As a result of the primary election here in Florida and the perceived likelihood that McCain will continue on to win the other primaries and the party’s nomination, it seems that come November those of us who hold dear our conservative ideals will end up having to vote against a candidate who is the antithesis of what we believe in instead of for a candidate who represents our interests. Because of this, many have begun to administer the last rights to the conservative movement in this country. Without a leader that believes in conservative ideals, who is not willing to compromise those ideals, many believe the movement cannot survive and will surely collapse.
These feelings among all of us, me included, are authentic. But we have to ask ourselves if we follow a person, or do we follow an ideal?
These past couples of days have been difficult for us. And the remainder of this election season will not offer any reprieve from the frustration. Nonetheless, we cannot lose sight of what our values consist of. They consist of ideals, beliefs, and convictions that we hold dear. So dear that no man, no political outcome, no adversarial movement can destroy it. They can badmouth it, they can attempt to discredit it, they can try to dilute it, but they will never be able to eliminate it, or us. Our movement is not weak, only our leadership is.
Keep this in mind: Through harassment, jailing, beatings, and murders, the Cuban regime has kept the movement to end tyranny in Cuba unorganized and without a leader. Yet they have continually struggled for their freedom for nearly fifty years. If we give up on our movement, how can we expect them to continue theirs?
Our beliefs and our ideals are bigger than any one man. John McCain will never be able to carry our movement forward, but neither will he be able to stop the show.
7 thoughts on “One monkey don’t stop no show”
Comments are closed.
Alberto you are correct. What I don’t understand is how people will betray their beliefs to attempt to prevent an outcome that is more than likely foregone already. Nothing galvinizes Republicans more than bad liberal presidents. Unless of course they are bad liberal Republican presidents. GWB has a mild case of that and John McCain has a full blown case of it.
Well, I can’t recall who said it, perhaps it was Yogi Berra, but “it ain’t over till it’s over.”
A lot of things can happen in the next few months.
I think a lot of conservatives of all stripes are forgetting a big thing: What became more important than conservative unity in picking the GOP candidates for President this year was the ability to survive the Soros/Clinton media machine. The candidates most likely to survive are Blue State Republicans like Romney or Giuliani, or perpetual candidates like McCain. These are not the kind of candidates to get the GOP base excited.
2006 was decided by “macaca” and creepy letters to an 18-year-old page. Why on Earth would the GOP trust voters to stick with Thee Perfecte Conservative if his campaign manager had a transvestite hooker in his past?
One of the many reasons I disagree with much of the domestic politics on this website is that i do not believe any one side conservative or liberal, democrat or republican has a monopoly on ideas in a free society. And those ideas as much as I disagree with them are to be respected or we are no better than castro.
Many conservative positions I believe in and came to that conclusion not because of any movement but because I believe in them such as a strong national defense, pro death penalty, hard line on castro, and a pro business capitalism economy.
Many liberal positions I believe in because I saw them work in my own family or with my own two eyes.
I spoke of my Dad on Flag Day. Well the house he bought was with a VA Mortgage. He was a union guy. When he retired he received Social Security and Medicare. I have other relatives of the greatest generation who worked all their lives and are alone and destitute in nursing homes, with only Social Security and Medicare to sustain them after their life savings were wiped out.
Some of those savings were wiped out by business playing with their pensions they were promised, Some by draining their life savings for nursing home care.
When my wife and I were trying to have children I was scolded by a church member for using invitro because it was “just another part of the abortion movement.”
Well I ignored that. That man is dead. And my 11 year old twins are being raised Catholic regardless.
I believe in a woman’s right to choose. If conservatism is less government, then try to be consistent.
All of those situations have been addressed, I’ll admit imperfectly, by Democrats and opposed by Republicans.
I am old enough to remember not only the Cuban Missle Crisis (and I am no fan of JFK) but Reagan saying that the Civil Rights Act was unnecessary, and LBJ saying on its signing that we (Democrats) lost the South for a generation.
And that was true.
There is a certain cycle to these things. Conservatism has endured blows because the conservatives themselves lost their way.
Reagan never proposed a balanced budget to Congress, but Clinton did.
Republicans in Congress had more earmarks in their last year running congress than when the democrats took over.
And there is going to be no fiscal discipline unless we address the entitlements.
I do not care whether someone will tell me to go F myself whether its here or a lefty site.
I am not here to change anyone’s mind as they will not change mine unless it comes to what I believe your area of expertise is, a free Cuba.
That is a long way of answering your question, that its a set of principles, not a movement.
Stick to them.
I’ll take each issue on what I believe to be its merits.
Like Churchill said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
Yeap, Alberto, conservative ideas and ideals are bigger than any one leader, or any one political party, for that matter. How long can the Republican party continue to poke conservatives in the eye and expect them to remain faithful?
Jluix:
I think the problem is more the lack of leadership than the Republican party. At the end of the day, the GOP is a political machine that will do whatever is necessary to win.
Conservatives need a leader. Someone who people find inspiration in and are willing to follow. If the “movement” had that, you’d find the GOP acting a lot more conservative.
True, the Republican Party lacks effective conservative leadership these days, and with McCain posed to lead it, the prospects don’t look good. The Democratic Party has gone socialist, and McCain will move the Republican Party to the left, leaving conservatives politically homeless. 1976 may be repeating, and 4 or 8 years from now conservatism may surge again within the GOP. Otherwise, a real conservative vacuum will eventually be filled by a third party.