Beck is presuming we have a two party system. This is ignores the fact the OP(formerly the GOP) has moved incrementally towards socialism with its big tent mentality in order to expand the voter base. The result are choices between socialist Obama against socialist light McCain and socialist Owens against socialist Scozzofava. This illustrates the two parties have become one big socialist Republicrat party. A party based on strong Conservative principles will be the second party.
“A party based on strong Conservative principles will be the second party.”
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Exactly right.
However, how “mainline Republicans”, of the type that selected McCain as the Republican presidential candidate, view things is very important. I’m not sure if they are astute enough to leave the Republican Party.
Related article, today in Email from Richard Viguerie:
Richard Viguerie: The GOP — A Party with Leaders, But No Followers
(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, concerning the impact of the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District on the relationship between Republican Party leadership and the GOP base:
“The special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District has dramatically highlighted the disconnect between Republican leaders and the base of the GOP.
“Today the GOP is a party with leaders but no followers.
“It’s clear that the main opposition to President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s agenda is not Republican politicians but conservative talk show hosts, bloggers, cable TV hosts, Tea Party activists, town hall attendees as well as national, state and local conservatives.
“Tea Party activists and conservatives feel betrayed by Republican leaders including Republican congressional leaders: John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, the Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Steele, and Newt Gingrich.
“GOP leaders would rather follow the advice of professional political consultants who are not small-government conservatives, and who would rather satisfy their friends in the media than win - and win with principle. They are the same people who try to denigrate the Tea Party and Town Hall protesters by calling them ‘teabaggers.’ It is that thinking, which actively opposes the rise of conservatives and others who challenge the old Washington political establishment, that will keep the GOP as a small tent. The Tea Party movement, like Reaganism, is the real big tent.
“Over the last dozen years, Republican Party leaders have broken the bond of trust between them and the base of the party. It will not be restored until the GOP selects new leaders that represent the views and values of grass roots Americans, not Washington DC views and values.”
—end—
NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called “one of the creators of the modern conservative movement” (The Nation magazine) and one of the “conservatives of the century” (The Washington Times ). He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed, How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.