Posted by
Lisa on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 12:36:29 AM
Getting involved on the grassroots level of politics usually means
that, during that process, you end up meeting people who are very
passionate about the candidates they are supporting and the party they
belong to. It's necessary that there is diversity of opinion in a
political party, and there is no possible way that everyone will always
be on the same page. What worries me going into '08 is that this
passion will cause divisions between members of the same party who,
after our candidate is selected in the primary process, could refuse to
support that candidate because he might not pass all the ideological
roadblocks that have been placed in his path.
There are folks that I respect very much who have decided to support
several of the second and third tier candidates in the Republican
field. I also know several people supporting Romney and McCain whose
opinions I value a great deal. In the absence of a viable “true
conservative” who is 100% in the Reagan mold, we have the current
front-runners, who all have some problems with the conservative base.
During the primary process, it is absolutely fair to try to convince
supporters of another candidate, like Romney, for example, to back a
more conservative, but less viable candidate like Huckabee, Duncan
Hunter, or Sam Brownback. I don't think the conservative cred of any of
those gentlemen is in question. I will concede that to their
supporters. But there are other considerations for the Republican
nominee for President than just being conservative enough for the base.
There is a fight going on for the soul of the Republican party.
Every group wants a piece. The SoCons (or the religious right), the
fiscal conservatives, those who are more liberal on social issues, and
the “compassionate conservatives” who support excessive spending on
programs that do not work and see no problem with allowing illegal
immigrants who have broken the law to continue to do so...these are
just a few of the constituency groups we have to deal with. This is a
healthy debate to have within the party, and one could make a strong
case that the Republican party has strayed from its roots. I don't
think you would get much argument from conservatives on that,
especially social conservatives.
But I'm not ready to exclude candidates who have a good chance of
winning the nomination / Presidency simply because they can't check off
on a checklist all the conservative hot button issues. There are others
who feel the same way that I do about this, and none of us should feel
that we are less of a conservative just because we may not be
supporting the most conservative candidate in the field. This is the
message we are getting, whether intentional or not, from supporters of
Huckabee, Hunter, and Brownback, and I just don't think that this is
the best argument to make to fellow conservatives.
There seems to be this fear that the Republican party will lurch
inexorably left should Giuliani or Romney get the nomination. I don't
see this happening. Conservatives will always be part of the Republican
party, just like liberals will always be part of the Democratic party.
This won't change. The Republican party has had capable and worthy
nominees for President not named Ronald Reagan in the past and the same
will be true in '08, whether the candidate is conservative or not.
Tags: Republicans, conservatives, '08 election