“A socially liberal republican I would consider voting for if, for example, he were running for office in CA and was fiscally conservative,”
I’m sorry but someone who meets that description is not a Conservative. Someone cannot be partly Conservative. That’s like saying that some follows both the Catholic and Jewish religion or someone is a vegan but eats meat on the weekends.
Conservatism is a principle that dwells deep within a person. The best way I can explain it is to tell a story that happened to me.
I am, unfortunately, in a district represented by Emmanuel Cleaver, a reverend. I wrote him one day concerning an issue that he voted for that didn’t seem to fit with his reverend credentials.
He wrote me back saying that the reverend part didn’t come into play when he was the politician because he had to keep that separate from his politics. I was stunned. The principles I hold, I hold no matter the circumstances.
You cannot have liberal and conservative in the same body, such as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. That is someone who is firmly planted in the middle of the road. And as my grandmother told me many times, the only thing in the middle of the road was a dead armadillo.
Or like saying someone can be a miniarchist?
Are you sure it wasn't a dead RINO?