Conservatism Lives!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how people like me fit into today’s political society. My conclusion is that increasingly…we don’t. I describe myself as a “hard core conservative”, or sometimes as a “capitalist through and through”, and occasionally even as “a right wing nut job” (I suppose that means that Homeland Security is now watching me), but what I’ve found more and more is that those words don’t even mean the same thing to me as they do to most other people. What’s more, the very way in which I process information and reach conclusions seems to be increasingly at odds with those around me. (I know, that probably sounds like something from the diary of a mad man, but I think its more like something from the thoughts of a man without a country.) I talk about the ideas of freedom, liberty, and wealth creation as ideals that improve the greater good. Most people’s eyes just gloss over and they stare at me like I’m from another planet or speaking some language they don’t understand.

You see, I believe in America. I believe that in spite of our flaws, that the foundational principles on which our nation was built are among the purest and most honorable of any nation. Our fundamental commitment to the principles of natural law and the basic rights of men, and most importantly our commitment to individual freedom and liberty have been unique in the world and created the greatest good for the most number of people of any political or economic system ever devised. However, I find fewer and fewer people with any interest in defending those principles. Most people I talk to are far more interested in imposing their subjective view of “fairness” on society at large than they are in defending the very freedom and liberty that allows them to even entertain such ideas. Today, the common consciousness seems more focused on “social justice” and equality of outcome than it is on equality of opportunity and individual achievement and responsibility.

What’s more, in a sound bite culture with an increasing lack of education about even the most basic of economic principles, our national short sightedness about the economic implications of social issues and the so called “solutions” that are gaining popular support is staggering to me. Our entire economic system is built on the principle of individuals making rational decisions. So the we now have a situation in which government interventions in the market (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) forced irrational mortgage lending which in turn incented irrational mortgage borrowing ultimately resulting in a mortgage meltdown and the market is blamed? That isn’t “capitalism”, but that’s what people think of capitalism.

We point to our current economic woes such as our unemployment rate (8.1% in the most recent month reported, but averaging closer to 6% for the last 20 years) as evidence that “capitalism doesn’t work”. Meanwhile, the more socialist economies of the European Union have long had unemployment rates of almost 10%. Not to mention, their standard of living is much lower. Is no one thinking this through to its conclusion?

As for our elected officials, the differentiations between the parties seems to be quickly eroding as well. Sure, on some issues there are still significant differences that are unlikely to change any time soon (which is why I remain reluctantly attached to the Republicans most of the time), but both sides seems to have caught on to one particularly nasty truth; shifting the source of people’s freedom and rights from their maker to that of a centralized authority grants them increasing power in direct correlation to the amount of freedom and rights which they usurp. Our founding fathers understood this principle. It is, in fact, why we fought for independence in the first place.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

For those of you more recent to the site, I began blogging during the election under the name “Reluctant Republican” (a moniker I’ve kept since that time). That name wasn’t chosen randomly or lightly. The principles of freedom and liberty that I hold dear simply aren’t fully represented by either political party these days. While I believe in much of what George W. Bush did as President as it relates to foreign policy, I also acknowledge full well that he, just like the Democrats, seemed to feel that domestic problems were to be solved with giant piles of borrowed money (certainly a major assault on our national economic liberty). And now President Obama is making President Bush look like an amateur when it comes to spending money we don’t have. (As a side note; how arrogant do you have to be to reprimand business lenders for lending money they shouldn’t have or citizens for borrowing money they couldn’t afford all the while doing the same with the government on a scale that is almost incomprehensible?)

So where does someone like me go from here? Should I remain content to be represented by a political party which represents maybe only half of what I stand for? Should I go rogue and join the Constitution Party or some other third party that doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of ever getting elected to a major office just so I can feel better about myself? Neither of those options seem like good ones to me. It seems to me that the only option is to try to revitalize the Republican party from within, but I fear they’ve already gone too far down the road and can’t be turned back.

