Working together for victory vs. standing for our principles
Something I keep hearing from every angle is that working together for the good of the party is more important than working for reform in the party.
I don’t necessarily buy that.
Of course I have heard the saying, “united we stand, divided we fall,” most commonly attributed to Lincoln during the Civil War era. Go ahead and remind me about that. I’ll remind you about the difference between apples and oranges.
Let me cut to the chase and be very clear, in case you don’t get what I’m saying:
Electing a RiNO is no better than electing a Democrat.
*Pause to let that sink in.*
In fact, in some cases, it’s worse. Folks, what people don’t recognize is that a strong opposition party does NOT hurt us as much as having a cancer in our own party, actively working to destroy us from within.
So go ahead, Republican leadership*, tell me how much I’m hurting the party by working to return it to its conservative roots. Tell me how it’s okay to elect liberals to office, simply because they have an (R) beside their name on the ballot. Tell me how well the big tent concept has worked for the party.
Oh wait, you can’t bring yourself to tell me these things? Big surprise.
As it is, we have become neutered in our beliefs. We are so afraid of losing the moderate vote that we have stopped taking stands on anything. People will only start to respect us (which translates into electing Republicans) when we start standing for something.
It comes down to principles vs. popularity. Doing the right thing is seldom easy, but it must be done.
* Does not necessarily denote a recognition of SD Republican leadership, as we are currently lacking in that department.
July 26th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I am all for standing up for conservative values. I believe that in the past conservatives have banded together and pulled off some great things within this state. They did it working within the Republican party. Now we must gird up our loins and work harder, network more, identify our friends, try to win over the ones who aren’t and keep working WITHIN the party. We must push, but it needs to be within the structure of the party.
We probably need to go back and clean up some of our rules and regs, and see if we can avoid messes like Stangate, but that district isn’t the only one that has had to face down and deal with renegades in the party.
I really like the idea of putting strength into our SD Republican platform. We can do it by working on party members across the state. Maybe after that it will trickle up to the National level.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:14 am
This is the most intriguing topic of our day, for conservatives. While the prominence of conservatism has ebbed and flowed within the Republican party, consevatism has always been a part of it. Conservatives have always struggled with other factions within the party for dominance and lost much of the time. But conservatives have never abandoned the party. Compare this to the Democrats. Remember back in the 90’s when Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in decades. Democrats fled their party, others contemplated doing so, to become Republicans so they could continue to be in the majority. That’s all that they cared about. Principles didn’t matter to them….or did they? I commented at the time that all these new converts from liberalism would dilute the core of the party and tilt it to the left. That’s partly what happened. Still, many good things were accomplished by Speaker Gingrich and his Contract With America and the first hundred days. But after a time things changed and we were disappointed to watch the gains produced by the popularity of conservative ideals and the momentum created by Reagan, get squandered as other special interests in the party rushed in to take charge. It was the Rockefeller Republican return to business as usual and earmarks were born. While not as bad as pork barrel deficit spending, earmarks still carried the poison of power. The public promptly threw them out and elected the most socialist and liberal congressional leadership in United States history. This is the sort of thing that creates unfortunate sayings like “Republicans never blow an opportunity, to blow an opportunity.”
So, conservatism is an integral part of the Republican party, you know, the Base. We aren’t going anywhere. Because there is nowhere else to go. The greatest accomplishments and successes for liberty and prosperity and the Republican party have occurred under the conservative watch. There is dieing reason to support the rot in the party like a Linc Chaffee, “Jumpin’” Jim Jeffords or a Stan Adelstein. These people have done too much damage to liberty and prosperity already. No more.
July 27th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Well said folks! Now that we have analyzed the problem, are we going to do something? It seems a terrible waste of intellect to figure out what is broken, then do nothing to fix it, doesn’t it?
July 27th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
NING-WUT, Check the post below.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I am a Conservative. There are two sides of this story, put a Republican in that you agree with 80% of the time, that you can take in a back office and “visit” with vs a Dem who will never “visit” with you.
The other side is if a more liberal R is going to hurt the Republican reputation, like the R’s #2 is talking about, it is best not to have an R in the office.
I encourage all South Dakotans to get more involved with their Party, actually just Rs. Roll up your sleeves and go to work for people that best represent your values. And if you can’t find anyone that fits your beliefs, run yourself!
July 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Can you make a point by NOT voting? By NOT voting they have to assume you WERE going to Vote. I think Republican candidates my think you just couldn’t make it to the polls because you had to work. Where as Democrats think their constituents were chased away, by the police.
I think the only way to make a difference is by voting for someone and working for your cause.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
This is exactly right. We cannot change things if we don’t identify what the problem is first. We must be honest. The solution then is self evident.
It’s clear that Conservatives have been ALL but drummed out of the party. So for us, while we’re not back at square one, we must start over at the local level to promote candidates that are genuinely conservative and build them to national office. That is not to say there are no conservatives in higher office, it’s just that their ranks are thinning and they need reinforcements.
The wanted sign is out. Movement Conservatives Need Apply.