Posted on 10/31/2015 1:37:12 PM PDT by xzins
Tom Tancredo has long been a Conservative stalwart, with a lifetime rate of 99% per the American Conservative Union for his 10 years in office. He writes over at Breitbart that he is leaving the GOP
In a panel discussion at the University of Colorado after the recent Republican debate, I was asked by a student why she should be a Republican. The question forced me to ask myself the same thing.
I gave the young woman the standard talking points–that Republicans believe in smaller government, individual rights, fiscal responsibility, and free enterprise. But as I drove home, her question–and my inability to respond with any level of real conviction–got me thinking: Does the Republican Party leadership fight for these values and principles today?
After much thought, I reluctantly concluded that the answer is “no.†The proudly socialist Democrats are full of passionate intensity, while the Republican leadership is full of pathetic excuses. After this week’s House GOP “budget deal,†which betrays nearly every promise made to grassroots conservatives since 2010, I have decided it is time to end my affiliation with the Republican Party.
This decision has been incubating over the past 17 years, years of watching the downward spiral of the Party of Lincoln and Reagan into the Party of Democrat Lite.
He notes that the GOP establishment was very much for immigration non-enforcement, and he was repeatedly abused by Speaker Tom Delay and Karl Rove, the latter telling him “never to darken the White House door again” over his opposition to Bush 43’s immigration policies.
He goes on to discuss the GOP’s historic gains in the House and Senate
Yet, despite these historic gains, nothing changed. The GOP neither advanced a conservative agenda nor checked the radical “transformative†agenda of Barack Obama. We got condescending lip service, and nothing more.
- Promises have been broken and principles abandoned, while millions of American families watched their dreams slip further and further out of reach.
- Republican congressional leaders maneuvered to deliver votes to fund President Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty order, and more recently, his unprecedented job-killing EPA rules.
- They have voted twice in four years to violate the very modest, bipartisan caps on spending put in place with the laughably-named “Budget Control Act†in 2011 — and now have abandoned the caps completely.
- They have voted to continue funding what is essentially a $500 million macabre earmark for abortion provider Planned Parenthood.
- They have voted to fund Obamacare, and despite promises, have never passed a complete repeal of the PPACA.
- No one has been held accountable for the outrageous IRS and VA scandals.
- And now, as icing on the poisoned cake, House Republicans have elected a Speaker who was not asked to renounce his commitment to open borders and amnesty, policies which will betray the values of 75% of the party and give Democrats a permanent electoral majority within a decade.
Even in foreign policy the Republican Party leadership has deceived those who elected them by engineering passage of the pathetic Corker/Cardin amendment – which greased the skids for President Obama’s flawed Iran deal to clear Congress without having to meet 67 vote threshold for ratification that the constitution requires for binding international treaties. No one will be surprised if they do the same thing with the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.
When we get to the latest GOP sellout, the latest “budget deal”, which Tancredo mentioned at the beginning, the GOP had nowhere else to go. They’ve been conceding the highground to Obama and the Democrats since the GOP regained the House in 2011, much less their squishiness since Obama took office in 2009. They’ve failed to hold the line since they took over the Senate this year. This set them up for a situation where they couldn’t fight Obama, and, really, according to Tancredo, and what Conservatives have witnessed for this century, they didn’t want to fight.
There’s lots more in the piece, which should be read by all Conservatives to understand exactly what the GOP Establishment is doing, but he ends noting that he will now be an Independent, and will fight hard to get the best Conservative, Ted Cruz, elected president. Sadly, if Cruz wins, he would still have to deal with the Democrat Lite GOP Establishment, which seems to want to fight Conservatives more than Democrats.
And now, as icing on the poisoned cake, House Republicans have elected a Speaker who was not asked to renounce his commitment to open borders and amnesty, policies which will betray the values of 75% of the party and give Democrats a permanent electoral majority within a decade.
Tancredo is a great guy. A shame he never became President.
At this point, I’m a republican because I want to vote in the primary and I don’t want democrats gerrymandering me into liberal hell.
He also said he is going to work to get Ted Cruz into the White House.
tanc speaks the truth. welcome to the defacto independent conservative party.
So where do the independents go? The machine is going to run Hillary as a Dem.
Whats the problem? We have to electGOP no matter what. Just ask any leftist Freeper that posts that daily. they aren’t hard to find and they will be happy to tell you how we just have to unify behind whoever the GOP puts up because winning is what matters. Not principle.
Perhaps you have seen leftist freepers say it. I know I have. “The only principle I care about is winning”.
Well, we shouldn’t be surprised at the result then should we.
To Paraphrase Reagan: I didnt Leave The Republican Party. They Left Me.
He has done as I and many of my friends.
The GOP is only slightly less slimy than the Gimmecrats.
I despise them both and know they will be the prime enemy when CW II starts.
I think they are more slimy. The GOP hides their true motives, whereas the Dims tell you up front.
So rather than fight for his ideals within the party he jumps for the Democrat/Liberal side? What a hero, a rollover.
Yep. I tell people all the time I am a Republican In Name Only.
More. Hamilton said it best. Better the enemy in his camp than yours.
CWII, WWIII, at this point what difference does it make.
As long as we don’t leave the Republican party with John McCain, or Jeb Bush, or some other half-wit as the party nominee, fine.
I’m remaining in to vote against these ass-bites.
Why didn’t folks leave the party when McCain was nominated? Now we have a guy on the horizon that may do a very good job, and NOW they want to bolt?
Scratching my head... You could wait this long Tom, but you can’t wait until November 2016?
Good luck with that nonsense.
Yet again Tancredo shows good judgement.
i don’t know brother, if you’re in a closed primary it’s probably rigged in some way. if your in an open primary like us, it doesn’t really matter.
I hope he’s registered in an open primary state, because otherwise he won’t even be able to vote for Ted in the primary.
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