I’m too young to remember  the election in 1980, but it seems to me that your average Democrat  that year must have felt like  your average Republican this year. Your party had the White House, the economy had been rocked by high unemployment  and high inflation, gas prices and availability had just started to come down from all time highs and actual shortages, and to top it all off there were terrorism problems and doubts about the way your party’s administration had been handling them. These factors and a charismatic opposition candidate enabled the opposition party to pull off an absolute blowout. I would imagine that the average Democrat and the party itself  had quite a bit of soul searching to do after Reagan  smashed them to bits. The Democrats must have wondered if that election was not a clear statement by the public rejecting their platform and their ideas on the whole.  I think history shows that it was, in fact,  just that.  Only time will tell if that was the case again in 2008, however, I think what will be borne out with time is that this year’s election was more about the public rejecting the current administration’s brand of “Republicanism” rather than the conservative ideals and values that had defined the Republicans before it. I say that not only because I believe that the Bush administration was not a good example of conservatism, but also because nationwide many voters “split the ticket” and voted for very conservative candidates (Governor Mitch Daniels in Indiana, for example)  and very conservative ballot initiatives (the gay marriage ban in California, for example) while still voting for Obama. This is where I think history will show 2008 to differentiate itself from 1980 on substance and depth. So to those of us who are conservatives first, and Republicans second I would say, take heart. The people haven’t necessarily rejected conservatism on the whole.

People, let me start by saying that I feel your pain. I know. That’s very Bill Clinton of me. But its true. Its honest. Some people have accused the Reluctant Republicans of being standard Republican party shills. Nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; we don’t really like John McCain all that much. There are parts of his voting record and his platform that we flat out hate. But as true as that is, we simply aren’t crazy enough to drink the third party kool-aide.

Did we learn nothing from Ross Perot in 1992, or for that matter Nader in 2000? Each of those men arguably sabotaged the candidacies of the “mainline” party candidates that most shared their values. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but that is the only real “contribution” of a third party candidate. I can tell you from firsthand experience that the actual political parties themselves do so much heavy lifting on behalf of their candidates and constitute such a formidable workforce that a third party candidate simply doesn’t stand a chance of an actual victory barring some bizarre fluke.

The media is whipping themselves into a frenzy over Bob Barr. They smell blood in the conservative waters and they love it. Do us all a favor though. Don’t give in to your hate and try to strike McCain down in anger. That is only the path to the dark side, and in the end, everything you hold dear will still be destroyed.

More on this subject later, I’m sure.

It never ceases to amaze me how self deceived we all can so easily become. This site is called RELUCTANT republicans for a reason. We place our values and ideals first, and any political party affiliations second. We recently received a comment from a (presumably Democrat) reader of the RR blog. We encourage you to read the linked comment before reading further.

In response to Mr. Thompson; To claim that a plight of the human condition such as racism is the sole property of any single group or political affiliation reveals your own ignorance. If you think racism is confined to the Republican party then you have long ago surrendered your intellect to the Democrats and exist today as nothing more that their tool. The only person to make a real issue out of Obama’s race so far has been Hillary Clinton, a fellow Democrat. You point to “Republican scum, notably in Southern States” as the primary offenders and arbiters of racism. Perhaps you should visit some union halls (exclusive domains of the Democratic party) in the North East or the Midwest and see what you find there. Where have elected democrats been in advancing the cause of minorities in positions of power? Nowhere. Minorities are to the Democrats what the religious right has become to the Republicans; useful idiots.

