Conservatives Have Stepped In It Again!

When searching for answers as to how we got here in America - here being a steadily accelerating march into Democratic Socialism - there is plenty of blame to go around. Personally, I don’t see an innocent individual in the lot.

Those who consider themselves to be the most politically astute people in America, conservatives, have once again been out-foxed by those they call ignorant. Forest Gump’s momma was right; stupid is as stupid does! Steeped in worthy principles, yes. Politically astute? You must be kidding…

America has exactly the mess of a government it deserves because it always has the government it elected. No matter which partisan group we claim our own, there is no escaping responsibility for where we are as a nation today. In reality, our messy government is a precise reflection of our very messy electorate.

But as a lifelong conservative myself, I want to focus on my conservative brethren in this column. I want to talk to my own peeps!

Before we can advance a conservative agenda in America, we will have to figure out how to advance a conservative agenda within our own party first. Conservatives are going to have to face some hard realities about how our agenda became only a fringe side-show in a nation where most of the population is actually far more conservative than the government it keeps electing.

So they keep losing and conservatives have once again positioned themselves, or allowed themselves to be positioned, to lose again in 2008. The fact is, they have done both.

Conservatives have proven themselves to be the most ineffective political constituency in America today. The track record can be summed up no other way. Although they represent the principles and values of more than 70 percent of Americans, they can’t seem to get their act together or lead that 70 percent of the country in a single direction. So, the better organized minority movement wins.

Unlike their opposition across the aisle, who not only find a way to give themselves several good socialist nominees to choose from, but find a way to hand pick their Republican opponent in each election cycle as well, conservatives can’t even figure out how to advance a conservative candidate within their own party.

Now, conservatives can uncharacteristically blame everyone else if they want, but if this doesn’t change, the conservative movement is indeed dead in America. If it’s not our fault, then it’s not within our power to fix it. I prefer to believe it is our fault for this reason alone.

Frustrated conservatives are right. Their party is currently controlled by liberal-lites running the RNC and it is very difficult to advance a conservative agenda in this environment. But they are wrong when they accept no individual responsibility for how that came to be. If they continue to accept no responsibility for the errors of the past, then they have no power to change those errors in the future. Such a move is equal to blind surrender.

To advance a conservative agenda in today’s Republican Party, we will have to advance it against the will of the current Republican National Committee leadership, which is clearly convinced that they must join Democratic Socialists in the pander war, just to compete with them on a national stage. Are they right?

Conservatives have stepped in this trap repeatedly over the last several election cycles and as of this writing, they still don’t recognize the trap, let alone how to avoid stepping in it again and again.

Conservatives are all about their principles, as they should be. They are also all about individuality. They seldom see a need to play well with others in pursuit of a common goal. They are the most independent minded folks on earth and they are always firm in their personal belief structures, so much so, that they will go down in flames before conceding a single issue, in the name of principle.

As a staunch conservative myself, I very much identify with the standard characteristics of the average American conservative. I too am very opinionated, principled and committed to my beliefs, sometimes to the ultimate detriment of those very principles.

But as a political analyst, I also see how these natural conservative characteristics are exploited in the political process, at the expense of the conservative movement at large.

In short, conservatives have been repeatedly triangulated on the issues by the opposition. They have been systematically set up in the primaries, to take the fall in the general election no matter which direction they turn. Time after time, the election is over for conservatives, before it even begins. Then conservatives fight to make themselves completely irrelevant.

Contrary to common claims made in the current infighting among conservatives, conservatives never fail to be conservative. They don’t know how to be anything else. What they fail to be is united in that effort.

Unlike conservatives, liberals are all about group think and group movement. Liberals are not independent minded nor are they individually responsible for anything. They think together and move as one, because they take the need to unite and their individual responsibility to play an active part in the group, very seriously. Conservatives oppose this very notion by nature of being conservative and divided, they fall, election after election.

The 2008 Republican primaries provide a vivid glimpse into just how true this is. Conservatives were very committed to their individual ideas of what conservative means, so much so that they remained completely divided between no less than eight primary candidates, each of them more conservative than John McCain. Divided among the eight, the liberal wing of the party was able to unite and advance the most liberal Republican candidate in the race, John McCain.

Once the RNC has a candidate who is almost as liberal as the Democratic Socialists running in the DNC, conservatives are caught in the very trap they were trying to avoid. No matter which direction they turn in the general election, they will be supporting another national shift to the left, even if they refuse to play any part at all.

If they vote for the RNC leftist who emerged from the RNC primaries with 35 percent of the Republican vote, they are voting for a shift to the left. If they stay home on Election Day, vote third party or write in some non-factor, they are allowing Democratic Socialists across the aisle to win by default, just as Clinton did in 1992 and 1996 with less than 50 percent of the popular vote.

