First, as far as the GOP is concerned, we do need to be worried. It's troubling that we couldn't coalesce around a single, broadly conservative candidate (unless, that is, Romney does in fact prevail today). I myself have said that I would not vote for McCain in a general election, and I stand by that. There is some talk, however, of starting a new conservative party or simply quitting on the Republican Party, and I can't go along with that. We do not have a parliamentary system, in which we would have influence based on the number of votes we get. It's a first-to-the-finish-line system, and thus you have to build a coalition and there can only be two major parties. Like it or not, the Republican Party must be our vehicle (barring some major switch between the parties, which is not unprecedented).
The only real alternative is to find ways to reclaim our party. The first way is not to vote for McCain in the upcoming presidential race, if indeed he is the nominee; we need to send a strong message to establishment Republicans that they're going to have to listen to us or lose. Second we always need to be working at the local level, engaging in debate and convincing our fellow Republicans of the virtues of a free market, a strong military, and a dedication to family values. I fear that conservatism's ascendancy lulled us into a false sense of security, and now we're discovering that voters' conceptions of what it means to be conservative have become confused. A lot of work went into launching the Reagan Revolution; we'll need a lot more to anchor again a party adrift from the ideals of freedom and human dignity that are too easy to cast by the wayside in favor of, as Rush says, "gutless" liberalism and collectivism.
Posts