Make no mistake, racism is real, it is alive and well in America, and it is an ugly thing. But to claim that the Republicans are its sole proprietors is nothing short of ignorant drivel. The point of the Reluctant Republicans’ existence is to rise above partisan politics and engage in an open, honest, dialogue about values, economics, and other important issues of the day without the partisan smoke screens. We have no interest in spreading party propaganda from either side. And that, Mr. Thompson, is all you have offered today.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Obama’s race became an issue in the general election. As usual though, it is the liberal who wants to focus on it. In this case, Obama himself. On Friday in reference to the upcoming campaign he said (full article here):

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

What???!! Obama is black?? Why hadn’t anyone told me??? Let’s start at the end of the quote and work forward. “Did I mention he’s black?” How could it even be possible for anyone who isn’t blind to NOT know Obama is (at least partly) black? Obviously issues of race are still very divisive in America. But it is ridiculous to suggest that the Republican party, even as out of touch as they are most of the time, would actually point to Obama’s race as an “issue” and attempt to emphasize something so obvious. No, as I recall, the only person to do that so far has been a fellow Democrat; Hillary Clinton. Are there racists left in America for whom Obama’s race will be an issue? Absolutely. But to lay that at the feet of the Republican party and assign blame is ridiculous. Those people will have been racist before this election began, and they will probably still be racist when its done, and the Republican party will have very little to do with that on any level.

Let’s have another short history lesson here. It has been the Republican party that has nominated the ONLY two (this guy and this guy) African American judges to the Supreme Court, and Republicans who have had the highest ranking African Americans (one man and one woman) in their Cabinets in US history. No Democrat President has even come close to matching these appointments. This drumbeat that Republicans are racist wears thin very quickly.

Moving on, a “funny name”? A cursory search of the internet will provide you with enough conspiracy theories about Obama’s upbringing and allegiances to last a lifetime. They vary in believability depending on how conspiratorial you are yourself, but set that aside for a moment. Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim name and his father was, in fact, a devoted Muslim. The fact that the largest attack on US soil in history was carried out by followers of radical Islam and that we are currently engaged in a long and costly war against similar radical Islamists and that the next emerging threat is from a radical Islamist, makes the question of Obama’s moral, spiritual, and political allegiances a legitimate one. That is not to say that the Reluctant Republicans believe that Obama is masterminding some sort of Islamic takeover of the country. It is simply to say that some questions ARE legitimate regardless of how politically incorrect they may seem.

He’s inexperienced? Well, yes, he is. That speaks for itself. He hasn’t even completed his first term in elected office, has no military experience, no foreign policy experience, and won his seat in the Senate after his heavily favored incumbent opponent withdrew from the race in June in the midst of a sex scandal.

“They’re going to try to make you afraid.”  Well folks, you should be afraid. Not because of his race, not because of his father’s religion, and not because of any other straw man or red herring Obama can throw out to try to divert from the truth. Instead of listing all the reasons here again, I’ll just point you to the Reluctant Republicans Obama page. Try not to read it right before you go to bed though. we don’t want to be responsible for any nightmares.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Obama’s race became an issue in the general election. As usual though, it is the liberal who wants to focus on it. In this case, Obama himself. On Friday in reference to the upcoming campaign he said (full article here):

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

What???!! Obama is black?? Why hadn’t anyone told me??? Let’s start at the end of the quote and work forward. “Did I mention he’s black?” How could it even be possible for anyone who isn’t blind to NOT know Obama is (at least partly) black? Obviously issues of race are still very divisive in America. But it is ridiculous to suggest that the Republican party, even as out of touch as they are most of the time, would actually point to Obama’s race as an “issue” and attempt to emphasize something so obvious. No, as I recall, the only person to do that so far has been a fellow Democrat; Hillary Clinton. Are there racists left in America for whom Obama’s race will be an issue? Absolutely. But to lay that at the feet of the Republican party and assign blame is ridiculous. Those people will have been racist before this election began, and they will probably still be racist when its done, and the Republican party will have very little to do with that on any level.

Let’s have another short history lesson here. It has been the Republican party that has nominated the ONLY two (this guy and this guy) African American judges to the Supreme Court, and Republicans who have had the highest ranking African Americans (one man and one woman) in their Cabinets in US history. No Democrat President has even come close to matching these appointments. This drumbeat that Republicans are racist wears thin very quickly.

