The Long, Dark Tea-Time Of The GOP’s Soul

by Mike Flynn - November 2nd, 2009 - Big Government

To Big Media, conservatism comes in only one flavor, social conservatism, namely anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage and a smattering of other issues that would fall flat over canapés and seltzer (liberals don’t seem to drink anymore). That Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage fits the narrative perfectly for the media. End of story.

But, the media, and political leaders would be wise to dig a bit deeper into the story. Yes, Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, but she was also pro-government spending, pro-taxes and pro-Big Labor, to name just a few other issues. When a Republican candidate regularly seeks out the endorsement of ACORN and wins the endorsement of DailyKos, it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that large segments of the party might have some misgivings about supporting the candidate.

Conservatives are not monolithic. Social conservatives have long been the reason that "traditional values" have had a big say in Republican politics. Social conservatives think we should be legislating "traditional values". However in recent years more and more fiscal conservatives have had a hard time accepting that we should do more than resist legislation of liberal cultural values. The rejection of the idea of a conservative nanny state is at the heart and soul of the rapid deterioration of the Republican Party under the Bush-Rove "compassionate communism" philosophy. This split is seriously undermining the current war against the Obama surge to the left.

Recent polls have indicated that more than half of self identified conservatives reject the Republican Party. It is libertarians and fiscal conservatives that have abandoned the Republican Party, even as social conservatives have stayed in the Party yet failed to vote for fiscal conservative candidates.

Republican leadership bought the idea that Republicans had to become more liberal on social values because they misunderstood who was leaving the party. Yet the more they adopted liberal social values, the faster the party sunk. If you look at 2006 and 2008, there are lessons to be learned. However the actions taken in the New York District which Dede Scozzaffava has now lost, indicates that the Republicans still don't get why the TEA Party movement abandoned them.

I’m old enough to remember a time when the party had an institutional aversion to using government to ‘solve’ our problems. I remember when the party gave a lot more than lip-service to the notion that adults should be free to make their own choices, both for good and ill. I remember a time when Ronald Reagan said the heart and soul of the conservative movement was libertarianism.

Thank you for the reminder. There was a time when no one advocated a conservative nanny state. It would be nice for Republicans to return to that era which Reagan exemplified. If we keep up this war over the GOP's soul, it may destroy our last chance to stop the socialist takeover.