“Are you out of your stinkin’ mind?!”
The biggest enemy of free markets and low taxes was elected President - by 53% of the vote! ... OF COURSE the take home is that “economic libertarianism is not the winning issue”... and btw, the Obamedia will shove that down our throats in order to destroy the conservative coalition.
Folks on the right were tired of voting for the ‘lesser evil’? Fine. WE JUST GOT THE GREATEST EVIL OF OUR LIFETIME.
NOW WHAT?
Your point on the bailout was well-taken. McCain could have had a very different result if he took a different approach there ... but then ... that’s who mcCain is, the centrist maverick guy. how can we expect to get our guy elected when we are calling him “McLame” and the other names? the fact is, Obama’s panderings **worked**. $800 billion in new spending.side is practically worshipping their guy, warts and all?
We have a completely different set of standards/expectations. It’s fine to want Ron Paul policies, but he got single digits from the GOP primary voters, and was not the nominee.
We can clash and fight all we want amongst the scraps of the 55 million voters who voted for McCain. Some were social conservatives, some voted on guns, some on pro-life, some were fiscal conservatives, some were libertarians, some were moderates, some supported the war hero over the inexperienced marxist. Our turnout was a bit lower because of the lack of GOP energy and that was due to Bush’s unpopularity (Iraq etc) and McCain’s maverickness; thankfully Palin energized the base enough to avoid a worse bloodbath.
It would be insane to say that one single issue lost the election or one single issue or viewpoint could create a majority GOP party.
The real question is:
WHAT POLICIES WILL GET 51% OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO VOTE GOP AGAIN?
I certainly would put “get back to being fiscal conservatives” at the top of the list, but that’s just the start. And let’s not be blind: Hardcore libertarian and capitalist ideas are adhered to by only a fraction of voters. Lop off social conservatives and the GOP is a permanent minority.
What do you mean "lop off"? Can't you just browbeat them into voting for a platform of limited government and fiscal restraint by telling them that voting for a 3rd party is just helping the Democrats?