Posted on 12/15/2003 5:54:40 PM PST by Theodore R.
That's false, Burke. Completely, totally false.
It is hyperbolic, but not totally false. I seldom hear Republicans defending their core principles. Instead, most Republicans seem ready to abandon them at the drop of a hat. The Republican response to Clinton's (IIRC) seventh State of the Union Address was an example of this: for nearly every expansion of government Clinton proposed, the Republicans proposed a smaller version. Never once do I remember them they questioning whether the expansion was a good idea in the first place.
Abandoning principles while arguing specifics is a guaranteed-losing formula. After all, if the Democrats propose a $10B program and the Republicans pare it to $5B, how can the Republicans really defend their position? Since the Republicans support the program, it must be a good thing. So why wouldn't bigger be better? And of course, if the program is allocated $5B and has major cost overruns, how can the Republicans avoid blame, when they refused to allocate for the program as much money as was "needed"?
For whatever reason, Republicans consistently fail to defend conservative principles. Regardless of whether it's because they're really liberals in disguise, or just because they're incompetant oafs, their failures are numerous and consistent. Whether or not it's appropriate for conservatives to abandon the Republican Party, they should at the very least acknowledge its severe shortcomings.
It would go something like: Don't spend $40 billion on new entitlements. Don't spend money like drunken sailors. Don't sign bills that you admit are unconstitutional and pass the buck to the judicial branch, which can't be trusted. Pretty simple...just watch what the GOP does on spending issues, then don't do it.
Nonsense. You are confusing spending with principles.
Republicans frequently defend conservative principles such as bans on abortion, lower taxes, strong military, faith-based charities, less regulations, etc.
For instance, we wouldn't have passed Concealed Carry Weapons laws in more than 40 states without Republican leadership at the state level, and we wouldn't have repealed the ban on arming pilots without Republican leadership at the national level, either.
True, true. Some people like to whine fromt he sidelines instead of ever actually doing anything to make the situation better.
Republicans frequently defend conservative principles such as bans on abortion, lower taxes, strong military, faith-based charities, less regulations, etc.
For instance, we wouldn't have passed Concealed Carry Weapons laws in more than 40 states without Republican leadership at the state level, and we wouldn't have repealed the ban on arming pilots without Republican leadership at the national level, either.
Well, there are some principles Republicans will defend, granted, and some states actually have conservative Republicans in control. But I very seldom see the Republican leadership at the national level make any principled arguments against expansions of government power, except when the leadership must do so to protect its own turf.
The Republicans and Democrats, at least at the national level, simply play "Good cop/bad cop". People need to recognize that in that game, the "good cop" is not your friend.
Simple, sensible and direct. Thank you.
Interestingly enough: I have yet to see any of the Oh-Woe-Bush-Is-the-New-George-McGovern types pestilenting these boards ever, ever respond, credibly OR concretely, to Southack's irrefutable mega-listing of solid, hard-fought and invaluable c-o-n-s-e-r-v-a-t-i-v-e accomplishments, these past three years. (See posting #7 in this very thread, for latest example of same.)
Now why, oh why might THAT be, I wonder?
No... no, wait. I guess I don't really wonder, after all.
It's genuinely pathetic, how some hereabouts have somehow managed to delude themselves into believing, post-Reagan, that "conservatism" is all about matters of purse, and purse alone; rather than the sacred, true conservative ideals of (oh, say) exporting and safeguarding democracy, both here and abroad; or working on behalf of the helpless unborn; or even (if Mammon's is the only standard to which they'll willingly bend the knee) lower income taxes for working families, nationwide.
They are -- increasingly; ultimately -- the Republican equivalent of the Green Party: noisy, self-aggrandizing... and (blessedly, in the final analysis) self-marginalizing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.