[DoughtyOne]

We have been operating under the rule of "Lesser of Two Evils" for decades.  I have agreed with it.  I now stop to ask folks, has our nation grown stronger over those decades?  At some point we have to be honest with ourselves.  For me, the answer is a clear, "No."

So instead of saying people who do this are wrong, I want to give them something to think about.  Perhaps it will help them see things a little differently.

What we have been trying hasn't worked.  We slide farther left every single year.  At some point this has to stop, or we lose the nation we love no matter which party is in power.  Take a good look at Mitt Romney.  On just one topic alone, I can't vote for him.  He's a gun control advocate.  Once our guns are gone, they're gone.  Bad as that is, it runs much deeper.  I don't need to tell you about all of it.  You know what I'm talking about.  Romney is a blithering idiot when it comes to Conservatism.

Carter was universally scorned in 1980.  Obama, arguably much worse, isn't.  He is still wildly popular with the Left.  Has our nation changed?  It's my take that it is undeniably worse and in danger of cratering if we don't change direction.  And where is the voice of the loyal opposition?  That's right... crickets.

For this reason, I simply cannot fall back on the lesser of two evils rule of thumb we have always fallen back on.  I say this because IT IS NOT a change of direction.  If that hasn't worked, and it clearly hasn't, what reasoned argument is there for doing it again now?  Well, to my way of thinking there is no reasoned argument other than the ones that have always been used to advocate for it.  And that tactic having failed, the arguments in support of it are unsustainable.

We have tried this and failed.  So now we must come up with something different.  I, for one, will not sit by and play the business as usual game.  The Republican party must be made aware that it cannot continue to thumb it's nose at it's core base.

Here's the political spectrum we should be operating under.

1780 [L---------c---------R]

This is the political spectrum that would reveal us to be adhering to our Founding Father's vision and our Founding Documents.  This is precisely what the goal of Conservatives should be, to return to this model, and to do it as rapidly as possible.  Are we trending back toward that model?

I see something like this.

1980 [L---d---r-c---------R] *
1984 [L--d----r-c---------R] *
1988 [L--d---r--c---------R] *
1992 [L--d---r--c---------R]
1996 [L--d---r--c---------R]
2000 [L--d--r---c---------R] *
2004 [L-d--r----c---------R] *
2008 [Ld--r-----c---------R]
2012 [Ld--r-----c---------R]

The sad fact is, we are trending away from Conservatism.  That's why many of us are livid at our nominee this year.  AGAIN!!!!

Here is where we are headed folks.

2016 [Ld--r-----c---------R]
2020 [Ld-r------c---------R]
2024 [Ldr-------c---------R]

Does that look enticing?

With the exception of Ronald Reagan in 1980 - 1988, we have been spoon fed our candidates.  I'm not saying they spoon fed us the exact candidate, but they did take advantage of trends to make sure what types of candidates would get the nomination.  How did the RNC manage that?  It allowed it's primaries to be held under conditions that made it possible for Democrats to participate in the Republican nomination process.  Did anyone think that was going to give us more Conservative candidates?  No, it was a given that we were going to get more Leftists.  And more Leftists we got.

The RNC also continually talked up our more Leftist candidates, and made it clear they frowned on our more Conservative ones.  Look what took place this year.  Rove, Card, other party officials and office holders pushed Romney as hard as they could.

Why would the Republican Party do this?  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.  Rather than look at our rich history and notice that our widest victories were realized when we played on our differences with Leftist policy, they decided to adopt more Leftist policy in an attempt to look more appealing.  And as this took place, the information dispensed to the public heralding Conservatism ceased.  And as the push for Conservatism ceased, the nation moved farther left.

We are now at the point where our Constitution, Capitalism, and other tenets of a sound Constitutional Republic are scorned.

Look at the graph above, and see how that worked out for us.  Ronald Reagan was our last president who won with a large margin of victory.  Starting with the elder Bush, that margin either disappeared completely or was so razor thin that we had a public perception of a Constitutional crises arise in the aftermath of two elections.

Moving to the Left only assured us that the real Democrats would get support.  Why vote for a moderate Leftist when you can vote for the real thing?  Did the RNC learn anything from McCain?  No.  Here we go again with Rove, Card, and the usual suspects trashing better candidates and singing praises to Romney from the get-go.  What is our hope for the future, with the business as usual approach?  Think of our elections since 1988.

