Independents and converted Democrats are voters, who in large numbers don't feel represented by the politicians of either major party. Reagan got millions of votes from these groups by presenting a pro-American vision for the USA.
RINOS for the most part are already politicians who wear the Republican label, but have become hopelessly compromised and corrupted, such that by one method or another, bribe or extortion, they are pressured to vote with the Democrats and betray every plank of the Republican platform.
RINOs are the people who vote for anti-American trade agreements to the detriment of the majority of American citizens. They are the ones who vote with the Democrats for un-Constitutional nanny-state laws that violate the rights of every citizen. They are the ones who support open borders when the illegals are displacing millions of citizen workers. They are the ones who support unneeded visa work programs that have displaced millions of citizen workers in high tech and engineering. They are the ones who vote with the Democrats on environmental regulations that push factories overseas and displace millions of citizen workers. They are the ones who vote with the teacher unions to defeat voucher bills. In all their scams, a few of their supporters get filthy rich, while the vast majority of citizens get the shaft.
Romney, Huck, and Pawlenty are all RINOs. Each of them can offer favors to their select few members of the Republican party, but neither of them can unify the party because they have no respect for the Constitution or for the entire population of citizens. To those voters outside their select group, they have to lie to get the votes.
On the other hand, a Constitutional conservative can honestly represent the interests of the whole nation of people, based on the governmental constraints in the Constitution, and supporting the rights to life, liberty, and property of every citizen.
Thanks for explanation. I do see an intermingling of the elected with simply voters so still don’t understand distinct differences. I just say we take votes wherever we can get them.
Lots of voters think they need a "balance" between Republicans and Democrats, between congress and the executive, but that is only true when RINOs are the Republicans in question. The tug-of-war is still between two groups that practice group politics.
A conservative executive and a conservative congress, operating on Constitutional grounds, would be a balanced government. They would not represent special interest groups on either side; they would simply govern according to the Constitution. There is no precedent to use as an example, because this has never happened since the founding, and is unlikely to happen now. But it is the ideal envisioned by the founders.