[Ophiucus]

You are wrong. The Republican party was founded on the foundation of abolition. In fact, it was a litmus test to be a Republican back then

LOL - you are so wrong - "brimming with wrongability."

As was the case in most other Northern states, The Republican Party in Illinois contained a number of diverse factions. There were outright abolitionists, and the Free-Soilers who had a more conservative bent; there were former Know-Nothings who distrusted foreigners and German-born voters who were repelled by Know-Nothingism. there were former Democrats and there were old-line Whigs to whom all Democrats were suspect;" - The Coming Fury, Bruce Catton

The precursor to the Republican party was a group of "anti-Nebraska zealots," Road to Disunion, William Freehling, but they failed to produce a national party. That required the larger conglomeration or broader views.

GOP simply stopped preaching the Gospel

Isn't that the problem with Gospel - people have different interpretations and those that don't agree are by definition, heretics.

[agitator]

I'm beginning to get nauseated with people who allege to be "conservatives" when in fact they are at best Republicans and at worst just party hacks.

First, they're the useful idiots of liberals because they have allowed the libs to re-define "conservative" from the right to the center and then promote that redefinition as if they were a pig like Michael Moore

Second, they think they're "conservatives" when they're just Republicans - the two are not synonymous nor mutually exclusive

Third, they bought into the liberal lie that W is a conservative which he never was, isn't today, and probably never will be - in spite of the fact that he's done many things that conservatives admire

Fourth, if they really believed their own line and were interested in W winning instead of wallowing in their hackism, rather than inviting potential W votors to stay home by pissing them off, they would be politely offering to forward the disenchanted folks' objections to the RNC and then STFU

Fifth, I hate hypocrites. If the smart thing to do is to vote for W in spite of his shortcomings as seen by the conservative crowd, at least call a spade a spade and deal with it instead of rationalizing like some delusional idiot in de Nile and promoting the propagandandistic, lefty redefinition of "conservative"

Sixth, if anybody wants to know what a conservative is, see Phyllis Schlafly. Ah, but I guess because she's a Real Conservative® the hacks think its ok for her to be visciously trashed as a fifth columnist

[harbingr]

...'the GOP simply stopped preaching the Gospel...'
'Isn't that the problem with Gospel - people have different interpretations and those that don't agree are by definition, heretics?'

They are also called Protestants (and they cannot agree with one another either)...

What is required is a Catechism, and Here it Is:...

Constitution Party 2000 National Platform

...True Conservatism based on Our Original Constitution...read it and lament that it is NOT the Republican Platform (and probably Never Will be...but Should be)

[FirstPrinciple]

The Republican party largely came out of the abolition movement. Also included other social reformers like women and free soilers. But, largely, the party was a political voice for abolitionists. Lincoln ended slavery by opposing its expansion into new territories. The South knew it and had to secede.

I have no problems if people interpret the Gospel of conservatism differently. As long as they accept the basic tenets, they are fine. The problem with Republicans is that they deviate from basic tenets of conservatism. There is a lot of room for improvement if you believe in the fundamentals. We should teach the mantra of limited government, not actively promote it. We should teach people how to be self-sufficient, not give them handouts like govt healthcare. Republicans (a huge number of them) not just have a different interpretation of the Gospel. They outright reject it.