Thursday, November 06, 2008

What Now for the GOP and Conservatives

Anyone who knows me knows that I am proud "South Park Conservative". I fear that the powers that be will try to slam the GOP back to a far religious-right party in response to this loss. Those same people will fail to admit that the loss is tied more to George Bush than to anything else, period.

Fiscal conservatism and self reliance is the key, NOT going after music, books, gays and bowing to demands from the religious right.

I will fight any movement to the extreme social right. I will fight anyone who uses this election as some sort of 'proof' or mandate that we need to move socially to the right. I actually saw a few conservative blogs posting a cartoon that shows a tent and it reads "Time to shrink it." That saddens me.

These people look at this loss and say "it is because we have moved from religious right values" but fail to admit that as a brand we were hurt are fooling themselves and are simply going for a power grab. George Bush is to the GOP brand what rear end collision explosions were to the Pinto. A hard pill to swallow but until we do, we will keep chasing our big government, paranoid cronyism, judgmental tails.

Trust me; the ultra right wing of the party is poised to take over. These are those who would rather scream and yell at a gay man than save our economy our build communities. We know who they are and before you hand them the keys, remember, they are the ones who were in charge and created this slow fused decay of the party.

In the coming days I will begin to “think out loud” here on Bearing Drift Ohio and explain what I believe and what I will fight for as a Conservative. Some stances may be overly obvious but some might surprise you. No matter what, I think it is time for the many voices of Conservatism to speak out before they are over powered by those who wish to silence dissent in the GOP.

For now there are two great posts on the Original Bearing Drift by JR Hoeft and Jason Kenney that are worth reading.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

AMEN

Norma said...

I've only been a Republican since 2000. Just when was this "taken over by the far right" supposed to have been? Abortion wasn't repealed. Don't see any change in evolution in the schools. Republicans seem to be on the global warming express. Not much talk about marriage and its relationship to poverty. Funding for social services just keeps going up. Who and where are they? Or are they the boogey man the Dems use to scare Republicans?

Mmatters said...

Agree with Norma. How I wish I could just blog on econ and biz issues and related politics, and not have to deal with that "messy other stuff" inherent in social issues. But you quickly realize that you can't do a good job if you don't.

If all the opposition wanted was live and let live, a leave it alone approach MIGHT be defensible.

But that isn't what they want.

They want us to pay for others' abortions. They teach 5 year-olds about "alternative lifestyles" without telling parents. They want to eliminate conscience clauses that would, taken to the extreme, end up shutting people who believe in life from conception to natural death out of medicine. They want, and probably will get, thanks to Obama, an end to all intrastate abortion restrictions passed by Uncle Sam and the states, including the Hyde Amendment, which has saved at least a million preborn babies, and partial-birth abortion.

They want to call anyone who speaks out against abortion, gay marriage, etc. a purveyor of political hate speech. It has already happened in Canada and Sweden. You really think it can't happen here, if not by court order, at least by intimidation? Exactly why?

A party that doesn't deal with these issues and pretends they don't exist is a party headed for Whig status.

Eric said...

First rational post from a righty blogger about a way forward for your party I've seen. Keep it up. I think you are on to something here.

I might add that all the "terrorist" "socialist" "most liberal" attacks failed miserably. Think about it.

Anonymous said...

Brian:

I'm with you on the fiscal side. On the social side, not so much. One of the basic tenets of conservatsm is that morality and family should be put ahead of other concerns in people's lives. Norma has a good point. I think the "far right" thing is something the leftys like to use as a scare tactic. Tom also brings out some good points. The left wants to force their values, or lack thereof, on us.

Look, I would probably be considered as far right as they come but I'm not trying to force my philosophy on anyone. My beliefs are taught in my home and in my church. I encourage them and share them as much as I can but I do not seek to codify them like the left does. Frankly, I don't know anyone on the right who does, except for abortion. That's a whole different topic of which I will be happy to debate anyone on.

Like I said, I'm with you on the fiscal side, buddy. I think your denouncement of the social side is a bit much, however.

A good example is the fact that Eric agrees with you.