If they cross over in protest and vote for a Democratic Socialist to teach the RNC a lesson, they have voted for a giant leap to the left and the only message they are sending the RNC is that the RNC must move even further left in the next election cycle to get back those votes that went Democrat in the last cycle.

Checkmate! No matter which direction conservatives move now, they are moving the nation left, at odds with all of the principles and values they hold dear. Stupid is as stupid does!

Like a pit viper backed into a corner, out come the fangs. Now cornered and pissed off, conservatives have their fangs out and they lash out at everything that moves. Anyone who failed to support their guy in the primaries is the enemy now. Anyone who sees the need to at least block a giant leap to the left in November is also an enemy.

Reality is, only about 35 percent of Republicans support John McCain. The other 65 percent who voted against McCain can never be accurately accused of supporting McCain, only opposing the greater opposition.

But more than 35 percent will indeed vote for McCain come November. Not because they have some new found love for John McCain or his many shortcomings, but because they will be NO part of sitting the First Family of Political Crime, Presidents Clinton, or the freshman cut-n-run Marxist from Illinois in the Oval Office.

Isn’t it funny how those who openly oppose Clinton and Obama are now seen by some conservatives as liberals, the enemy, when it is their vote or non-vote, of conservatives to angry to think straight, that will elect the most Socialist candidate running for office in the name of opposing McCain?

The infighting among conservatives has reached a deafening pitch. To see just how dangerous a cornered conservative can be to his movement, consider these postings at a well-known conservative discussion board Free Republic.

In reaction to my recent New Media Journal column titled “Why Conservatives Must Vote in 2008,” and some of the posters, hundreds of blogging conservatives lash out against their conservative brethren. So consumed by rage once cornered in the same old trap, they lose all perspective of who the real enemy is and cannibalize their own movement.

“This article was written by a self-important self-flagellating idiot. My conservative vote did not count for a whole lot in moving forward a conservative agenda whenever I voted for guys named George Bush. Now, this clown blames conservatives for being SO POWERFUL as to being blamed for allowing the Democrats to takeover congress. What I did at the polls in 2006 had NOTHING to do with the Republicans losing the congressional majorities. And if the Hillary the Republicans greatest hope for retaining the WH does not get the nomination, my conservative vote will have little to do with the 2008 election.” – Freeper by the screen name Biblebelter

“I think the RNC is going to be very surprised at the vote total for conservatives that do NOT coattail for McCain.” – Freeper, The Citizen Soldier

“If I vote my conscience, none of the current GOP or DEM candidates will get it. If I decide to hold my nose, McCain will get my vote. IF I decide to hold my nose. Your telling me that if I don't vote for McCain is voting for Hitlery or Obomba is not making me think of voting for McCain.” – Freeper, Just another Joe

“Just more McCainite fearmongering they think they can bully us with. Sorry, but my greater fear is we get another Arnold Schwarzenegger. A Hillary or Obama might give us a GOP majority in ‘10.” – Freeper, Free Vulcan

“At what point do you just realize it’s over. Nobody thinks the Rat party is going to go back to being a southern, agrarian, pro-slave party. The shift to a big government, elitist, urban party was incremental and permanent. The shift of the Republican Party BACK to a big government, elitist, country club party is permanent. The majority of the party is not in control in which case the majority should leave the system in which we get screwed.” – Freeper, demshateGod

These are but a few from hundreds of comments. Not all of them are self-defeating like these. The issue isn’t whether or not these posters have a valid point, but rather, what is the productive nature of their point? Can anything productive come from the massive infighting underway with the conservative base of the Republican Party? Anything positive for conservatives I mean?

“The McCattle have already surrendered and become democrats.”- Freeper, cripplecreek - This comment on the basis of opposing Obama and Clinton?

Have conservatives really lost sight of who the real enemy is here? Do they really accept no personal responsibility for how we got here, or what happens next? Are they really throwing in the towel, not just for the GOP, but for the nation, or are they simply having a momentary temper tantrum?

Most disturbing to me when reading comments on a conservative discussion board like Free Republic, is the fact that you will rarely read a comment based on a productive idea of how to change what every conservative is indeed upset about.

Hundreds of complainers and finger-pointers can be read at Free Republic and countless other conservative blogs. But for all the principled opposition to what is happening to our party and our country, where are the conservative ideas of what to do about it? These kinds of comments are suspiciously absent among conservatives at present.

Conservatives are supposed to be part of the solution, not a part of the problem. Yet they seem unable to move beyond their rage to a place where productive solutions can emerge. I expect this kind of emotionally charged hand wringing and indiscriminate lashing out from liberals, but from conservatives too now?