And so we have come to the point in our nation's history, where the Republican party is now willing to promote people who don't give a damn about our sovereignty, our Founding Documents, the sanctity of life, our Second Amendment Rights, and more.  At what point do we admit we have full blown Leftists running for office in our party, and refuse to play along any longer?

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.

Why do I say that there will never be another Conservative nominee in the future?  Take a look at this election cycle, and realize it only gets worse from here if Romney can get elected without the Conservative vote.

I hope you'll join me in sending a message to the Republican party.  That message states these things...

1. I will not vote for Leftists(R)
2. I will no longer support the perpetual movement of this nation to the Left
3. I will no longer remain an active member of the Republican Party as long as it fails to support a return to Constitutional governance
4. If you want my support and the support of other Constitutional Conservatives, you'll talk up people who share our ideals, and criticize those who do not share them
5. You will seek to change rules and tighten up processes thus enabling more Constitutional Conservatives to win elections
6. Failing that, adios...

/b

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

We have been operating under the rule of "Lesser of Two Evils" for decades. I have agreed with it. I now stop to ask folks, has our nation grown stronger over those decades? At some point we have to be honest with ourselves. For me, the answer is a clear, "No."

So instead of saying people who do this are wrong, I want to give them something to think about. Perhaps it will help them see things a little differently.

What we have been trying hasn't worked. We slide farther left every single year. At some point this has to stop, or we lose the nation we love no matter which party is in power.

I don't find anything wrong with that argument as written, but it certainly implies a causal link that hasn't been proven. Namely, that the reason the country has slipped to the left is because conservatives or Republicans are willing to vote for the lesser of two evils. But I don't think that has anything to do with it.

The problem isn't conservatives voting for the lesser of two evils. The problem is that the horde of liberals and mushy-minded moderates all get to vote too, and they don't want the same people we do. The stark reality is that conservatives are not the majority in this country. So if we want conservatives to win Presidential elections, we have to be fortunate enough to either 1) be running against a really crummy, uncharismatic Democrat, or 2) have a truly great conservative candidate.

Unfortunately, neither of those was available to us in this campaign cycle. I don't see that as a justification to give up on opposing the greater of two evils because of the greater damage that can be done by that greater evil. And, it seems obvious to me that conservatives are certainly going to have more influence over a GOP President than a Democrat who will be pandering to his base heavily his entire second term.

Just because the President is a Republican doesn't mean conservatives can't loudly and strongly oppose his policies with which we disagree. As much of a squishy moderate as Bush was on some issues, I think most of us would agree this country would be in even worse shape if Gore of Kerry had been elected in his stead. And it does us no good if the patient dies before we can find the right doctor.

[itsahoot]

Deep thought DoughtyOne, and right on the money.

I really don't hold out much hope for our Republic no matter which of these Marxists are elected.

No politician can cure what ails our country, and we should not look to one of them for the answer.

[Windflier]

What a terrific post. Please consider re-posting it as a separate thread. You’ve ably made the case that so many of us are trying to make here.

Supporting the Republican Socialist over the Democrat Socialist only strengthens Socialism in our government, and does inestimable damage to conservative/patriotic ideals.

[Windflier]

Ping to post 38.

We have been operating under the rule of "Lesser of Two Evils" for decades. I have agreed with it. I now stop to ask folks, has our nation grown stronger over those decades? At some point we have to be honest with ourselves. For me, the answer is a clear, "No."

[CharacterCounts]

Take a look at this election cycle, and realize it only gets worse from here if Romney can get elected without the Conservative vote.

IMO, that has been the goal of the GOP establishment all along. I think they view the far left position of Obama as an opportunity to give us a slightly left candidate and get him elected, by relying on the weaknesses of Obama, rather than through the support of conservatives.

The Republican Party has sent a message to conservatives that they don't need our vote, and I intend to abide by that message.

By the way, your analysis is top notch. However, I think 2012 may be closer to your 2020 graph than many here want to admit.

[greyfoxx39]

Excellent, DoughtOne. Thank you.

[Finny]

Standing on my chair cheering, clapping, and firing my .45 Vaqueros into the ceiling!

That's our kinda stuff!

[lentulusgracchus]

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?

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.

[xzins]

Excellent post, Doughty. There is no doubt that decades of “lesser of 2 evils” voting has driven this nation to the brink of socialism and into the pit of immorality.