Your remark about Repub candidates believing in Constitutional and free-market principles is dead on the mark.
If you really believe in Constitutional liberty, you don’t hedge or condition or apologize or compromise. You don’t have to backtrack or mumble about “context” or “nuance.”
At this point in history, an honest candidate at the national level would have to be channeling Mark Steyn and saying, “We’re screwed, folks,” because the spending/debt bubble is going to go Kaboom ... maybe not tomorrow, but not in the long run (when we’re all dead) either.
At the county level, an honest candidate would have to take on the school board and talk about cutting county/district budget items like a person going through his own budget after a layoff. Does any of them do this? Nope. Job One is making sure every government employee keeps her job, forever.
I listened to Levin a lot this past year and his explanations of policies and the Constitution are simple to follow. However, on Monday he stated that the only mandate a President has and is required by law to follow is the U.S. Constitution.
Coming home last night I hear a soundbite from Paul Ryan stating his belief why Obama does not have a mandate. Basically he said that since the people also returned the same House members to Congress, they people state they want gridlock.
Now here is a guy who states he listens to Levin, yet when given the chance to simply repeat what Levin said about the Constitution, HE CAN'T DO IT!! He either cannot or will not do it. And all these other politicians that give lip service to Rush, Levin, et al., never, never repeat what they say on their radio programs.
Why is that?