There is but one reason. Conservatives failed to unite to move their agenda forward. Divided, they have fallen. Continuing to divide will only worsen the problem, not provide a solution.

My grandfather was a WWI veteran and although he passed many years ago, he remains one of my heroes today. He repeated the following advice so many times as I was growing up, that there was no way to wash it from my memory.

He would say, “If you have nothing productive to add to the conversation, say nothing at all. That alone will be more productive.”

Conservatives are getting their ass handed to them by an anti-American minority and the best response they can come up with is to beat on each other in a fit of rage and further divide their foot soldiers? Well, they bicker and divide at their own demise…

1) McCain sucks! But one of three candidates will sit in the Oval Office for the next four years, McCain, Clinton or Obama. When faced with three dangerous attackers, and only two bullets left, shoot the two most dangerous attackers and go hand to hand with the least of the threats remaining. To address none of the three is certain suicide. 2) Most Americans are far more conservative than the governments they elect. The socialist minority will continue to win so long as conservatives fail to unite in productive measure. 3) Conservative principles are not welcome in any socialist country. So, stopping Democratic Socialists from sitting in the Oval Office at any cost is a must.

Or, we could spend the next seven months regurgitating all the well-known ways that John McCain is a horrible Republican alternative to the completely unacceptable Democratic Socialists he’s running against. It won’t change anything, but you can sound more conservative at cocktail parties by showing how smart you are to recognize this reality.

McCain was indeed a ten o’clock two. But he’s fast becoming a two o’clock ten! Unless conservatives want to go home and take a cold shower and wait another four years for a date, they will have to dance the least ugly girl at the party this time around.

Eliminating the two bigger threats and going hand to hand with the lesser McCain is the best they can do in 2008. But then they will have to do a better job of uniting on principle in 2010 and beyond.

None of the candidates created a groundswell, so all we have left is the last man standing. As a veteran, I believe we are honor bound to stay in the battle even if it is to support the least-liked man in the unit.

I am consistently amazed by "Reagan Conservatives" who routinely break Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment:

"Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

Easy... they are UNITED in the common cause of kicking your ass and installing full blown socialism. They don’t get hung up on the details.

Wrong. The activist left belongs to a party that shares their values and not only welcomes but has harnessed their energy.

The GOP is made up of people who, for the most part, believe in self reliance and are not motivated to wield power for its own sake as the left is. So to marginalize and alienate the only activist component of their party, as they have, is to guarantee failure. THAT is the problem.

“Could it be possible that those responsible for the current conservative crisis are those who... didn’t vote for the conservative candidates?”

It’s possible, but not likely since only 30% of Republicans voted for McCain and 70% voted for a “conservative.” You think the 70% are innocent in this and the 30% are responsible?

“Those who didn’t arm themselves with the facts, who believe differently than we do and/or are ideologically lost?”

Is this the 30% for McCain, or the 70% who couldn’t agree on what “conservative” is?

“Here’s what I think: the ones who voted intelligently based upon conservative principals aren’t to blame - the ones who didn’t are. Profound, right?”

I wish it were this simple, but I’m afraid it isn’t.

“to blame me and those like me for the current conservative meltdown is the very definition of adding insult to injury. I flatly reject the assertion.”

This is the great thing about blame really. If I take the blame for what went wrong, I accept with it the power to change it. But if I blame others and claim no such power to effect change, then the game is over, checkmate, forfeited, right?

I prefer to believe that we have the power to reform our party because if I don't believe that, then there is NO way for me to believe that we have the power to defeat that party from the ground up. Republcians opposed McCain 7-3. But they failed to unite in that effort. They were fractured and they remain fractured today. This is not a principle problem, it's a strategic failure. Strategic failure can be fixed by changing strategies. Begin by ending the divisions...

You know as well as I, that polling data has little to do with reality and everything to do with how the questions are framed.

I don't think all these polls are nearly as ambiguous as you would like them to be.

And if are welcome in their country by the Iraqi on the street for helping them then why when asked whether they view the U.S.-led coalition as "liberators" or "occupiers," 71% of all Iraqi respondents say "occupiers."

That figure reaches 81% if the separatist, pro-U.S. Kurdish minority in northern Iraq is not included. The negative characterization is just as high among the Shiite Muslims who were oppressed for decades by Saddam as it is among the Sunni Muslims who embraced him.

Poll: Iraqis out of patience Want U.S. out of Iraq.

Ingrates the lot of em.

Neo conservative visions of nation building and 100 year wars is a large part of what will lose this election for the restructured liberal G.O.P.

