[PhiKapMom]

There is a difference between social conservatives and conservatives that are both social and fiscal. Social conservatives I have met are unbending under any circumstance and if they don't get their way, they will pick up and go home and let a liberal win. I consider them the "my way" or "no way" crowd. Look at what just happened in recent months, court rulings go against what they want and they want judges impeached and an activist court.

A conservative wants a strict constructionist on the Court to rule not make up things to suit their ideology. A Conservative is the broken glass Republican who will always vote. We have to beg the social conservatives to get on board so often because some candidate is not 100% of what they want -- remember the "purist" or "true" conservative that gets tossed around -- that is from the social conservatives IMHO. That's my interpretation of the difference between a conservative and a social conservative.

BTW, if you haven't guessed, I fall the in the Conservative Republican mold that understands you don't always get everything you want but you keep on trying and never fold up your tent and go home. If I was the type to fold a tent, I would have left this site in recent months but I have chosen to stay and fight the naysayers and doom and gloomers that are now populating this site. They have risen from the ashes of 2000 to be joined by newbies or at least new screen names from 2004.

[NeoCaveman]

I'm an across the board conservative, fiscal and social. This is the big fight. Nothing matters if our all legislation and our constitutional rights are shredded by a "moderate" Court

[Howlin]

BTW, if you haven't guessed, I fall the in the Conservative Republican mold that understands you don't always get everything you want but you keep on trying and never fold up your tent and go home.

Amen!

And some fall into the "As for everything and end up with nothing (except, of course, an issue!).

[mosquitobite]

A conservative wants a strict constructionist on the Court to rule not make up things to suit their ideology. A Conservative is the broken glass Republican who will always vote. We have to beg the social conservatives to get on board so often because some candidate is not 100% of what they want -- remember the "purist" or "true" conservative that gets tossed around -- that is from the social conservatives IMHO. That's my interpretation of the difference between a conservative and a social conservative. I'm not a social conservative, I'm a diehard conservative. I want a true originalist on the bench. Thankfully I think, is the fact that someone who IS a true originalist will also have the same positions as the ONE thing social conservatives want (overturning RvW). No where in the Constitution is abortion a right. If the libs want abortion, they need to get a law passed through Congress. Then the SC can uphold it ;) But I will NOT go for someone who is a moderate. I will leave the party for that!

[pollyannaish]

Excellent post. The group who would rather have a civil war than use the political process.

[Amore]

"I fall the in the Conservative Republican mold that understands you don't always get everything you want but you keep on trying and never fold up your tent and go home."

I agree, well said. Perfection would be nice, but realism tends to intrude.

[Sea2ShiningSea]

Great post. Yah, the "my way or no way" crowd does get tiresome. Throwing a tantrum and giving up never works.

[Theophilus]

• I think that abortion is 10,000 times more devastating to our country than terrorism or taxes.
• I love/need my guns but they did nothing to save the children at Waco.
• Gays and their quest for special privileges are a rash on the face of humanity but they will flame themselves out, besides legal celebration of divorce has killed the legal institution of marriage, the gays are just molesting the corpse.
• Fighting for commandment memorials and prayer in socialist/humanist/atheist schools is like rearranging the deck chairs on our titanic hearts.
• If the government can take the freedom and life of a precious little boy and send him back to slavery in a communist hell or if it can take your life and give it to an insidious unfaithful spouse who will starve you to death, how is taking your puny, taxed-to-oblivion, property and giving it to Wal-Mart any worse than that?

So, where does that leave me? Social Conservative or "broken glass" conservative. Maybe I'm just an almost bled-out almost apathetic conservative who needs just one more tiny paper cut much less a heart scooping sacrifice on the Aztec ziggurat of tolerance and moderation.

[republicofdavis]

"There is a difference between social conservatives and conservatives that are both social and fiscal. Social conservatives I have met are unbending under any circumstance and if they don't get their way, they will pick up and go home and let a liberal win. I consider them the "my way" or "no way" crowd. Look at what just happened in recent months, court rulings go against what they want and they want judges impeached and an activist court."

Hear, hear

[NeoCaveman]

Look at what just happened in recent months, court rulings go against what they want and they want judges impeached and an activist court.

I'd love to impeach Anothony Kennedy and David Souter but sadly we don't have the votes.

[GVnana]

if they don't get their way, they will pick up and go home and let a liberal win

Bump. A very destructive tendency. Such people can't be counted on for much.

[Oliver Optic]

Thanks for the analysis.

It is probably true that social conservatives are sometimes too purist for their own good.

The fact that their participation in politics is largely driven by issues relating to the moral foundation of our nation naturally makes social conservatives less able to compromise than those who are primarily concerned about, for instance, tax policy.

But if it were true that everything had to be 100% "our way," very few of us would still be Republicans.

[Peach]

BTW, if you haven't guessed, I fall the in the Conservative Republican mold that understands you don't always get everything you want but you keep on trying and never fold up your tent and go home. If I was the type to fold a tent, I would have left this site in recent months but I have chosen to stay and fight the naysayers and doom and gloomers that are now populating this site. They have risen from the ashes of 2000 to be joined by newbies or at least new screen names from 2004.

Well said, PhiKapMom. I fall in your camp as well. We get angry and disappointed, but we never give up.