Posted on 04/29/2009 5:15:47 PM PDT by Delacon
Arlen Specter’s announcement this week of his plans to switch to the Democrat side of the aisle is sending shockwaves throughout the country.
No one is surprised as to the motives behind the defection, as Pennsylvania conservatives’ ire over Senator Specter and his big government leanings are very well-known. These tensions were headed to a breaking point in advance of Specter’s 2010 re-election bid and the switch was necessary to keep his hopes of political survival alive. It is in how the GOP responds to this bombshell however that will dictate its impact on the future of the conservative limited government movement.
Staring down the barrel of the immediate policy consequences of the Specter switch will give freedom-loving conservatives a good deal of heartburn. Specter will work to endear himself to his new party and their march toward the Obama agenda of big government. Socialized medicine, a massive carbon cap-and-trade tax hike, union-empowering card check legislation: all these liberal policy wish-list items now have new life. A sixty-vote margin in the Senate is now guaranteed to beat back the threat of a conservative filibuster against any of these proposals and many on the Right, to include myself, are worried about this newly strengthened Democratic steamroller paving America’s way towards socialism.
Surely many in the conservative soft-middle are already preparing their arguments for why it’s important for the GOP to come closer to the center (i.e. the Left). Some Republicans in Congress will reason that they must acquiesce to the Democrats on much of the policy agenda to have any hope of slipping in modest wins for conservative constituencies. Those more obsessed with power will seek this same approach in order to benefit their status on key committees and ensure the survival of pet projects for their districts and states. Certainly we will be able to depend on a core of rock-solid conservative champions like Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn in the Senate and Republican Study Committee Members in the House, but their ability to keep the GOP rooted in good, limited government principles will be significantly weakened by the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” crowd.
Anticipating this latest crisis of conscience that Congressional Republicans will go through let me suggest that, in this political game of “chicken,” we shouldn’t turn first.
The strategy of cozying up to the liberal machine and hoping for the occasional table scrap was that of the content Republican minority during the early nineties in the days before the Contract with America. Fortunately, bold leaders like Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich chose not to buckle. They held Republicans together, took the fight directly to Democrats, and by standing on limited government, free market policy they were rewarded by the American electorate politically with control of Congress in 1994.
Consider too the fact that in today’s political environment, and despite the President’s perceived “rock star” status, Democrats have greatly resisted wholly owning the Obama agenda thus far. The fight over the trillion dollar stimulus plan in January was an early indicator. Pelosi, Reid, and Obama all spent a lot of time tinkering with language in the legislation in an effort to court some Congressional Republicans from the squishy center and claim the mantle of bipartisanship. Those efforts failed as almost every Republican (only three defections, all in the Senate, including the new Democrat Specter) stood together in voting against the bloated stimulus bill.
Now the larger health care debate has begun and Democrats have neatly worked a safety-valve into the budget resolution passed this week that will allow them to enact a government-run health care scheme through the reconciliation process, requiring only 51 votes. Nevertheless, that Democrat leaders are bending over backwards to show they would rather do it in a bipartisan way through the more rigorous regular-order process of achieving a 60-vote threshold is notable. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leading a chorus of voices on the Left sounding the strong desire not to invoke reconciliation in order to pass health care legislation, even though they could, through numerous statements and a host of communications with the Republican conference.
Don’t let the touchy-feely nature of their bipartisan overtures fool you. Just like with the stimulus bill Democrats are afraid of being tagged with the political responsibility for their own party’s reform approach and want some Republican by-in for cover. What else could the reason be? If they whole-heartedly believed in the policy they were peddling they would proudly push it through on their own, even without the help of their caucus’ new member from Pennsylvania.
Those plotting the GOPs return to power should consider this in the wake of the Specter switch and take a lesson from Armey, Gingrich, and others that chose to go Right and actually won in spite of pressure to play ball.
The official Libertarian Party position is to support the ABOLITION of marriage in law. LP of California was against Prop 8.
The LP is an enemy of protecting traditional marriage.
“The rumbling you’re hearing is the crumbling of the traditional party system. The new direction is candidate support, NOT party support. You see, under the current structure, he who gives the $$ calls the shots. Currently, we give $$ unaccountable parties. The parties then give our $$ that we gave them, to candidates of their choosing.”
?????????
This is not new.
Parties never had more than a fraction of total financing of campaigns.
support your local conservative.
Is an Covenant Relationship
Entered into freely, ans without reservation
With an Oath spoken toward God and Witnesses
I do not remember the government being involved,
except to get a marriage license, a thing I considered unnecessary
If I will not be faithful to oath
What Law will constrain my behavior?
The Government's involvement in this is completely unnecessary,
except as a matter of Contract Law.
Society may choose to support the marriage
I would certainly hope so,
but I do not see it as a matter
for the Federal Government to Legislate.
If there is to be such a thing,
it is at the level of community
The concept of anything being labeled marriage
that is not precisely between
Two people of alternate genders,
strikes me as bizarre,
and unnecessary rending of Common Law
First they need to find a spine.
“We just need to make the GOP true to conservatism”
“You had that opportunity for the past several years”
We ALL have the opportunity to CONTINUE to move the party - and the country - in the direction we like.
Delacon, Man50D has an ‘idee fixe’ as the phrase goes.
He wont admit of alternative solutions to the problem.
As such, he will cavil against the imperfect GOP while imagining a perfect 3rd party will sweep it away.
It’s a chimera. It will never happen and US history is replete with example and why it is so.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of the Republican party is conservative and most conservatives are Republican. Those of us who are IN the Republican Party will fight to make it more principled and more conservative.
Those conservatives who choose a third party path will end up diverting efforts in a futile direction. But some will have to experience it to understand that.
“There are huge differences between the Republican Party and the Democrat Party.”
“Oh really? Is that why your man Specter decided to join the so called other party? You’re naive if you think he is the only one in the OP who holds the same beliefs as the socialists in the RAT party.”
Specter’s move is indeed proof of the differences between the GOP and the Democrats. Specter was 1 of only 3 Republicans who voted for the Porkulus bill, versus 230 Republicans in the Congress who voted “NO” on the bill.
We know the Republicans that are like Specter are rare, because so few have ACU rating as bad. In fact, all but a handful of Republican Senators are more conservative than every single Democrat in the Congress, going by ACU ratings.
We also know that the solution here is to get it fixed in the GOP primary. Specter bolted because he was going to lose the primary.
Portraying a “black” man like our “leader” as a primate and laughing about it are federal offenses now, be careful.
Of course! See my tagline Why didn’t Except isn’t she a Republican? Conservatives need a new moniker.
YOU are the person with a “strategy” of proven failure.
Third Parties are doomed to fail.
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