True. But how long have “conservatives” been saying that we need to educate people and bring them into the conservative “movement.” Then, when people start looking in that direction, at someone who is more conservative than they are, but less conservative that the most conservative, those most conservatives say.....oh, NO, you can’t come into our tent....if you don’t believe EXACTLY as we do, we would rather LOSE, and give up, and spend the rest of our lives complaining about how screwed up the country is. That just doesn’t make sense to me. But I am a former liberal, so what do I know.....
I’m not clear on what you are talking about.
If it’s this so called “purist” nonsense then you are way off base.
Conservatism is not a dogma like the liberals. Conservatism is neither republican, libertarian, or purist anything. It’s a understanding.
To break it down, you can have people with some conservative beliefs as in the case of a social conservative, a fiscal conservative, or a constitutional conservative, but THE Conservative is all three.
It’s not easy to teach, but it is possible to guide someone to do their own study and reflection to come to a Conservative understanding. Conservatism is not locked in place so there is no dogma. There is either the liberal position, the centrist position or the conservative position, if that makes sense to you.
People who are a mix of political beliefs are not rejected by conservatives. But we would prefer to vote for what you have heard said, a true conservative.
Conservatism, unlike libertarianism and liberalism is a philosophy that uses the history of what has worked in the past combined with the needs of the present. There is no mantra’s. Just principles passed done and tested over time.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump does not think in political terms. He’s a do’er. A technician, if you will, as to how to navigate society to achieve a planned result. he has no philosophy about it, except for the way he does it works and he can teach that.
But government does not function that way. In fact some of the votes used against ted Cruz were part of a political charade that politicians engage in. What they do is not linear or straight up or down, it’s maze of political gamesmanship.
This environment will chew up and spit out a non-political thinker.
The very things you like about Trump are the actual weaknesses that he naturally has. The world he comes from, is not a political training ground. It’s a world of checkers, not chess.
Without a political philosophy to guide him, and the voter, every day will be a new day. We can’t predict what he will do, what new policy he may decide is necessary or how he will deal with foreign policy issues.
So I cannot vote or support him.