Posted on 04/20/2012 8:09:50 AM PDT by xzins
Fourth, Remember the Difference Between Republicans and Conservatives.
Conservatives look at the endorsements Mitt Romney has garnered from such establishment figures as former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and most importantly from business-as-usual Washington insiders, such as lobbyist Ed Gillespie, and they see advocates of positions they often opposed, not friends of the transformational agenda that won the Tea Party wave election of 2010.
Surveying Romney’s record and agenda, and most importantly the people he is likely to bring to Washington to implement his agenda, movement conservatives see little likelihood a Romney administration will differ from a Bush administration, or a McCain administration, or a Dole or Ford administration.
This is why conservatives remain so deeply skeptical of Mitt Romney’s candidacy for President. They look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts and the policies he espouses and see no commitment to the kind of transformational change the conservative movement has been working for the past 50 years to achieve.
Republican Party insiders still can’t come to grips with the reality that the rebellion of the small government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party is as much a rejection of their stewardship of the government – the earmarks and massive spending and debt of the Bush years – as it is a rejection of Obamacare and Obamanomics.
Let’s be quite clear – there is a difference between Republicans and conservatives. The goal of the Republican political party is to elect its candidates to control the levers of government power. Conservatives should not get so swept-up in the Republican Party’s campaign for power, that they loose sight of the fact that the goal of the conservative movement is to hold the government to constitutional principles, no matter what political party is in power, and in the process rejuvenate our society and culture.
Fifth, Don’t Get Suckered into Supporting the Republican Party.
If the difference between conservatives and Republicans is based in the conservative movement’s commitment to holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power, then one of the most important things conservatives can do is to support organizations that are committed to that same goal.
This also means declining to support organizations, including the national, state and local Republican Parties if they are not committed to holding the government to constitutional principles.
The folly of conservatives supporting the Republican National Committee, and many state Republican Party committees was made readily apparent during the presidential primary. In state after state the establishment GOP did its best to thwart the will of the grassroots conservative voters by using its power to tip the scales toward Mitt Romney to the disadvantage of the conservative candidates in the race.
In the same vein the Republican National Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have become virtual incumbent protection rackets – appearing to sell influence and access in return for donations to keep incumbent members of Congress in power.
Thanks in part to the ability of the new and alternative media, especially the internet, to empower grassroots activists it is now possible to bypass the establishment Republican Party. There are now dozens of sound organizations committed to constitutional conservative principles that are doing everything from training volunteers in grassroots campaign techniques to recruiting and training conservative candidates to run for Congress and their state legislatures.
Just because an organization has conservative in its name doesn’t mean the organization is actually conservative – especially if it is headquartered in Washington DC. Too many Washington-based organizations, even ones that began with the intention of fostering conservative government, have become part of the inside-the-Beltway Republican establishment.
Very often the best organizations to support are not the state parties and national committees, but the local groups; County Republican Committees and Tea Party organizations who share our values and are doing the hard work to elect conservative candidates to office up and down the ballot. By supporting these local organizations, which are always struggling to raise money, it is possible to know their leadership, know whether or not they share our values and determine whether they are accountable and effective.
During the Bush – Hastert – Frist years too many Washington-based policy organizations sold their souls for a few tickets to the White House Christmas party or a seat at the State of the Union Address. They failed in the real test of whether they were effective advocates of conservative policy – holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power.
Don’t get suckered into supporting the Republican Party’s incumbent protection racket. Donate only to small government constitutional conservative organizations and committees dedicated to holding the government to constitutional principles, no matter which Party is in power, and electing small government constitutional conservatives to office. Avoid establishment Republican-oriented organizations and Party committees that don’t hew to conservative principles, and work against conservative candidates and blindly support Republican incumbents even when they oppose conservative policies.
Sixth, It’s the Primaries, Stupid – Support Small Government, Constitutional Conservative Candidates
If 2012 is another big wave election, like 2010, but it sweeps into office the usual big-government, establishment Republicans, then we will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
Supporting small government, constitutional conservatives, no matter how far down the ballot they are is crucial to our long-term success, and running for any office, no matter how far down the ballot, is worthy of your efforts.
If constitutional conservatives are to govern America, we must not only elect a President and a Congress, but also city council members, school board members, state legislators, Secretaries of State, Lt. Governors, etc.
Of course, there are many good candidates already running who are with the Tea Party movement. However, the vast majority of positions on the ballot this year do not have small government constitutional conservatives running, and many will have incumbents who have not faced a contest in years.
