An open letter to the political right

Townhall.com ^ | Aug 3, 2014 | Derek Hunter

[winner3000]

Dear “Conservatives” and “Establishment Republicans,”

I write today in the hope you all can get over whatever anger, distrust or bruised egos this primary season and political year has caused you. We on the right need to unite and send a message to progressives by unambiguously retaking the U.S. Senate in November.

We all have some problem with what’s happened so far. Someone we liked lost a primary. Someone we didn’t won. Some piece of legislation we hate passed; some other piece we liked did not. No one is completely happy, but we all know things can get much worse – and will if we don’t put aside what divides and do what we must for the cause of liberty.

The political right has a habit of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is exemplified by libertarians, and it’s the fast track to political irrelevancy.

Libertarians will hate that I’ve placed them on the right of the political spectrum, and indeed many of today’s libertarians indeed have no political home and are all over the map. Today, the term covers everything from the great Reason Magazine to big-government, socialized medicine-loving Bill Maher. The present day “libertarian” label can mean anything, so it means nothing.

But I’m not talking about those libertarians. I’m talking about the Ron Paul libertarians who were quite comfortable in a Republican Party with which they agreed on a majority of issues.

Back then, libertarians put aside their differences with conservatives and Republicans to work for the defeat of liberals and progressives. All three groups thrived, as did the nation. But now too many focus on the disagreements, the differences, and the scars that come with fighting for what we believe, win or lose.

Both sides have scars, but too many of us...

[raisetheroof]

party ID is meaningless

conservatism over leftism is what is important

That is exactly backwards. The majority in the Senate controls it, sets the agenda, chairs committees, decides what legislation gets voted on,... And that majority is determined by counting the number of Senators by their party ID. Not whether they are conservative or liberal.

[GeronL]

When GOPE Senators are voting to bring leftist bills to the floor from their committees, how can one tell the difference?

[raisetheroof]

Any compromise with evil (GOP-e) is a loss for good (conservatism).

Either you have a standard and adhere to conservative principles or you don't.

Has nothing to do with petulance...

Yeah, I used to believe that "the lesser of two evils is still evil", too. And even voted third party to show the world that I was taking the moral high ground. In my petulance, I was strutting my stuff.

Then I realized that by voting third party, a Democrat that won wouldn't listen to me, because they didn't need my vote to win anyway. And the Republican who lost, was in no position to listen, because, well, they lost.

Then, I grew up.

William F. Buckley once said that we should vote, not necessarily for the most conservative candidate, but the most conservative one than can win. Voting third party or staying at home, because the R isn't conservative enough, is a losing proposition.

[raisetheroof]

When GOPE Senators are voting to bring leftist bills to the floor from their committees, how can one tell the difference?

Give an example of such a leftist bill that they voted for.

And in any case, which group is more likely to write and vote for such a leftist bill? A Democrat or a Republican controlled Senate (even one that is GOPE)? If you say the GOPE, then we have nothing to talk about.