California Conservative

That’s a question I want answered. I’m getting tired of Mr. Viguerie’s attempts to create a purist Republican Party. Purist parties are minority parties. Here’s why I’m demanding his answer:

Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him.
The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps the most influential of the group, as well as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and dozens of other politically-oriented conservative Christians, participants said. Almost everyone present expressed support for a written resolution that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third party candidate.”

As an evangelical Christian, I know that Giuliani’s positions on social issues are different than mine. I’m adult enough to know that I won’t get my way every time.

I also know that jihadists want to destroy western civilization. and that that isn’t an overdramatization of the jihadists’ goal. I’m confident that Rudy Giuliani will use every tool available to kill these jihadists. I’m not confident that Hillary will pursue the terrorists with even half the vigor that Giuliani will.

I know that Rudy has promised to appoint strict constructionist judges, something that social conservatives overwhelmingly support. I’m confident that social conservatives are mature enough to figure out that winning half of alot is far better than winning all of a morsel.

Viguerie was an influential man in getting President Reagan elected. Since then, he’s been relegated to the fringe of GOP politics because of his ultra-purist opinions. I’ve said before that purist parties are minority parties. For the record, I reject the Hugh Hewitt ‘Vote the Party line’ perspective, too. It’s time that conservatives got our priorities in order. That shouldn’t be that difficult. Here’s what we should stand for:

1. Defeating the jihadists, using every tool available, whether it’s shutting down ‘charities’ that fund Hamas, using information that the NSA intercepted without a warrant, or killing the jihadists on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.
2. Nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges.
3. Extablishing a high standard of conduct for elected officials, thereby eliminating future Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley scandals to the greatest extent humanly possible.
4. Muscular fiscal restraint that says no to bridges to nowhere but says yes to keeping taxes low while keeping the nation’s roads and bridges in good repair.

If we accomplish all that, we’ll be the majority party for a generation. It’s that simple. It’s important to remember what I said yesterday:

It’s important to remember that it wasn’t that people got fed up with low taxes, sensible spending priorities and a government that protected them from terrorists.

They got fed up with a spineless GOP that piled up earmarks at a rate that would’ve almost made Robert Byrd and John Murtha blush. They got fed up with a spineless GOP that teamed up with Ted Kennedy on a sham wrongfully titled ‘immigration reform’.

I’ve never lost faith in the fact that principled conservatism, explained properly, is the dominant force in American politics. I’ve never lost faith in that because the principles that provide the underpinnings of conservatism are based on truths that’ve stood the test of time.

Unfortunately, principled liberalism is all but dead. That’s why conservatives must reject Mr. Viguerie’s absolutist version of conservatism. We must reject his version because our country needs our leadership. It’s that simple.

It’s also worth noting that this article is in the NY Times so it shouildn’t be given instant credibility. They’ve been known to publish a misleading article from time to time.

Technorati Tags: Richard Viguerie, Jim Dobson, Tony Perkins, Rudy, Conservatism, Reforms, Terrorism, Scandals, National Security, GOP, Hillary, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 6:55 am and is filed under Activism, Author: Gary Gross, Corruption, Election 2008, Hillary, Homeland Security, Intel, Military, Special Interests, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.