We who want constitutional, small-government should be running candidates even when it appears they have little or no chance of victory. The mistake of assuming good candidates will emerge from the regular party process does not work most of the time because the establishment Republican Party has no real interest in the kind of transformational change sought by conservatives.
Do you really trust Party leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to build a Republican majority of small government constitutional conservatives? If we leave it to the national congressional and Party leadership to recruit the candidates we will end-up with a Congress just like them; incumbents such as Bob Bennett and establishment figures such as Charlie Crist, and Trey Grayson.
When making decisions about where to put their financial support, conservatives should remember that if the national Republican committees had their way, such now-stalwart conservative Senators as Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee would never have been elected.
The only time we are guaranteed to lose is when we don’t compete. In today’s volatile political environment, no establishment candidate is truly safe. The American people want the chance to take out the big-government, establishment politicians; put your money and your hard work directly behind those candidates who are committed to small government, constitutional principles.
I detect in your remarks the beginning of a conviction that we are being led in a sense both large and subtle, but while I think you are right, that the end destination isn't Hamas, but the destructive-labor camps of what one FReeper called "high Communism": Magadan, the mines, the death camps.
We need scholars, first, thinktanks with huge data-mining access, to begin to sort and compose data into information, to find out whether this image of guided leftward drift is so, and if so, what is the source. And then go kill it, since it is obviously a threat, if its workings have come this far.
For some time the leadership has been convinced that the nation was heading Left, and it didn't see any possibility of Conservatives being elected.
This failure of leadership is not a failure of perception but a wilful failure, a refusal to take the lesson. That wilfulness reflects a steady intention that has nothing to do with our ideas of sucess, and everything to do with leading the electorate to the left. It's Fabianism, in other words.
Doofuses: we don't live in a parliamentary system where representation is divided proportionally between the losers!It's winner take all, baby, and the sooner you realize that and stop wasting time fighting like cats and Baptists to multiply the number of me-so-conservative parties the sooner you'll have turned back the liberal encroachment on the existing main opposition party to their main vehicle for political power, the Democrat Party, instead of complimenting yourself on just how wonderfully more conservative your loser party is going to be than the one you deliberately abandoned to leftist takeover.
"Hey, I don't like these liberal bumper stickers on this fully functioning vehicle or the places its driver is taking us, right? So, I've got, like, this great plan to deal with that, 'kay? Instead of tossing the driver out on his ass and getting some more appropriate body detailing and then driving it wherever we want to go, we're going to get out at the next corner, wag our fingers really hard at the driver as he speeds off, and then from scratch build our own new most perfectly conservative vehicle and, someday, maybe, enter that into the race! And won't that glorious day be, oh, so grand?"And you think Jesus is going to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant for refusing to take back the existing opposition party and, instead, throwing your vote to something that couldn't possibly defeat a known enemy because you thought being known as being a more nearly "true" conservative party than any other was more important than actually conserving and preserving the Republic against an ongoing enemy onslaught"?
The Conservative Cause is clearly served by an Obama re-election rather than a Romney win.
A Right leaning/Conservative Congress can easily remain united behind an Obama re-election....whereas the same Congress will be sliced and diced by the RINOS if Romney is in the White House.
I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in here just came out and said they hope obama is re-elected.
I’m no longer Republican because Romney is the nominee.
I think I would prefer to see Obama facing a republican congress that has the balls to remove him
Another one hoping obama is re-elected. Are you people so naieve that you think a Republican controlled Congress will stop obama? Just a rhetorical question because you obviously are that naieve. Ever hear of EXECUTIVE FIAT??? Because thats just what obama would do. He would ignore Congress completely, with the full support of the donks in Congress. How many more conservatives in here are going to jump on the re-elect obama bandwagon?
I’ll make you a deal.
If Romney is the nominee, he beats Obama AND he, with a Conservative Congress at his side, drags us down the same road to hell as Obama, you have every right to rag on me all you want about how clear your crystal ball was. Be relentless...rip me apart.
If Obama gets reelected because of third party protest, write in, or staying home and he CONTINUES down his known road to hell based on his history the last 4 years, not because of some guess of what he MIGHT do, I will do the same to you.
FRiend
if conservatives are the instruments causing Obama to have four more years,
Then we deserve EVERYTHING he does. I’m now totally convinced that a great many “conservatives” in here will vote for obama.
Sure they will, but will you?
Sure, why wouldn't I?
Your TEA Party Independent ticket for 2012:
Sarah Palin for President.
Rand Paul for Vice-President.
‘Get in the fast lane Grandma, the bingo game is ready to roll.’
