Where Do Conservatives Go Now? Part 2 (Don’t Get Suckered into Supporting the Republican Party)

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.

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.

We have been operating under the rule of "Lesser of Two Evils" for decades. I have agreed with it. I now stop to ask folks, has our nation grown stronger over those decades? At some point we have to be honest with ourselves. For me, the answer is a clear, "No."

So instead of saying people who do this are wrong, I want to give them something to think about. Perhaps it will help them see things a little differently.

What we have been trying hasn't worked. We slide farther left every single year. At some point this has to stop, or we lose the nation we love no matter which party is in power. Take a good look at Mitt Romney. On just one topic alone, I can't vote for him. He's a gun control advocate. Once our guns are gone, they're gone. Bad as that is, it runs much deeper. I don't need to tell you about all of it. You know what I'm talking about. Romney is a blithering idiot when it comes to Conservatism.

Carter was universally scorned in 1980. Obama, arguably much worse, isn't. He is still wildly popular with the Left. Has our nation changed? It's my take that it is undeniably worse and in danger of cratering if we don't change direction. And where is the voice of the loyal opposition? That's right... crickets.

For this reason, I simply cannot fall back on the lesser of two evils rule of thumb we have always fallen back on. I say this because IT IS NOT a change of direction. If that hasn't worked, and it clearly hasn't, what reasoned argument is there for doing it again now? Well, to my way of thinking there is no reasoned argument other than the ones that have always been used to advocate for it. And that tactic having failed, the arguments in support of it are unsustainable.

We have tried this and failed. So now we must come up with something different. I, for one, will not sit by and play the business as usual game. The Republican party must be made aware that it cannot continue to thumb it's nose at it's core base.

Here's the political spectrum we should be operating under.

1780 [L---------c---------R]

This is the political spectrum that would reveal us to be adhering to our Founding Father's vision and our Founding Documents. This is precisely what the goal of Conservatives should be, to return to this model, and to do it as rapidly as possible. Are we trending back toward that model?

I see something like this.

1980 [L---d---r-c---------R] *
1984 [L--d----r-c---------R] *
1988 [L--d---r--c---------R] *
1992 [L--d---r--c---------R]
1996 [L--d---r--c---------R]
2000 [L--d--r---c---------R] *
2004 [L-d--r----c---------R] *
2008 [Ld--r-----c---------R]
2012 [Ld--r-----c---------R]

The sad fact is, we are trending away from Conservatism. That's why many of us are livid at our nominee this year. AGAIN!!!!

Here is where we are headed folks.

2016 [Ld--r-----c---------R]
2020 [Ld-r------c---------R]
2024 [Ldr-------c---------R]

Does that look enticing?

With the exception of Ronald Reagan in 1980 - 1988, we have been spoon fed our candidates. I'm not saying they spoon fed us the exact candidate, but they did take advantage of trends to make sure what types of candidates would get the nomination. How did the RNC manage that? It allowed it's primaries to be held under conditions that made it possible for Democrats to participate in the Republican nomination process. Did anyone think that was going to give us more Conservative candidates? No, it was a given that we were going to get more Leftists. And more Leftists we got.

The RNC also continually talked up our more Leftist candidates, and made it clear they frowned on our more Conservative ones. Look what took place this year. Rove, Card, other party officials and office holders pushed Romney as hard as they could.

Why would the Republican Party do this? For some time the leadership has been convinced that the nation was heading Left, and it didn't see any possibility of Conservatives being elected. Rather than look at our rich history and notice that our widest victories were realized when we played on our differences with Leftist policy, they decided to adopt more Leftist policy in an attempt to look more appealing. And as this took place, the information dispensed to the public heralding Conservatism ceased. And as the push for Conservatism ceased, the nation moved farther left.

We are now at the point where our Constitution, Capitalism, and other tenets of a sound Constitutional Republic are scorned.

Look at the graph above, and see how that worked out for us. Ronald Reagan was our last president who won with a large margin of victory. Starting with the elder Bush, that margin either disappeared completely or was so razor thin that we had a public perception of a Constitutional crises arise in the aftermath of two elections.

Moving to the Left only assured us that the real Democrats would get support. Why vote for a moderate Leftist when you can vote for the real thing? Did the RNC learn anything from McCain? No. Here we go again with Rove, Card, and the usual suspects trashing better candidates and singing praises to Romney from the get-go. What is our hope for the future, with the business as usual approach? Think of our elections since 1988.

And so we have come to the point in our nation's history, where the Republican party is now willing to promote people who don't give a damn about our sovereignty, our Founding Documents, the sanctity of life, our Second Amendment Rights, and more. At what point do we admit we have full blown Leftists running for office in our party, and refuse to play along any longer?

If Romney were running as a Democrat there isn't even the remotest of chances that you would vote for the man. But now, because he's running against Obama, some entertain the thought. And what happens in 2016, when a member of Hamas runs as a Democrat and The Republican is only as bad as Obama? Do we then vote for the mirror image of him?

Look folks, at some point we have to let the (R) party know, that they have jumped the shark, and we can no longer support what they want us to. You see, if we don't, we'll forever be voting for McCains, Romneys, and worse of their ilk.

If they can get a Leftist like Romney elected, it's effectively the end of Conservatism. No Conservative will ever get the nomination again. Should that be our goal? No.

Why do I say that there will never be another Conservative nominee in the future? Take a look at this election cycle, and realize it only gets worse from here if Romney can get elected without the Conservative vote.

I hope you'll join me in sending a message to the Republican party. That message states these things...

1. I will not vote for Leftists(R)
2. I will no longer support the perpetual movement of this nation to the Left
3. I will no longer remain an active member of the Republican Party as long as it fails to support a return to Constitutional governance
4. If you want my support and the support of other Constitutional Conservatives, you'll talk up people who share our ideals, and criticize those who do not share them
5. You will seek to change rules and tighten up processes thus enabling more Constitutional Conservatives to win elections
6. Failing that, adios...

/b

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