Posted on 02/28/2007 7:54:19 AM PST by Al Simmons
Wedge Issues Posted by: “Common Tator” in FreeRepublic.com April 16, 2002
The one thing that amazes me on this site is the belief by some that the conservative position is the majority position.
Mostly people tend to believe it could be the majority position if the right candidate ran, or if it weren't for the media or RINOs or etc, etc. They really don't have a clue.
Roughly 2/3 of the public has firm views. They have made up their minds and do not change them. This group is nearly equally split between the left and the right.
There are about a 1/3 of the population that is never sure. Sometimes it will go left and sometimes it will go right.
When a party restricts itself to its base it will be in a minority party. The "base only" party will be reduced to crying as the other side works its will. In some nations both the left and right restrict themselves to just their base. That nation then develops five or six parties. And all governments in that nation are coalitions of a major party and some of the minor parties. In that situation the minor party always has more influence than its numbers represent. For the Rino and Dino haters that is the worst of all worlds.
Many of Rino and Dino haters try to make ours a 3 or 4 party system. They never figure out that their splinter right or left party would never get much power in a government based on coalitions. They are too small. It is the centrist parties that have a 1/3 of the public as potential members that get the clout in the Multi Party system. As you can see in a 2 party or a 5 or 6 party system the center tends to prevail.
But in our two party system the center is an instrument the major parties use to enact their goals. In the multiparty system it is the center parties that use the right and left to enact their centrist goals. Such a system like those in Italy and France are RINO and DINO paradise.
This nation now and for all of the last 140 years has been roughly 1/3 left, 1/3 right and 1/3 in the middle. Those in the middle who run for office are what we call RINOs and DINOs.
When Republicans drive RINOs out they leave the party to become DINOs and take their political power with them. The Democrat party gets them by default.
Then the Democrats thanks to its Dino buddies have a veto proof house and senate. It was Barry Goldwater's greatest accomplishment. In my BRAIN I knew Barry would elect a lot of DINOs ... and he did.
If a party with most of the center wins the presidency too, they have a filibuster proof senate. That party then can do anything it wants to do. When the party leadership takes control they implement the parties’ core beliefs. It was what LBJ did after Goldwater drove all the RINOs into LBJ's camp. It let LBJ do the "Great Society." LBJ had to have Barry's help to do it. And Barry did what it took to give LBJ the support he needed... LBJ had all the left. Barry gave him all the center.
To win control a party must keep its base and get over half the middle. If the Republicans have more RINOs than the Democrats have DINOs the Republican agenda prevails. If the Democrats have more DINOs than the Republicans have RINOs the Democrat agenda prevails.
Those that demand the defeat of RINOs are doing all they can to enact the leftist agenda. They are the most valuable asset the left has. One of the most effective tactics in politics in the negative campaign.
Negative campaigns are not about getting votes for your candidate. They are about getting the other side's base to not vote for their candidate. Thus if you can get the right to vote against a Rino or not vote at all, you can elect a very liberal candidate.
If you can force the Republicans to nominate a right wing candidate so right wing he can't get the center voters, you elect the left candidate.
Well, I see you are firmly planted in the camp that life and liberty are meaningless trifles to be negotiated away for temporary political advantage. Thank God the majority of conservatives are not such weaklings.
Oh, FGS, get over yourself.
And did you manage to find a post where I trashed Jim Robinson?
If not, you can start by apologizing to me.
The real problem is being a conservative candidate and getting around the media. Of course that is what the last truly conservative president did so well. For that to happen again the planets truly have to align, I'm afraid.
Until then I will continue to vote for the guy who's positions most closely correspond with my own beliefs - I don't care who he is or what his chances are - and don't really give a shi'ite what names I'm called.
What in the HELL are you talking about?
If I don't matter, then why post to me?
Maybe you just like acting oblivious. LOL
I have no one I am supporting, and am simply trying to get people to discuss things civilly (although from the looks of things, this is probably a lost cause).
I will vote for whoever gets the nomination. I am not supporting anyone in the primaries as of now, and probably won't. My primary is pretty late and I am not doing any volunteer work this go around due to my husband's schedule.
So, do you think that sort of pledge would help him and change any minds? And here is another thing I would like your opinion on...if, despite all of the opposition we see here, Rudy still gets the nomination, will we not see a further marginalization of conservatives?
I truly am interested in your opinion. Thanks!
What a ridiculous thing to say; you know better than that, but for some reason you feel the need to say things like that.
Don't know where I've been but what happened to CT?
And yet people here are willing to trade it away.
"I'm fond of telling people that you never win an argument you don't make. So one of the reasons I think all these people tell us that they are pro-life in their hearts, and pro-life in the back room, but who refuse to be pro-life on the public platform with debate and discussion in this country -- we need to tell them that we don't have time for silence on the issues when the American people need persuading!
"I also think that if you never win an argument you don't make, how can you ever expect that you're going to find a winning candidate -- a candidate who stands for what you believe -- who stands on the right side of the issues -- when you are so busy looking to see if they'll win that you no longer care if they're right?
"Don't you think it's about time that we decided to make that leap of faith that was made when this country was founded? When they held the banner up and said, "this is the banner of human freedom." And they looked at the long sweep of history and there was nothing in that history to confirm that people could govern themselves.
"As a matter of fact, all the philosophers, and all the pundits, and all the experts stood against this great American experiment. They said that a people could not govern themselves -- that kings, and princes, and tyrants, and despots were the only people fit to govern.
"But they made a leap of faith, and they moved ahead. They didn't know if they would win or lose. They only knew that they had seen the right and they would stand for that right.
"And as we moved ahead in the history of this country, to the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement, there were courageous hearts who were told at every junction that it was too soon, that it was wrong, that it was premature, that they could not win the battle against injustice.
"And yet they stood up not knowing what the outcome would be -- not knowing whether they would win or lose -- be victors or defeated -- only knowing in their hearts that they stood beneath the banner of God and His righteousness, and that He would make them whole, and they'd move ahead.
"That is the spirit that built this country. That's the spirit that built America. And yet in the back rooms of our politics, we are told that we cannot choose the right, that we can only choose the winner. But I'll tell you -- if enough Americans are willing to raise this banner upright in their homes, and in their businesses, and in their churches, and in their schools, then I'll tell you what we have seen time and again in American history.
"That when we have the courage to stand where we belong, it turns out that that is the place of victory. That is what I intend to do."
Alan Keyes
Austin Texas, 31 March 1995
http://www.netads.com/~meo/keyes_aus.html
I've been gone, too, but I just read at the top of this thread that he left FR.
One of many, no doubt.
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from the great Mr. Keyes shortly.
After you've finished with your "work" here.
We are concerned with the 2008 election, not things that happened in the past, at least concerning people who aren't candidates.
When is he "intending" to enter the race this time, EV?
He has? How dumb is that? He joined our group the last time!
Now they are questioning the manhood of Freepers and call us Desperate Housewives? All I can do is laugh! They really are afraid of Rudy winning! :)
Most of the ones here claiming to be social conservatives are not members of the Republican Party.
Give him time. He might even marry you.
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