The reson I vote GOP(Although sometimes I vite LIbertarian.) is this... most people in the US are centrists. They are neither left nor right. I believe most would be Conservative if they fully understood the ramifications of thier choices but to most people politics is a two day study in ideas the DAYS before they vote.
After reading the platform of the Republican LIberty Caucas, I have come to the conclusion that it is easier working within the GOP to attempt to change IT rather then fighting against it.
It upsets me that many people in the GOP are moderates but that is the way it is and the way it shall remain for a long time. While President BUsh has shown some spirit on certain issues, he has capitulated in others. The reasons for this are it is easier to try to change things when one is in office rather then when one is outside of the power structure.
It comes down to Realpolitik, and the reason some are getting angry with you is that if we followed your vision, we would be a fringe party unable to do ANYTHING. As I have said, I work inside the GOP to bring it more to the right and if people like me succeed, it will bring the country farher to the right.
I might add, the political capital is not present to demand the changes that you wish. We must do it by incrementalism. This is the same strategy that the left has used with the DNC and on the American public, and it works. The country would NEVER go for thier looney lefty ideas so they have waged war using incrementalism hoping that it will be too late once the Country wakes up and realizes what is happening.
IN summary, I share your ideals but I am a realist and will fight for every last inch. Who would have EVER thought ten years ago that a President would campaign as a Conservative and win? Albeit, as a Compassionate Conservative but a Conservative nevertheless.
The reason we are practicing Realpolitik now is that the November elections are a HAIRSBREADTH apart and we must not lose. If we Conservatives all abandon the GOP, what will we gain? The Libertarians and the COnstitutionalists will gain more members but will still be fringe groups and the DNC will have acheived an absoulute stranglehold over our government.
I am hoping you are just a frustrated idealist and will see my point, because as I have said, I share your views but strategically you are advocating your own extinction and giving the GOP free reign to become EXACTLY what you predict. IN other words, your actions(If taken en masse.) would produce a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"most people in the US are centrists. They are neither left nor right. I believe most would be Conservative..."
Most Americans are actually conservative and do think of themselves as centrists. Much of the propaganda war has been won in the past by the left because the media have had an exclusive franchise to frame and present the debate to the public. Over decades the media have been able to push the "center" farther and farther to the left when voters have not been presented clear choices. Republicans unable to present a coherent defense against the unbalanced media critics quit trying to frame the conservative side of the debate and moved left themselves.
"It upsets me that many people in the GOP are moderates but that is the way it is and the way it shall remain for a long time. While President BUsh has shown some spirit on certain issues, he has capitulated in others. The reasons for this are it is easier to try to change things when one is in office rather then when one is outside of the power structure."
That is a seductive myth. When office holders attempt to shift away from the platform they ran on, their own words and ideas become the weapons the media uses to assassinate them. Platforms, candidate speeches and elected official actions must be consistent or the media will completely disembowel elected officials.
"It comes down to Realpolitik, and the reason some are getting angry with you is that if we followed your vision, we would be a fringe party unable to do ANYTHING. As I have said, I work inside the GOP to bring it more to the right and if people like me succeed, it will bring the country farher to the right."
This is exactly what almost all conservatives and Republicans have done for the past 70 years. The problem is that we don't have another 70 years to swing the pendulum back. The United States government based on existing law has already incurred more obligations than are economically possible to pay. And Republicans are proposing to vote for legislation to make the problems worse instead of better. Democrats always do this; it is their source of power.
Yes, republicans won more presidential elections during that period than democrats. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress in thirty of thirty one elections until 1994. The real power of the US government lies with Congress. Presidential politics and the media have had the effect of increasing the apparent power of the President in recent years, but the money, the laws, rules and regulation are controlled by Congress. The President and his staff get the attention because they are the enforcers, but the real power is in writing the rules. I don't know with certainty that is possible to turn the country around, but I do know the consequences of not doing it. And only Republicans are capable of making the changes necessary in the time remaining where it is possbile to halt socialism before the unfunded liabilities push the United States off the financial cliff.
"I might add, the political capital is not present to demand the changes that you wish. We must do it by incrementalism. This is the same strategy that the left has used with the DNC and on the American public, and it works. The country would NEVER go for thier looney lefty ideas so they have waged war using incrementalism hoping that it will be too late once the Country wakes up and realizes what is happening."