Moving on, a “funny name”? A cursory search of the internet will provide you with enough conspiracy theories about Obama’s upbringing and allegiances to last a lifetime. They vary in believability depending on how conspiratorial you are yourself, but set that aside for a moment. Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim name and his father was, in fact, a devoted Muslim. The fact that the largest attack on US soil in history was carried out by followers of radical Islam and that we are currently engaged in a long and costly war against similar radical Islamists and that the next emerging threat is from a radical Islamist, makes the question of Obama’s moral, spiritual, and political allegiances a legitimate one. That is not to say that the Reluctant Republicans believe that Obama is masterminding some sort of Islamic takeover of the country. It is simply to say that some questions ARE legitimate regardless of how politically incorrect they may seem.

He’s inexperienced? Well, yes, he is. That speaks for itself. He hasn’t even completed his first term in elected office, has no military experience, no foreign policy experience, and won his seat in the Senate after his heavily favored incumbent opponent withdrew from the race in June in the midst of a sex scandal.

“They’re going to try to make you afraid.”  Well folks, you should be afraid. Not because of his race, not because of his father’s religion, and not because of any other straw man or red herring Obama can throw out to try to divert from the truth. Instead of listing all the reasons here again, I’ll just point you to the Reluctant Republicans Obama page. Try not to read it right before you go to bed though. we don’t want to be responsible for any nightmares.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about the upcoming election and McCain. He made an interesting statement to me. He said, “It’s started. People are already lying to themselves. Now that MCain is the nominee they are convincing themselves that they love him.” That is so true in politics and so what we are not about here at the Reluctant Republicans. Why has it become unacceptable to be honest about who we are as conservatives while still supporting the candidate? Ripping into a candidate over legitimate disagreements before they get your party nomination and then pretending like that never happened after the nomination has been secured has become the norm in American politics. Frankly, it makes me sick. Both sides have so deeply invested in “defeating” the other that we have lost our souls in the process. It has become necessary to put on a facade that “our guy” doesn’t have any flaws. There’s only one man I’m aware of who ever walked the earth who didn’t have any flaws and I assure you, he wasn’t a politician. We’re human. So are our politicians, including John McCain. The man has flaws. Clearly we don’t agree with many of his positions. And you know what? That’s OK, because we’re still going to do everything we can to elect him because he is the candidate who most closely matches our ideals. The difference is that we’ve decided not to lose our souls in the process by lying to ourselves.

In the world of politics, to most Americans, it seems like common sense is lacking. People run for office; many with good intentions, some for purely selfish reasons. But either way, ultimately, it seems like once IN office they get lost in the “machine” and either become convinced of why the Bizzaro world of government is justifiable, or  become so singularly focused on remaining in office that they abandon the people and principles that put them there. Ultimately, both parties end up in a power struggle more concerned with besting the other than actually making real progress on real issues. With nonstop news coverage and the spin machines running at full throttle 24×7 it can become difficult sometimes as engaged citizens to cut through the noise. To that end, I would like to point you toward a group who is doing some fantastic work in this area; Common Sense Issues. I would highly encourage anyone who even considers themselves to be on the fringe of the conservative movement to check them out. Let’s cut through the noise and get back to some common sense together as conservatives this election year.

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana is seen as a potential conservative running mate for Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Conservatives need a voice in this campaign.  Is he the right choice?

Reluctant Republicans for McCain tell us what you think.  Don’t be shy!

Calling all conservatives to Reluctant Republicans for McCain.  I know he is not our first choice.  Heck he is probably not our second choice, but he definitely beats the other guy.  Look around the site….give us some ideas on how to improve the site…..check out the gear and give us some more feedback…..learn to love the Maverick. Learn to embrace your reluctancy as a Republican.  Learn to be a Reluctant Republican for McCain!