Posted on 06/03/2011 8:21:34 AM PDT by kevkrom
I'm a Republican In Name Only (RINO). And happy to be one.
Of course, I'm not referring to the same definition of RINO that is prevalent on this forum. And frankly, I'm not even sure what the current definition is, except perhaps for each person using the term meaning "someone who disagrees with me on any issue I deem even moderately important".
Seems like a corruption of language to me. The original usage of RINO was to identify and label elected Republicans who behaved like and voted with the Democrats. It was never a measure of conservatism, per se, but one of party platform, loyalty, and discipline.
What's lost in the recent usage of the word is that the Republican Party is not a conservative party. It simply isn't. Conservatives make up a large part of the party, but not the whole of it, especially in the party structure and leadership (an oxymoronic term at times, to be sure). However, the GOP is the natural home for conservatives because there is some overlap on key issues, and the political deck is stacked against creating an effective alternative party.
So, conservatives are stuck with being Republicans if they want to have any voice -- there simply aren't enough of us, nor do we have the infrastructure, to go it alone without the GOP. Conversely, the Republicans ignore conservatives at their own peril -- they are not a strong enough party to win elections if the conservatives stay home (or make protest votes).
And that is why I'm a RINO. I'm a registered Republican, and intend to remain so. But I'm a conservative first and foremost, and my loyalty to the Republican Party extends only as far as the that party remains a vehicle to accomplish conservative goals.
Ironically, many, if not most, of the so-called RINOs out there are better Republicans than many of the posters at this site. They're not conservatives (or not strong enough conservatives for some), but they're most certainly not RINOs -- they simply represent the "establishment" and "elitist" wings of the party instead of the conservative one. Don't confuse "Republican" and "conservative" to mean the same thing.
Would "Democrats" do?
Regards,
TS
Otherwise you do not qualify ~ now you might be a "wannabe" but historically RINOs were used by the Republican party to gain caucus members (in legislatures, city councils, Congress) in Southern states, or other areas with an enormous Democrat party registration advantage.
There was usually always some Democrat second tier guy who was conservative enough for Republican tastes who would agree to caucus provided he had Republican backing in the campaign.
The more recent phenomenon of referring to Rockefeller Republicans and adherents of the Nixon tradition as RINOs is in error ~ it exists on FR and elsewhere ~ but misusing it as a term for LIBERAL wastes a perfectly good word and leaves folks befuddled with what to call Texas Govenor Perry, or a couple of US Senators, and maybe a Congresscritter or two ~ who ustabedemocrats but won office with the Republicans and finally converted.
Perry, like the others of his kind, are REAL RINOs. And as folks are discovering, he's not as conservative as they imagined ~ he has, in fact, a touch of larceny in his heart eh! (bwahahahahah!)
You've hit on something there. While conservatives are only a large part of the GOP, there are many of us who left the GOP over the years, (myself following the 1996 Dole-Kemp fiasco), who are independents, but still ardent conservatives. Limbaugh is right when he says we are the majority.
The Pubbie Party is the endangered species, not we conservatives. IMNSHO, we can go it alone, without the GOP, but they'll die once and for all without us.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Your point is an excellent one. Actually, though, it’s “real” conservative I have a problem with, as “conservative” in the political sense as it has no single type or definition. “RINO” is used mostly by self-styled “real” conservatives for two purposes. The first is to shut down any speech with which the person (people) using the term disagree.
The second is to label almost all Republican candidates and elected officials as unacceptable.
I am absolutely convinced there are some Dem operatives here who do that simply create divisions among the type of conservatives who frequent FR.
I’m not a Republican, I never have been, I am a conservative who is part of a movement to take over the Republican party.
We use the word rino to describe Republicans that are part Democrat, we attack them and their selection as candidates to move the goal posts, just as they and the left have attacked ordinary, run of the mill America for 80 years to move the goal posts of what is mainstream, and what is “conservative”.
And on the same note, it seems that those who use "RINO" in that sense, never get around to performing the one true service that their supposedly knowledgeable use of the term would imply: that of defining what constitutes a "True Republican."
And of course, they cannot do so -- because it seems that nobody in the GOP has been able to do that since the days of Reagan. There are lots of narrowly-focused interest groups, and like any political party lots of people who are more interested in gaining and keeping power, than in figuring out what they really stand for.
