Posted on 10/22/2014 2:21:52 AM PDT by servo1969
The Republican Party simply doesn't get it.
A new poll this week shows 2012 presidential nominee and 2008 primary candidate Mitt Romney leading the field of potential 2016 Republican candidates. According to ABC News/Washington Post, 21 percent of Republican voters would vote for Romney in the primaries; Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee tie at 10 percent, followed by Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Paul Ryan. Altogether, some 44 percent of Republican primary voters want an "establishment" candidate -- by which we mean a candidate for whom social issues are secondary, immigration reform is primary and economics dominates.
The establishment donors on the coasts see this poll and believe that a consolidated funding effort mobilized behind the Chosen One (Romney, Bush, Christie or Ryan) could avoid a messy primary and keep the powder dry for a 2016 showdown with Hillary.
The conservative base knows this, and they groan.
That's because the conservative base understands that what motivates them is not the marginal tax rate -- nobody in the country knows, offhand, his or her effective tax rate -- but values. And none of the top priorities for Republican donors match the fire-in-the-belly issues that motivate the folks who knock on doors, phone bank and provide the under-$50 donations that could power a Republican to victory.
The divide between the establishment and the base represents a divide between the wallet and the working man, the penthouse and the pews, the Ivy Leagues and the homeschools. Which is why Republican leadership quietly assures its top donors that should Republicans win the Senate, their first legislative push will encompass corporate tax reform and immigration reform. They will not push primarily for border security, or for protection of religious freedom, or for repeal of Common Core. They will not use their opportunity to govern as an opportunity to draw contrast between conservatism and leftism. Instead, they will seek "common ground" in a vain attempt to show the American people that efficiency deserves re-election.
And the American people will go to sleep, conservatives will vomit in their mouths, and leftists will demonize Republicans all the same.
Conservatives understand that politics simply reflect underlying values. That's why they are passionate. They don't vote their pocketbooks. They vote their guts, and their guts tell them that leftism is immoral on the most basic level.
Republicans, on the other hand, believe that politics are just business by other means. That means that Republicans think Americans, left and right, share the same underlying values. That's a lie, and it's a self-defeating lie at that.
Until Republicans begin to appreciate the moral conflict between right and left, they will dishearten the right and provide easy targets for the left. The nominee won't matter; elections won't matter. And the alienation of the American conservative will deepen and broaden, until, one day, it bursts forth with a renewed fire that consumes the Republican Party whole.
Not unless you toss a bucket of water on her sister, Fauxahontus, ELIZABETH WARREN.
Excellent article, as far as it goes.
Amen my friend. Both Gingrich and Santorum were infinitely better candidates than Romney, but conservatives split their votes and found fault with certain positions both of them had. I hope we nominate a conservative candidate in two years time, and if we don’t then that’s our fault. We need to consolidate the conservative vote to deny the establishment from picking the nominee, and not split it like we did in 2012.
In the referenda on "gay" marriage, where it has a ballot line all to itself, it still loses almost everywhere, though by less every year.
But when it comes time to tick the box for Candidate A versus Candidate B, for most Americans (including a lot of people who are registered Republican and tell the pollster they are "conservative") the candidate's position on "gay" marriage is about 137th on the list of things they are thinking about.
Because as I and Sherman Logan and a couple of others have said here, an FR-lifer, viking kitty conservative would be damn lucky to get 25 percent of the vote.
The question for me is, when Ted or Sarah or whomever takes that tack to the center, will FR collectively freak out, take its ball and run home, weeping tears of rage and betrayal.
I hope not.
Not stupid at all, I know liberals who are saying the Democrat ticket will be Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Sadly, no longer true. I believe all the referenda in 2012 passed.
At the present time we're at something like 34 states that have legalized it, with the method split about 50/50 between political means, legislation or referendum, and judicial decision.
When has that scenario played out here at FR?
What policy changes by the US government do you suggest?
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