Posted on 01/25/2016 6:39:44 AM PST by AndyJackson
Your principal link at the very beginning does not work. You may want to coordinate this piece, or withdraw it.
We can disagree, enjoy losing.
Yeah, I’d rather not have people you on my side.
I did you the honor of reading your entire post. I find it a helpful point of discussion.
I’ll caveat now that I’m a Cruz guy, and I’ve been extremely reactionary of late on FR.
You make some valid points concerning strategy. I made similar points concerning Trump’s virtues in a vanity several weeks ago, interestingly I was roundly flamed by Trump supporters for suggesting Trump as a strategy and not an ideological match.
What I find troubling is the inability to question Trump’s merits and discuss his weaknesses in a deliberate manner with Trump supporters. I’m troubled by a very real sycophant reaction. Rarely do I see anything rational on how Trump is going to further conservative aims, either directly or indirectly. Being in charge of an out of control government is better than not being in charge, but I really don’t want an out of control government.
I’ve mentioned on FR before that I oddly find myself split between defending Trump, and arguing with Trump supporters.
If we are talking about using Trump as a tool, then I’m listening, but I’m not signing up to be Trump’s tool. I’m sticking with my own ideology.
Although I back Cruz, I’ll acknowledge that he has many weaknesses. He has no executive experience. He does not have a large network of his own people, which could be problematic in fleshing out the bureaucracy without relying on the GOPe. I’m open to listening to criticism on those points and more, but when the knee-jerk reaction to all opposition to Trump is attacks on the fundamental character of Cruz, you’re losing my support, not gaining it. Not because Cruz is faultless, but because he deserves better for his very real conservative efforts and D.C. battle scars. There is also the very real human nature, that if anything I say is going to be rejected out of hand, then I’m not going to be a very open listener.
I’d like to hear more about the strategy of using Trump as a battering ram. I think that there is a logical argument for getting a consensus to limit vast Federal power by abusing it ourselves. Dangerous, but logical.
Goof article. Trump is certainly a very smart and educated man and I honestly believe he loves this Country.
I’m making a double entendre with the Spanish name, but the e with an accent messes up here on FR, so the joke is less clear.
Absolutely brilliant. Thank you ....
I always marvel at those who seem to have to get a dig in at the millions of us who worship God on Sunday and are conservatives. Maybe you would love to flush us out of the conservative movement and embrace the atheists among us?
Exactly.
The big loser in this election cycle has been the word "conservatism." Trump doesn't really use the term. All the other Republican candidates anoint themselves in the term but use it as either 1) a euphemism for Chamber of Commerce crony capitalism, 2) a euphemism for rule by television-evangelist-quality theocrats or 3) some combination of the two. This is why "conservatism" nowadays has more negative connotations than positive in the eyes of much the public.
Those constitutional conservatives who are not interested in crony capitalism or television evangelism are orphans with no political party and no candidates. We gravitate toward Trump because we believe he is at least an excellent motivational speaker and has a chain saw—which will be more useful to the nation than what the other candidates are perverting "conservatism" into.
I am not attacking those who worship. I am pointing out that a certain part of the presumed base of conservatism has evolved along with the rest of the country and presumptions about the political potency and efficacy of those cultural presumptions needs to be reexamined.
obama has proven to be the middle left’s King Saul - clamoured for by the people and a total disaster for all
Trump, while preferable, and apparently more palatable on the surface, may end up being the middle right’s King Saul.
Pretend that Trump’s recent past has no meaning at everyone’s peril. Trump has never marketed himself as a Conservative; he has marketed himself as a liberal supporter, though. True Reagan switched parties and brought forth a tidal wave of Conservative thought and action. Trump is no Reagan, and his proclaimed conversion has taken a fraction of the time that Reagan’s took, without the associated proof of change that Reagan had.
Disclosure - I am a Cruz supporter; I will hold my nose and vote for Trump, should it come to that, because of his stated stances on certain key issues.
"Why drinking salt water while adrift at sea in a drought is not suicide"?
It all depends -- on how you define murder, suicide, and conservatism.
Some of us have already tried this approach, of telling ourselves why voting for a liberal wasn't voting for a liberal, and we've finally figured out that all it does is to continue to put leftists in office, as surprising and illogical as that outcome is! *rolls eyes*
Keep kidding yourselves that you aren't accountable for what you vote for. That kind of thinking on the part of conservatives and Republicans for the past 40 years is how we got to this point -- why change tack now, it's working so well????
It’s postmodern conservatism....
Trump dominates here, so I’m not sure what this is about. More goofiness.
As a protest to the insincerity of the question, I would also say yes.
Just repeating Trump’s own words...
I’m with you, but I’d have to hold my nose on Trump. Something doesn’t smell right there...
Ted or Donald though, either are better than Bernie or Hillary by light-years.
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