ArtLindsey.com

So, this is where we are.

I have to tell you, it’s a place where I never thought we would be. I remember lying in bed with a broken back, notepad in hand, taking notes during the first Republican presidential debate. It was summer then, and yes, I am that weird.

I remember seeing a frail, rambling John McCain insisting he would be the nominee of the party. I laughed. No way that would happen. The old man was still full of himself. We’d rejected him in 2000 because of his loose grip on reality, and we would most certainly do so again. He’s the black sheep of the GOP after all. He supported amnesty for illegal aliens, opposed tax cuts, and limited free speech with his campaign finance reform act. His candidacy was to be nothing more than an exercise in his own vanity. John McCain has never met a TV camera he didn’t like, and he uses his exposure by the mainstream media to actively stab the conservative base of the party in the eye. “The Maverick”, they call him.

I am a member of the conservative base. I am now a man without an ideological home. My party has booted me out on my ear. What to do? True conservatives, such as myself, are lost. We’ve hung our collective hat on the GOP for decades, only to be thrown to the wolves.

I and many others are tired of being told to “calm down” “grow up”, or to “shut up and take it for the good of the party.”
The good of the party? What? I and my brethren *are* the party. Don’t give me that. I’ve been enamored with Ronald Reagan since I was six years old, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to take heed of Arnold Schwarzenegger as he pleads “Join me on the left.”
Up yours, Arnie. You tacked an ‘R’ on your name so you could get elected, and then when the going got tough, you pissed all over it. You went from a pretty cool every-day guy action star, to a piece of crap every-day dirtbag politician. Then again, hanging out with the Kennedys, it was bound to happen. Sin begets sin. Granted, you are one of many who behaves in this manner, but since you like to open your mouth so much and opine on the party, How about *you* shut up for a change? Never mind your policies and your bloviating, but how can *ANY* Republican governor allow his wife to openly support Barack Obama? You sir, are a traitor, and a sham.

I know some of you out there are probably confused, thinking, “Wasn’t this supposed to be about John McCain?” Well, it still is, but there is a larger point here:

The Republican Party allowed itself to become a “big tent” party. This is because we’re a party of goodwill, and we know that deep down. Despite that, for some reason, we’ve bought into the left’s constant mantra that we are racists, sexists, bigots, and homophobes. And, in an effort to make nice, we’ve completely shafted ourselves right out of the picture.
Democrats have litmus tests, so why can’t we? We seriously need to cut the chaff out of our ranks. Here, let me make it simple for you with a few bullets off the top of my head:

If you think abortion is a legal right of women, get out.
If you believe in gay marriage, get out.
If you believe in civil unions, get out.
If you believe in open borders, get out.
If you believe that higher taxes and more government solves problems, get out.
If you aren’t a big fan of the Second Amendment, get out
If you don’t believe in school choice and merit based incentives for teachers, get out
If you don’t believe that Islamic extremism threatens western existence, get out.

(…Sorry Ron Paul, that’s a BIG dealbreaker, buddy.)
…That’s just a few.

See, here’s the thing:

I don’t expect everyone to be a conservative, and that’s fine. Granted, I think it would be great if we were, and the world would run smoother to some extent. But it is what it is, and I understand why.

You see, conservatism isn’t an instantaneous thing. It takes a serious amount of learning, reasoning and understanding. Liberalism doesn’t. You don’t have to talk anybody into “Can’t we just all get along, and while we’re at it, can we have someone look out for me?” There’s no persuasion necessary there. It sounds good on paper, and requires no effort whatsoever. It’s a gutless, lazy choice. It’s all about feelings, and nothing more.

Conservatism is about facts. It’s about learning. It’s about applying tried and true methodology and history to the present. It’s logical governing. People who have come up with this new form of “Compassionate Conservatism” (George W. Bush included,) don’t realize that conservatism is compassionate as it is. Conservatism is used to empower the individual and give them a hand up, and not a hand out.

If you will notice, as people’s political philosophies change, you will most often fond people drifting from the left to the right. You rarely see it happen the other way around. That’s because the longer you live, the more you learn, and you see how powerful you as an individual are. That’s what conservatism teaches you. When you think about it, it’s rather funny how liberals are labeled as “progressives”. They don’t change at all. They are all still stuck in socialistic and communistic modes which were proven failures decades ago, yet they cling to them for dear life.

Conservatives, however, are the exact opposite. There are some of us who are more conservative than others. But as time passes, a conservative will often find him or herself believing in a “conservative” ideal that they really didn’t before, or something they couldn’t readily articulate. That’s because conservatism is a never ending search for wisdom and truth. When one finds these truths, a little personal evolution is inevitable.

Massachusetts Governor is a good example of this. There has been a longstanding rap against him that he is not a true conservative, and that he has had some liberal policies in his past. I don’t doubt this. We all do at some point in our lives. However, he did run for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in 1994. Granted, Governor Romney was at one time pro choice, yet he decided on the side of life when a bill regarding the issue came across his desk. And though he described himself as an “independent” at a point in his gubernatorial term, Romney did apply a great number of conservative principles while in Massachusetts, which erased the state’s debt and left them with a surplus. He has also alluded to a personal experience which changed his view on abortion to that of staunch pro-life. I suppose the argument could still be made that Mitt Romney was/is not the most conservative choice out there, and that may be true. But the point is that Mitt has evolved, and he has evolved to the right, and not the left, such as John McCain and Governor Schwarzenegger have. I imagine when Governor Romney seeks the White House again in 2012, (and I feel he will, whether McCain is the incumbent president or not.) He will have evolved even further. What he does between now and then could actually give him credibility when he utters President Reagan’s name.

Learning takes time.

But, I guess the larger question is, in 2012, after four years of McCain, Clinton or Obama rule, will my party have learned anything?

We shall see.

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