Here's why:
"If Romney were running as a Democrat there isn't even the remotest of chances that you would vote for the man. But now, because he's running against Obama, some entertain the thought. And what happens in 2016, when a member of Hamas runs as a Democrat and The Republican is only as bad as Obama? Do we then vote for the mirror image of him?
Look folks, at some point we have to let the (R) party know, that they have jumped the shark, and we can no longer support what they want us to. You see, if we don't, we'll forever be voting for McCains, Romneys, and worse of their ilk.
If they can get a Leftist like Romney elected, it's effectively the end of Conservatism. No Conservative will ever get the nomination again. Should that be our goal? No."
Freeper Doughty One @
Dear President Ronald Wilson Reagan, My Party Left Me Too...
All the Free Republic talk about this is very hypocritical, considering the vitrol and depravity hurled against the candidate that actually embodied this ideal the most during the primary, ie: Rick Perry.
That was the perfect case of the rhetoric here *NOT* matching the reality. And the reality is that the Free Republic is not conservative, but only *TALKS* conservative. When it comes time to walk the walk, it doesn't happen.
"I'll make you a deal." *rolls eyes*
Try READING some of the reasoned arguments so many thoughtful patriots have posted here and THINKING ABOUT THEM instead of knee-jerk reacting according to party affiliation instead of RECORD. Romney is ON RECORD as being on the statist, liberal side of ALL FIVE MAJOR ISSUES. Voting for him is as nuts as voting for Obama.
You're willing to make a "deal with the devil," Romney, in order to avoid Obama. A deal with the devil is always a losing proposition.
Thank you for being a voice of reason on this thread. If Obama gets re-elected, it won’t matter one bit who controls Congress because Obama will just issue one executive order after another and the feckless Republicans will do nothing to stop it. It’s disheartening that even on this site, people don’t really get what Obama is truly all about.
I've already voted the way you think is smart. I"ve been voting that way for quite awhile now, and things only keep getting worse. Read and ponder DoughtyOne's post #38.
You are very much confused and mistaken if you think this is about wanting to be perceived as "more conservative than thou."
Romney is ON RECORD as promoting and furthering:
-- State-run health care
-- Cap-and-trade global warming eco tyranny
-- Taxpayer subsidized abortion on demand, cheap
-- Appointment of activist liberal judges
-- Forcing people to accept open homosexuality in the military, their kids' schools, their workplaces, and virtually every corner of their lives
This isn't about "Hey, I'm more conservative than you and that's why I reject Romney." This is about realizing that Romney IS THE ANTITHESIS OF CONSERVATIVE and that a conservative who votes FOR him is voting to destroy the Republican party as a vehicle for conservatism, and is voting against his own and America's interest.
You are willfully squeezing your eyes shut to what Romney is all about, because Obama has you so shivering in fear that you're pissing your pants and willing to vote FOR a Republican who is ON RECORD as promoting the same positions on the major issues as Obama. That is a NUTTY way to vote.
Blind, abject panic makes people do nutty things.
I don’t know how you can call yourself a conservative and not have an emotional dislike of Obama. You even admit that Obama and the Democrats aren’t your enemy. If you don’t view Obama, Pelosi, Durbin, etc as your enemies then I can’t help you. I detest those people to the very core of my being. I can’t drum up that same hatred for Mitt Romney. Do I think he’d make a good President? It’s highly unlikely, but I don’t think he hates this country the way Obama does. I don’t think Romney reveres the Constitution, but I don’t think he hates it the way Obama does. The fact is Obama HATES America, HATES the Constitution, HATES you, and HATES me. Romney is merely indifferent about those things. The fact is if Obama is re-elected, it won’t matter who controls Congress because he will rule by Executive Fiat. My guess is he will set the stage for race riots which will lead to martial law. He will have complete control of our bank accounts and complete control over the Internet and talk radio. I haven’t even discussed the damage he will do to our national security. You might be on the back nine of life, but some of us are just getting started and can’t afford to allow Obama another four years.
He’s not going to do those things before the election because Romney would destroy him. He’s going to do it once he has a second term and no longer has to face the American people. I’ve got news for you. Obama isn’t your garden variety Democrat. He’s a Marxist anti-colonialist to his core. Romney has no core, which means at worst, he’ll be wrong 60% of the time. I’ll take 30-40% of what I want with Romney as opposed to 3-4% of what I want with Obama. It’s simple math. You know, it’s really easy to act like a tough guy hiding behind a computer screen. If Obama’s thugs come to put you away in the next 4 years, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Perry was my guy. The attacks on him were bizarre. It was like second graders on the playgound.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.