Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The GOP: a Political Vehicle, or an Ideology?

It needs to be the former, not the latter. From Neal Boortz:

REPUBLICANS VERSUS CONSERVATIVES
Have you been following this House election in upstate New York? The Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has some stiff competition, and it isn't from the Democrat candidate. It is from Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman. Republicans Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty have thrown their support behind Hoffman in what is turning out to be a clash of principles ... what does it mean to be conservative versus Republican?

This Scozzafava woman has some positions that don't sit all that well with the Republican base. Truth is, she's probably running as a Republican only because that area has a history of voting Republican in congressional elections.

But wait until next year. The midterm elections of 2010 may be our last chance to save this Republic. No .. .I'm serious. With the anti-capitalists we have running the show right now the time is short. It may be next year ... or never. Watch the Republicans though. Despite what's at sake, Republicans are going to engage the idiotic abortion litmus test. Candidates are going to be judged primarily on whether or not they want to use the police power of government to force women to continue with pregnancies they want to terminate. This one question will be the beginning and the end of all deliberations as to whether or not to support particular Republican candidates. Makes sense, doesn't it? The future of this country is at stake and these abortocentrists are going to be doing the work of the Democrat party.

Bold emphasis mine. It's ironic how conservatives can actually help Democrats get elected, by sandbagging Republican candidates who don't pass the "litmus test". Conservatives and Democrats, working together to defeat the GOP.

Arguing over who is "good enough" is politics, part of the political process. But is it also sometimes a luxury? How much time do we have, right now, to fight within our own party? I suspect Boortz is right; time is running out. I've posted before about Democrats who want to permanently marginalize the GOP, as a stepping stone to actually eliminating them completely.

Instead of tearing down the GOP, conservatives would serve themselves and their causes better to get involved in their local GOP, and stop trying to dictate to other localities the candidates they should choose. Applying Red state standards to our Blue state candidates usually means a victory for Democrats (as it did here in Oregon). Thus our party grows smaller.

The GOP is a political vehicle, not an ideology. It's time to car pool, not fight over the steering wheel and try to kick each other out of the car. Flexibility and diversity of opinion in our party can a strength; it can be the difference between the GOP's survival, or it's perishing like the dinosaurs.


Related Links:

A long lament about Republican errors

Christian moralizing as a party platform

The Republican Winners, and Their Message

     

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