No I will not vote for McCain. I want the Rockefeller Republicans to lose. We can rebuild the Party once they are dealt with. They have hijacked the G.O.P. and it is critical that they be repudiated.

I think Republicans are going to lose no matter who the standard bearer is. So there may never be a better time to show that conservatism will not quietly be marginalized by the new PTB on the block. A blowout of historic porportions may just send that message. My vote and the 30 or so votes that I influence will seek to see that become reality.

Begin by ending the divisions...

Which usually involves some party hack telling me things that are important to me don't matter.

No sale - I will continue to vote using my principles as my sole guide. If the party wants my vote they can earn it.

If not, they can go on doing what they've been doing.

I need some supporting evidence for these claims against Thompson please...

WRT DEFCONS,

ZERO military experience. None, Nada, Zip. Military votes military, as was evidenced by Fred's performance in SC where McCain kicked ass in military heavy sectors (S.E coastal region) against all comers.

WRT SOCONS, as has been stated a zillion times:

Co-author and defender of McCain-Feingold
Dissed the Value Voters Debate
Declared himself non-church-going (non-practicing)
Declared his faith would have little place in his campaign.
Against RtL Amendment
Against the Marriage Amendment

Took us 30 posts to get a great suggestion offered up.

What amazes me about this article is the guy lectures us on not having a solution, then he offers the solution of voting for McCain, even after he has already pointed out that doing such is just going to further green light the RNC's lurch to the left. Say what?

The RNC only wants Conservatives’ MONEY, and then they are to shut the hell up. The simplest way to stop future McCain's is to completely STOP donating to the RNC. Which by the way I am certain has already started happening since the whole Meier's/amnesty betrayals. How hard is it, for the leader of the free world, to understand that when he states that he “will only appoint strict Constitutionalist judges” at EVERY campaign event; he ought to follow through on that promise. Perhaps he assumes most of his supporters are mindless drones like the democrats. Guess he found out the hard way that after Reagan and his dad, his base has had enough of the bullshiite compromises.

Conservatives know that whenever you compromise your principles, it only means that you no longer have that principle. Aparently Bush, McCain, and most of the elected Republican do not care about our core beliefs and principles. Make a deal, principles be damned.

I’m asking you to tell me how this helps my agenda of supporting my conservative principles?

Three first person pronouns in the same question. That is very Clintonesque. It ain't about you and ain't about me. The deal is done. McCain is the presumptive nominee. If Clinton gets the nomination, McCain will probably get my vote because it MIGHT mean something, if Obama gets the nomination, me and you and all the King's men are not going to put together a victory for that Keating Five Guy. If pimiping for McCain makes you feel good then keep on pimping, but the reality is McCain is a loser, and to think me or you or all the conservatives in America cannot make that so is a mistake. As far as plan, I do not have one, and I do not need one. I thought when Jorge won a couple of terms with congressional majorities that conservatives might taste sweet victory for once, but I was wrong. Maybe, the boy Obama will turn the conservative's loss into the taste of victory, much like Bush's six years with congressional majorities tasted more like defeat than victory. The left-brained and anal retentive always say well you gotta do something, you cannot sit back and do nothing, and the right-brained like myself ignore such hysterical handwringing and let what happens, happen. It ain't about me and I am not so egocentric to think that it is. I know what I can do and what I cannot. You can blame me all you want when your boy McCain goes down, but trust me I will feel no guilt for his loss and Obama'a victory.

It seems apropos to post this William Buckley quote here:

Buckley started a political action committee to support Lieberman, explaining, "We want to pass the word that it's OK to vote for the other guy or stay at home." The good thing about Lieberman, Buckley said, was that he "doesn't have the tendency of appalling you every time he opens his mouth."

Too bad we can't say that for McCain, most of what comes out McCain's mouth, you either can't believe.

“He had nothing for the Defcons, and arguably came out against the Socons.”

“as has been stated a zillion times:”

Stated a zillion time, but not proven once... You give me the statements, but again, offer no evident.

Co-author and defender of McCain-Feingold - Did not co-aurtor, but had just finished endless investigations into campaign fraud that ended with his call for Clinton prosecutions, deep sixed by Reno.

Dissed the Value Voters Debate - But voted pro-life 100% and was endorsed by the National Right to Life.

Declared himself non-church-going (non-practicing) - just like most American Christians today.

Declared his faith would have little place in his campaign. - Unlike Huckabee whose campaign is about religion?

Against RtL Amendment - I’m against this amendment. Murder is already against the law in this country. The law simply needs to be enforced.

Against the Marriage Amendment - I’m against this amendment too, as any conservative would be. We don’t run out and amend the constitution every time some crackpot fringe pervert group tries to re-define a word that has had the same meaning for thousands of years.

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