[Ohioan]

If the Republicans were an actual small government party, they could do much better, but until some of the base realizes the best way to advance social conservatism is to allow people the freedom to practice social conservative beliefs and to limit Big Government's spending and legislation in the service of social liberalism, not to take over the tools of Big Government and use them against people they don't like, the party is going to keep shrinking.

You make a good point, here. As for your personal references in the first paragraph, I certainly concur at least so far as Santorum is concerned. He clearly is not a true social conservative, nor a legal conservative, in his open disrespect for the rights of the States to disagree with his ideas on many issues. He is a disaster so far as actually convincing anyone of what he claims to believe is important. Normal people, who have not yet committed to ideological premises, are put off & alienated by fanatics, spouting platitudes on issues, rather than trying to actually convince by rational analysis.

Given the indoctrination of so much of the youth in the schools, we need to avoid those who have no clue as to how to persuade, but offer only a dogmatism that simply proclaims to the inexperienced voter, an offensive fanaticism.

William Flax