But as a matter of political philosophy, it seems that the GOP is pretty much without an anchor. And the conservatives in the GOP have, if anything, even a less-firm grasp of what it means to be "conservative."
≤}B^)
If the Republican party wishes to call itself the conservative party (and it does) then the traditional definition of RINO stands.
You may be correct, but I think the number of such people is small in comparison to the genuinely conservative people who are too proud of their own opinions to see the merit in other points of view. The truth is, we conservatives are and have always been our own worst enemies.
No. Definition of a RINO is fairly simple to me. If they do not support the Platform of the party, they are pretty much a RINO. The way I see it you have a scale of RINOism. Pro-Life is part of the platform, so strike against the Pro-Choice people. Traditional marriage is part of the platform, and so forth and so on. If you are willing to compromise on these issues, or are flat out against them you become more and moe RINO as the disagreeable issues increase.
I pledge fealty to no political party.
They must court my vote.
The GOP obviously doesn’t know their history.
They were an insurgent third party that destroyed their parent party in the late 1850’s. Remember the Whigs, you pantywaist RINOs? How many Whigs have held office since 1860?
The GOP may someday soon suffer the same fate as the Whigs.
Who really ticks me off are those who periodically pretend to be conservatives when they are nowhere even close, and there's no better example than the little admiral, John McQueeg.
It's a copy of the US Constitution. I support it, and any laws made under its auspices that do not violate its express limits and prohibitions. Under this framework of Federalism, I support States "rights" as long as they do not violate any of the express prohibitions or limits on States powers under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I no longer know if that makes me a conservative, a libertarian, a conservatarian, or some mish-mash of the above. I do know that it puts me squarely against ANYONE trying to expand government or excusing government over-reach.
I am not alone and we are not happy.
Good thread post. To summarize:
You can be a conservative and be a Republican.
You can be a Republican and be a conservative.
You can be a liberal and be a Republican.
You can be conservative and not be a Republican.
But you cannot be a conservative and be a liberal.
(Note that “Liberal” is used instead of “Democrat”. The two terms are completely interchangable in a way that “Republican” and “Conservative” are clearly not. You cannot in any way, shape, form or definition be a conservative and be a Democrat. Being a Democrat is like being preganant. Just a little bit Democrat is all the way Democrat. There are no more men like Zell Miller in the Democrat Party.)
Yes, for sure conservatives are all too often their own worst enemy. I see this all the time here in California. Very frustrating.
No, I am not a RINO. and I will have the sense to stay as far away from the label as I can.
I also am a Conservative first-—and a Christian, even before that.
But when we use the term in a pejorative sense, we are looking at the ideals of what our party represents.
Read the writings of Reagan. Look at our historic beginnings. Compare the national, state, and local platrforms of the Republican party as compared to that of the anti-American democrat party.
Look at the direction in which the Republican party is moving and note the party affiliation of those who are taking the strongest conservative stands in congress.
When you call yourself or anyone else a RINO, you are not paying a compliment.
Is it fair to say that today’s RINO’s are what were once called JFK Democrats?
When I hear RINO, I think Snowe, Collins, Scozzafava, Crist. In other words, GOP darlings. In fact, it seems here lately that the GOP spurns demonstrable conservatives in favor of “Dem-Lite” RINO’s.
Unless someone can drastically helm the GOP back towards conservatism, it will be primarily (in my eyes) the party of Dem-Lite-RINO’s.
As far as I am concerned, we *do* currently have three parties: Dems, GOP and Tea-Party-Conservative (TPC). In any race between a Dem, a GOP darling and a TPC, I will always vote for TPC. In the general election, I have no choice but to vote GOP. I just hope that also happens to be the TPC candidate.
After the Crist/Scozzafava GOP-RINO debacles, I’m not giving one thin dime to the GOP or any candidate that would in whole or part, route my financial support to the GOP. My contributions are probably unnoticeable compared to most (budgeted about $1750 last time), but I think if enough of us starve that damnable GOP beast, they will eventually consider doing something to earn our support again. Until then, I conrtibute directly to the candidate of my choice and have no interest in allowing the GOP RINO club to dilute my contributions by skimming their cut off the top.
So, GOP & RINO have become interchangeable to me. They will stay that way until they start proving themselves otherwise.
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