I previously offered the example of G.H.W. Bush, who not only essentially 'lied' about tax increases, but instituted 'gun control' restrictions as well."
Sadly, it's true that not all Republicans live up to our own ideals, some seem eager to bend over to accommodate the Democrats' agenda.
You may remember that, hoping to win over "moderates", both Bushes in effect ran against other Republicans.
Bush Sr., for example promised to be "kinder and gentler" than Ronald Reagan!
Bush Jr. claimed to be a more "compassionate conservative" than other Republicans.
So everyone thought, "oh, isn't that nice: kinder, gentler and more compassionate, what could be wrong with it?"
The answer is, if Republicans won't fight for our principles, then Democrats will quickly take advantage of our weaknesses to grow Big Government at every little opportunity.
WIJG: "The same is true of Republican voters; they do not always do the 'right' thing.
We've discussed the situation in Virginia; that is reportedly the direct result of only 40% of the registered voters in Virginia, actually going to the polls last November."
Sadly, as government grows, so grows Democrat party strength in & around Washington, DC.
The irony is that leaders like Pat Robertson & Jerry Falwell spent decades weaning conservative Virginians away from their historical allegiances to the Democrat party, only to see their hard work nullified by Big Government supporting liberal Democrats moving in from other states.
When was the last time Republicans won statewide in Virginia?
WIJG: "All in all, it may be that we should put less emphasis on the traditional party names, and more emphasis on actual performance.
Someone else once observed (and I think it's quite appropriate) that today's major political parties might well be referred to as "the Dishonest Party" and "the Stupid Party"."
In years past there were somewhat conservative Democrats and liberal or "moderate" Republicans, these days not so much.
The old "Reagan Democrats" are now pretty solid Trump Republicans and a whole new generation of working Democrats -- black & Hispanic as well as white -- are beginning for the first time to think that maybe a Republican like Trump has better ideas for them.
We can call them Trump Democrats for now, still not locked-in conservatives, but starting to like what they see in our President.
So how often do we find a real leader like a Reagan or Trump -- once, twice, maybe three times in a century?
Not near as much as we want, but maybe, if we try sometimes, we can get what we need... ?