but...but...but...the perfect is the enemy of the good, and you must compromise to maintain the big tent, and principles are just a vote for the muzzcomm.../rin-o-p FR lectures...
I recognize the sarc, but there still is a serious point because the argument you are kidding about is one they will actually make. In other circumstances, the argument would not only have some force but would even be right (see, eg. Ronald Reagan compromising to get tax cuts). But today, especially after the Nov 2 tsunami, things are different. Ideological purity, normally unrealistic in politics, is the order of the day because we are at the rarest of moments in history: a chance to really turn things around, a second Reagan revolution, if you want. But, lacking a Reagan, we have the Tea Party idea that has caught fire. That fire will only continue to blaze and even grow greater if the people at the heart and soul of that movement see action consistent with the spirit that won such glorious victories this past election day. And that means the new Republican majority has to make a sharp, clean break with the past to make it clear that they get it: no retreat, no surrender, no compromise. My greatest fear is that just a few "little" retreats, like compromise on Obamanation Care, a few little back door deals in the business-as-usual model, a few earmarks here and there and we will become dispirited and cynical and go back to sleep, hoping to wake up when the nightmare is over.