Trade, Buffett Rule, and in general more taxes, less civil liberties, less fossil fuel and less employment.
Not voting for Romney is like saying you won’t buy the car because it is green instead of blue, and instead you’ll get Obama who will give you a walking stick instead of a car.
I think our difference is that I view Romney as a mushy moderate rather than a full-blown liberal.
Follow the context of the previous posts and get back to me.
I see a lot of "I" in there...so you weren't talking about me, merely projecting.
Now, having said all that, if you can't see any other choice but to violate your personal integrity in this election by abandoning your principles, then I'm sorry for you. I'd rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.
With Obama in for another 4 years, you just might. I can't predict the future.
Voting against Obama will not hurt my personal integrity at all. If he loses, I will be dancing in the streets and high fiving everybody who voted likewise and laughing in my lib friends' and relatives' faces.
If, after 3 years, you don't see the evil that is the Obama regime, nothing I can say will change your mind. Not that I really care if you do or not.
I'm not here to convince you one way or the other. The evidence of the last 3 years speaks for itself.
I suspect it would poll 19%, just like when HRP ran in 92.
Baraq wins with a Clintonian plurality.
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