There is a deep chasm within the Republican Party. On one side we have the Reagan wing of the party, on the other side the moderate or Rockefeller wing (or one could say the Tea Party and Establishment). The history of this war is a long one, so I could just as well refer to them as the Dewey wing and the Goldwater wing, but let's not get hung up on labels. What we have is the wealthy elites and professionals who control the party apparatus vs. the grassroots conservatives who do the voting, and their priorities and perspectives are very different.
I am of course a Reagan kinda guy. That doesn't mean I agree with everything Reagan did, far from it. His second term was a damned joke and a testament to the folly of playing defense rather than going on the attack and moving the ball downfield (thanks Don Regan and Howard Baker). No I mean I'm a believer in limited government, sound monetary policy and maximum personal and economic freedom. The Establishment apparently believes none of that as exemplified by GWB's expansion of government. So in this war, the same war since 1964, you will have to choose sides. What I propose is a way to win this war.
Now, let me just say, we Reaganites have been good soldiers. We've contributed and we've voted for candidates we didn't believe in out of party loyalty and sometimes out of a fear for the Democrat opponent. But for the most part we've been there when the Party needed us. Not so with the Establishment wing. The Cuccinelli loss in Virginia and this latest episode in Mississippi in which the Establishment aligned themselves with the Democrat Party and their hordes of dirty tricksters shows me the Establishment is going for the throat. Inclusion and "Big Tent" doesn't mean Tea Party types apparently. Therefore I'm staying home this November.
In my state we have a pretty competitive Senate race going on between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis. Tillis defeated Greg Brannon (the REAL conservative) in the primary due mostly to national party support, the support guys like Cuccinelli were denied. I don't think the national party should be involved in primaries period but I certainly will not pay for my own demise.
So good luck in November to the "go slow" Democrats who control our party. Jacob Javits and Nelson Rockefeller would be so proud. But it's time for an amicable divorce.
"We must learn to subvert, sabotage and destroy our enemies by more clear, more sophisticated and more effective methods than those used against us."
ReplyDelete--The Doolittle Report to the Hoover Commission, circa 1955
When I return, I will take this subject up more fully. For now, while I certainly can sympathize with arguments that cite how the GOP has deviated from Reaganism, the suggestion that the Tea Party has picked it up is laughable at best. Hell, the Tea Party isn't even close to what it was in 2009 at its promising founding...a small government free market movement. As I predicted then, it has been overtaken by the "social conservatives" and turned into a modern day Moral Majority.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, I believe that what happened in MS was a travest for the GOP. Doesn't mean I support the TP, just means I support the best person winning...and that did not happen.