In this I completely disagree. Your comments imply that you are not old enough to remember President Reagan, the only true conservative to occupy the Whitehouse in my lifetime, although most would consider Ike considerably more conservative than most recent Presidents. Reagan was substantially more conservative and more outspokenly conservative than Bush. Reagan won by electoral landslides and by large popular vote margins. Bush barely won the electoral college and lost the popular vote. Republicans won landslide Congressional victories in 1994, the one and only time that Republicans ever attempted to run on a rock solid conservative agenda. Their margin of victory was so large they have managed to retain control of both houses until the defection of Jeffords. But in every election since 1994 Republicans have moved farther left and have lost seats in every single election since 1994. And if they lose control in this election, it will because they moved left, and abandoned their conservative base. Republicans ignore their conservative base at their own peril. And if they win on a leftist agenda, the only result may be that the lurch to the left and the inevitable bankruptcy may be very slightly delayed. It cannot be postponed long and it cannot be avoided. And when I say the United States will be bankrupt, you might believe that you will escape most of the effects. On the contrary, it is the US dollar that will be destroyed. If your wealth is in dollars, much of it will only be worth the value of the paper it is printed on as fuel for lighting fires. Almost over night people will not exchange goods and services for dollars. Read some of the articles about Argentina today. You may not believe that what is happening in Argentina can happen here, but what you see in Argentina today is an excellent preview for what to expect in the US sometime between 2012 and 2015. Predictably things will be substantially worse than what is happening Argentina, simply because the world economy is dependent upon the United States. World wide depression can be expected when the US dollar becomes worthless.
"The reason we are practicing Realpolitik now is that the November elections are a HAIRSBREADTH apart and we must not lose."
The elections have become progressively closer because Bush and the Congressional Republicans believed the media propaganda barrage and felt they needed to move left to appeal to centrist voters. This is a perfect example of doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. By moving away from the people who traditionally elect Republicans, they lose more votes from the right than they gain from the left. This has been happening in election after election throughout my lifetime. The media hoodwinks the Republicans. The Republicans fall for it. And the Republicans manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Contract with America was the only winner the Republicans have ever had. And the Contract with Congress would be too. As Republicans moved farther from this position, they have lost seats in every election until their margin of control is at risk. Even if Republicans win without the Contract with Congress, it will not be because of the shift to the left, it will be because Americans know Republicans can deal more effectively with the War on Terror, Iraq and other matters of national security. The attack on America at the WTC raised concerns over national security to levels not seen since VietNam. Republicans will be very wrong and any victory short lived if they believe that moving left has become the secret to maintaining control of Congress. And delaying the Constitutional reforms that must be made raises the probability that the US will end in bankruptcy. There is no more time for incrementalism. We must seize the initiative an act.
"If we Conservatives all abandon the GOP, what will we gain?"
There is nothing that captures the undivided attention of a politician quicker than losing an election. Republicans have forgotten the horse they rode in on, the Contract with America and the conservative base that came out in droves voting them into the biggest upset election victory in the history of the United States. If FreeRepublic can capture the attention of Congressional Republicans and make them acknowledge and take a stand on the Contract with Congress, I think Republicans can bank on widening their grip on Congress and they will have a mandate to restore the Constitution. If Republican lose in 2002 because they continue to court the left and ignore their base, conservatives will capture the attention of Republican candidates in 2004, including the President, and we can make the Contract with Congress the center piece of the 2004 election exactly as the Contract with America was in 1994. If the Republicans win the 2004 election based on the Contract with Congress, there will be no significant opposition to enacting it and the task of restoring Constitutional law to the United States will have begun.
There will be time to fairly address the unfunded liabilities of SS and after SS is voluntarily privatized, Congress and the President will have established the political credibility to tackle Medicare, a much more difficult beast to address. That is what can be gained. The Contract with Congress is a choice between bankruptcy or the restoration of Constitutional law to the United States. Freedom can be saved. The battle may not be easy, but it can only be won by those willing to attempt it.
Socialism is a seductive and enticing mistress. Free lunches for all, all the time sounds good until you get the bill. The bills for Social Security and Medicare start coming due in 2012, and there aren't enough dollars in the whole world to pay them. Until somebody tells Americans we can't afford the bills and there really aren't any free lunches, how are they going to know? And if Republicans don't tell them, who will?