Monday, November 16, 2009

Conservatives in Trouble

This doesn't make sense. I had assumed that obama would at least force the Republicans into a unified opposition. Instead, I'm watching the entire party collapse into Partisan bickering. I just found out today that Hillary Clinton is more electable to most Americans than Sarah Palin. How did that happen? Her husband has done everything for her. Dear Lord; if she is elected president, then...no, let's not go down that road. And the Tea Party Patriots are lost among an in-house legal battle that has stopped them from planning future protests. The only posts on any TP blogs lately have been accusations of wrongdoing and subsequent defenses. This wouldn't be bad if we were arguing with Liberals, but all this is coming from the people in charge of conservative organizations. Instead of mainstreaming and becoming acceptable to America, the Republican Party is driving itself into an isolated corner. In that vein , an order to both sides of the aisle:

Please stop paying attention to Sarah Palin.

Now, I love Palin. She's a great woman, and her book reads like an abject lesson in saving America. But the base needs to stop propping her up and politicians needs to stop attacking her electability. Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophesy? The level of importance we place on Palin will literally decide her fate, which has now become tied to the Party. If America views Palin as a source of division between her most loyal supporters and the centrist number-crunchers, then our party will inevitably collapse. We might as well split the conservatives into two smaller, equally doomed parties. Republicanism is not about Palin; it's a massive conservative coalition that has reached an important crossroads. We could either spend the next three years squabbling over which ideology is best (and purging the traitors), or we could unite and reach out to moderates who decided the last election. The Party is neither a small radical base, or a few isolated political leaders trying to keep their dying hold on the Legislative branch. The Party is a widespread grassroots movement, as large and diverse as the Democrats, full of voters with DIFFERING OPINIONS about the direction America needs to move. I would love to be surrounded by people who agreed with me on every point, but that probably means I'd end up alone in a room with Dick Cheney and the corpse of Will Buckley. And while that sounds like it would be a great conversation, it would also mean that obama's election victory was just the beginning.

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