Posted on 09/05/2016 10:25:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
All #NeverTrump conservatives maintain that their decision to never vote for Donald Trump is guided by their principles. I have no doubt that this is true.
But some of them seem to imply, or at least might think, that conservatives who vote for Trump have abandoned their principles. Indeed, the charge of compromising on principle is explicitly levied at Republican politicians and members of the Republican "establishment" who support Trump.
I cannot speak for all conservatives who are voting for Trump, but I can speak for many in making this assertion: We have the same principles as the #NeverTrumpers, especially those of us who strongly opposed nominating Trump. That's why we opposed him, after all. Almost everything that prevents #NeverTrumpers from voting for Trump also troubled us about the candidate. (I should note that some of us are less troubled today.)
So where do we differ?
We differ on this: We hold that defeating Hillary Clinton, the Democrats and the left is also a principle. And that it is the greater principle.
Obviously, the #NeverTrumpers do not believe that. On the contrary, some of the most thoughtful #NeverTrumpers repeatedly tell us that the nation can survive four calamitous years of Clinton-Democrat rule. And then, they say, conservatism will have cleansed itself and will be able to take back the nation, whereas if Trump wins, he will be the de facto face of conservatism, and then conservatism will have been dealt a potentially fatal setback.
This argument is profoundly mistaken.
It assumes that America can survive another four years of Democratic rule.
And it depends on what "survive" means. If it means that there will be a country called the United States of America after another four years of a Democratic presidency, and after, quite possibly, another four decades of a left-wing Supreme Court (as well as dozens of lifetime appointments to the equally important lower federal courts), then country will surely survive.
But I do not believe that the country will surely survive as the country it was founded to be. In that regard, we are at the most perilous tipping point of American history.
It is true that the country was threatened with survival in the 1860s, and only a terrible civil war kept it whole. But with the colossal and awful exception of slavery, neither side challenged the founding principles of America.
That is not the case today. One side seeks to undo just about every founding principle that made America exceptional. Important examples include small and limited government; preservation of the power of the states to serve as political and social laboratories; a belief in individual responsibility; a society rooted in Judeo-Christian morality -- one composed of people who nearly all affirmed in God and Bible-based moral teachings; and a deep sense of a unifying American identity and destiny.
The left is successfully undoing every one of those founding principles.
In fact, the left and the Democratic Party (which are now indistinguishable) boast of their aim to do so. As then-Senator Barack Obama accurately prophesied in 2008,
"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
And for the first time in American history, a man calling himself a socialist won the great majority of young people's votes in the Democratic presidential primaries. Sen. Bernie Sanders' new political movement is accurately named "Our Revolution."
Of course, for conservatives "our revolution" occurred in 1776. So the left is in fact leading a counter-revolution.
Therefore, with another four years of Democrat-left rule -- meaning a nearly permanent left-wing Supreme Court and left-wing-controlled lower courts; the further erosion of federalism; an exponential growth in the power of the federal government; further leftist control of education; and the de-Americanization of America in part by effectively eliminating its borders, in part by substituting multiculturalism for American identity and in part by giving millions of illegal immigrants citizenship -- America will not be America.
We conservatives who will vote for Trump understand that he is the only vehicle we have to prevent this. We recognize that though there are some fine individuals who hold left-wing views, leftism is a terminal cancer in the American bloodstream and soul. So our first and greatest principle is to destroy this cancer before it destroys us. We therefore see voting for Donald Trump as political chemotherapy needed to prevent our demise. And at this time that is, by far, the greatest principle.
Liberalism is the Zika virus of the 21st Century.
Trump is an old-school John F. Kennedy liberal as opposed to being a movement conservative.
But I prefer him because I’m repelled by Hillary and everything she represents.
Trump represents the values of people of his generation who made America great.
That’s the reason I’m proud to cast my vote for him.
Stopping Hillary from inflicting more damage upon our country is both an American and a profoundly conservative principle.
Schlafly sees potential for a fresh ‘conservative revolution’ with Trump
Sept 4, 2016 article.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/4/phyllis-schlafly-sees-donald-trump-conservative-re/
Arriving Tuesday: “The Conservative Case for Trump,” by constitutional lawyer and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly and co-authors Ed Martin and Brett Decker. The trio have declared that “a surprising conservative choice” for president is none other than GOP nominee Donald Trump. Both Newt Gingrich and Laura Ingraham give the work a thumbs up.
“If you can’t stand Hillary Clinton, but wonder if you could vote for Donald Trump, you need to buy this book,” Regnery Publishing advises.
“For the first time since 1980, a significant number of Republicans are considering abandoning their party’s nominee,” the book notes, deeming this phenomenon a “grave mistake.” Mrs. Schlafly and company say the Trump brand of “radical redirection” could actually set America back on the path of Ronald Reagan’s conservative revolution.
If Trump loses. Trump’s movement will live on so those nevertrumpers who think they will have a chance in 4 years will be sadly mistaken. All those who betrayed us will be remembered because in 4 years, its going to be NeverCruz, NeverBush, NeverRomney
.....and follow through with it......if Trump loses because of globalist elites in the GOPe undermining the will of the majority of GOP voters it will be time to resurrect another Tea Party movement on steroids....
Neverholdmynoseagain!
...a society rooted in Judeo-Christian morality...
The bedrock of the foundation.
Without it, the entire structure will crumble and collapse.
Comparing Trump with Clinton and saying one or the other is the lesser of two evils is EXACTLY what has been done in several of the past elections. Simply, both parties put forth a poor candidate and the voters are expected to pick which of the two evils they prefer. This pending election it is much easier to select the “lesser” and hands down, Trump is the winner. There are things I dislike about Trump but they are far out weighed by the extreme faults Hitlary posses. GO TRUMP!
There is “principles”.
Then there is “how we see ourselves”.
For many in the conservative Republican tradition ... my cultural ancestry ... Open borders, free trade are beyond the labels of Conservative or Republican. Free movement of people and goods ranks second only to being a Christian.
That is the reality of our culture. Trumpism is just not who we are. It is very difficult for us to pretend to be something that we aren’t.
We aren’t like Hannity and other talk show whores who can change ideology on a shift in ratings. We aren’t like Republicans who come from a Democrat culture such as the old South or labor union Democrats. Free movement of people and commerce was never part of their culture.
But for us freedom is important.
Many of us will end up voting against Clinton. But it isn’t easy.
When I abandoned my principles in 2000 and in 2004 to vote for another Bush. They were OK with it.
When I abandoned my principles in 2008 and voted for McCain I didn’t hear a peep.
When I abandoned my principles in 2012 to vote for the liberal Romney I was acting in the greater good of the country.
Now when our nation is in the greatest peril it has been in decades...now all of a sudden when two of the most corrupt politicians in our country’s history are on the verge of seizing control..it is now all about principles?
I was a Cruz supporter during the primaries. But he now seems to be an inflexible zealot, and along with Bush, Kasich and the rest who could not recognize a clear and present danger if it were staring them in the face, are hiding like cowards in their safe and cozy rat holes, far, away from the scene of the battle. Give me real soldiers like Rudy Guliani anytime, anywhere over “principled” deserters like them.
The only principle the NeverTrumpers have is to keep the Cheap Labor Express running.
If Trump loses, the GOP is DOA.
They will lose their base and gain no one.
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