Hugh, in fact. Have you even read your own FReeper page ? You admit to being Libertarian. That’s at odds with many aspects of Conservatism, and you certainly can’t be the latter “as the day is long” when you admit to being a combo of the two. Nevermind your usage of the phrase “purist”, a leftist/RINO/troll talking point heard ad infinitum on these boards when real Conservatives demand (gasp !) Conservative standards from allegedly “Conservative” Republicans.
I wrote my page years ago when I was having a dalliance with the Libertarian party when I was in my mid twenties. I was attracted to them them because they were the only ones who would say out loud that they wanted to abolish extra-constitutional government agencies like the departments of Energy and Education.
I have since accepted that there is such a thing as politics, and that you have to get the people on your side to make real changes to the system. That’s why I have dropped my earlier purism and come to support the Republican party which for all its faults is the only practical vehicle to advance conservative principles within the American political system.
Look, I can out pure all you supposed purists. As a matter of philosophy I’m ready to cut government to the absolute bone. My instincts are radically constitutionalist and minarchist.
I just think we need to be serious about what we’re up against here. The left spent the better part of a century marching through our institutions. If you think we’re going to undo that by needling the hapless Republicans with passive tactics like sitting out elections or patently stupid tactics like voting for Democrats, then you are pathetically mistaken and part of the problem.