[PsyOp]

Single issue voting by "conservatives" will doom the conservative movement. To have any hope of effectively moving your agenda forward, you must pick a party and vote a straigth ticket. Split government is a government of bad compromises all around.

That being said, there are only two viable parties that can get anything done. Republican and Democrat. Pick one. if you don't like some of the policies of the party that most closely mirrors your values, try to persuade people to your point of view. If you fail, that is not a good enough excuse to abandon a party that has the ability to move the country in the direction that most closely approximates your desired destination.

I am a Republican. I do not like all of the party platforms. But I like them a lot better than what the Dems offer. So I vote Republican. I vote a straight party ticket. A Republican President without a Republican house and senate to back him (and vice-versa), will not take the country anywhere near where I want it to go.

[weikel]

Problem is if both parties are very far away from your views you are screwed. I'm not a single issue guy Bush has done a lot of things this year which piss me off. My criticism of him is basically that of Rush.

[MJY1288]

A very well put, reasonable post! All this back biting around here only plays into the hands of the Liberals who love to see conservatives divided. We must reverse the strangle hold liberals have on this country and that means VOTING AGAINST DEMOCRATS. There simply no other way to change the direction we have been heading since the Hippie movement of the sixties if we don't vote out the democrats.

A straight party ticket that can beat the democrats is the only way to win this country back. After we get it back and prove we can navigate this country through the challenges we face, we will have much more of a chance to nominate and vote in a Constitutional Conservative President who understands we are a diverse nation that needs to be convinced our message is the best for our survival. A whole bunch of work on the grass root level needs to be done before we ever see this happen. If we repeat the mistake we made in 1992 by voting in protest, we will hand the keys to the city right back to the liberals

[EternalVigilance]

The whole 'single issue' thing is a a straw man argument.

The vast majority of principled pro-life folks care about a broad range of issues...constitutional adherence, national defense, taxation, regulation, education, foreign affairs...to name but a few. I don't think I've ever met this mythical 'single-issue' person anywhere.

But the sacred nature of innocent human life is critically important and central. That's why the attack on 9-11 is such an atrocity, and is perceived as such...it was a murderously evil attack on noncombatant innocent men, women and children...the lawless and wicked taking of innocent human life.

I am always instantly suspicious of the motives of those who attempt to use the 'single-issue' smear on pro-life people.

Why are you doing this? Do you support the killing of one and a half million babies every year in this country?

[EODGUY]

I agree with the majority of your statement, with one exception. I have rescinded my membership from the Republican National Committee. I will not donate money to an organization that may use it to aid the campaigns of McCain, Specter, Snowe, Chafee, all of whom are always on the democrat side of the vote. They are not Republicans and we will not have a majority in the Senate until they are replaced with real Republicans.

Instead, I personally donate to candidates from other states.

[scan58]

I am a Republican. I do not like all of the party platforms. But I like them a lot better than what the Dems offer. So I vote Republican. I vote a straight party ticket. A Republican President without a Republican house and senate to back him (and vice-versa), will not take the country anywhere near where I want it to go.

That whole post was very well said and I agree.

[Ahban]

Bush will lead us slowly over the precipice of doom, while AlGore would have sent us hurdling into it. Conservatives need him in there until we can build up a true conservative party. That would be the Constitution Party ...

http://www.constitutionparty.com

We have until 2008. Six years. Hey, how many Republicans were there more than six years before Abe Lincoln became the first Republican President?

The answer is zero. The party was not started until 1854. Till then it was the Whigs and the Democrats.

Here are the areas of concern on W...

1)Not Conservative enough : True and for the following reasons...

2) ????Not pro-life???We will see about this one. If he appoints judges who would uphold Roe v Wade then he is not a pro-life President, just one who spouts pro-life rhetoric when convienient. He had a chance to get a partial birth abortion ban through before the Jeffords switch and did not do it.

4)Federal Power Grabber, : Read 'Homeland Security' , 'Faith Based Initiatives' and keeping Americore, among others.

Sort of 5)Will appoint liberal federal judges :Read - did not defend Pickering in time to save nomination. He may be OK on this one, but the start is shaky.

Bear in mind that the judge who wrote the pledge decision was appointed by a Republican.

Sort of 6) Globalist : though I am heartened by his World Court stance and his willingness to go it alone when he has to.

8) Too soft on immigration :BIG TIME, WITHOUT DOUBT

and 12) BIG SPENDER: Farm Bill, AMTRAK, "Minorities don't own enough houses", Education Department, ad nauseum.

This man is still the most conservative republican Presidential nominee we are likely to get in the next 20 years. That is why I hope he is re-elected, and that is why I hope my fellow freepers will join the Constitution Party forthwith.

Who would I like to see as President? I would like to see NH senator Bob Smith elected President. Either OKLAHOMA senator (and a couple of their congressmen) would make good Presidents. Howard Phillips would be good, of course. Tom Delay would be a good President.

Do I think any of these men have a chance of being elected President? Yes. But not in 2004 and not as Republicans. http://www.constitutionparty.com

[wardaddy]

Amen....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Great post PsyOp! I agree.

[Freedom2specul8]

bump for later reading..

[Fish out of Water]

I agree with part of what you say but if both parties are heading in the same wrong direction, the only difference being how fast they will arrive at their destination, then what do you do?

[reformed_democrat]

I am a Republican. I do not like all of the party platforms. But I like them a lot better than what the Dems offer. So I vote Republican. I vote a straight party ticket. A Republican President without a Republican house and senate to back him (and vice-versa), will not take the country anywhere near where I want it to go.

Coming into this over a day late, I just wanted to go on records as saying I agree with you completely.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

I agree. Vote for a third party and your throwing another bone to the Democrats. Democratic Party wants to destroy the remaining freedoms we have in the U.S.A.

[Springman]

PsyOp, thanks for the ping. I had to think for a couple of days. I just wish Pres. Bush would let loose on the Rats, I know he can't becaue of the war and the stockmarket being in the outhouse. As for national elections,"I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A RAT!!" But where I live, no Repub. will be elected,
Sen. Levin and Rep. Levin.

[Robert_Paulson2]

on the otherhand.... split governments gets little accomplished, a really big plus in MY view. The less they get done, the better I like it.

the less they take from my bank, my property and my family time.

Except for providing for the common defense (their LAST priority until 911) I would be happy to see the entire thing turned WAY back to about 1850's style involvement in our lives and communities.

Between all the various WARS we have going on against undeclared impersonal "boogey man" entities such as , poverty, drugs, guns, illiteracy, sexism and such, there remains NO area of life THEY have not pontificated to us in the form of "thus saith the law." Laws they pass for us, while they are largely exempt through their office or specialized knowledge.

And MOST of what they are now regulating through massive perversion of the "commerce clause" exceeds the most debauched imaginings we could ever have regarding the failed Clinton administration and its perversion of all we hold dear.

The only difference between dems and pubs is the rate at which they are hoping to expand the role of government in our lives. Dems are liberal in their wholesale adoption of federal and state socialist programs. Republicans are conservative about the RATE of adopting the very same issues of controlling citizens.

Socialist statism is evil, no matter who espouses it.
Splitting tickets insures us against speedy adoption of the statist path we are already on.

YOU can do what you want... I vote for crippled government.