Republican Enough?The tent gets smaller and smaller. Rather than be content with a moderate Republican like Senator Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island, the Club for Growth is trying to unseat a sitting Republican in favor of their more ideologically pure candidate. They played a similar role in a recent Michigan primary. As I look at the Club’s website, I’m very sympathetic. These seem to be fiscal conservatives who advocate for many of the same things I do, and also without the social/religious agenda. (At least their website makes no mention of abortion, marriage, flag burning, or other social conservative issues.) But why put their efforts into replacing a Republican, even if he is perhaps Republican in name only? Aren’t there plenty of “tax and spend” Democrats to target? Wouldn’t their return on investment be higher if focused on a more conservative state, rather than in the Northeast where this moderate Republican probably reflects the electorate fairly accurately? They can throw money at my campaign if they want. The Republican Party needs to find points of common interest and shared perspectives rather than making more exclusionary distinctions. Even though some of my positions are relatively radical, I try to frame them from shared desires for economic prosperity, safe streets, and good schools. If we start from the common ground we at least have a basis for conversation. If we start by filtering the ideologically un-pure, then there is no conversation; only self-contained reinforcement of intellectually dead redundancy. (“Ditto, Ditto, Ditto” shouldn’t pass for political debate, nor should “Oh yeah, you lying liar.”) MichaelPrevious: End Cuba’s Isolation -- Next: Any Theocracy is Oppressive Comment from crallspace: Yeah… people who say DITTO or especially MEGADITTOS are just saying, “Thank you for doing my thinking for me.” Has any conservative group thrown money @ the campaign? Posted by crallspace Aug 14, 04:25 AM # Comment from Michael Smith: No money yet. I don’t really expect any as they base their support on a calculated return on investment (probability of winning). I’ve had some generous support from a few individuals who recognize the value of the message, but generally, tilting at windmills is a difficult pitch to make. Posted by Michael Smith Aug 14, 05:19 AM # Comment from dan l: Not that I know anything about anything, but I would say that Chafee’s situation, the situation in Michigan, and the recent hit job on Joe Libermann in CT, only indicates that the product of the last 6 years of heated political atmosphere has resulted in certain groups in both parties resorting to political hijacking of moderate politicans, who would otherwise be the basic for actual issue dialogue. The question isn’t about ideological purity, I think, more it’s a question of matching your policy to how people engage issues. I was looking through the ‘politics’ section of my local book store and noticed book after book by such knuckle draggers as Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. None of these people are changing anybody’s mind, those folks are giving them the professional wrestling of politics. NONSTOP ACTION PACKED TRENCH LINE ISSUES, COMPLETE WITH NON-SENSICAL SILLY RIPS AT MY OPPOSITION. YOU EITHER THINK LIKE ME, OR YOU’RE AN IDIOT. NOW WITH XXX POLITICAL ACTION All I know is, if the nations poltical dialogue stays as it is, we’re entirely screwed. Posted by dan l Aug 14, 01:01 PM # |
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