[af_vet_rr]

I truly believe a conservative could win the general election, just not the GOP primary.

I used to think that, but I'm not so sure anymore.

A large part of the election process is buying votes.

Sure, nobody is slipping a $10 or $20 to people in the voting lines, but they are buying votes by the kinds of programs they pledge to support, and the kinds of policies they plan on supporting or implementing.

The easiest way to visualize it is this: Think about two candidates running for Congress.

Candidate A is going to bring home the pork - he/she is promising to bring some project from NASA or the DoD into your area, which means an increase in jobs, which means an increase in customers for you, more sales taxes to (in theory) help improve your area, etc. etc.

Candidate B is vowing to reduce government spending and to stop the pork, the wasting of tax money, etc. This could lead to job cuts in your area (say there is some kind of government-funded project going on there, and it really is a waste of money), or lack of future jobs in your area.

Most people are going to vote with their wallets. It's the nature of the game these days. It explains how liberals can continue to win elections, and it explains why we have such a huge government.

[madconservative]

The only problem is that if we offer 10 million, the democrats offer 20 and call us stingy and racist. I don't think even moderate republicans will survive long term with such compromised positions.

We might as well stand for something.