Rally Round Party?
by Doug Edelman

I have received some interesting responses to recent articles, mostly saying that Republicans must close ranks and lock arms in unity behind the Administration and Republican legislators. They complain that Republicans are too often guilty of "eating their own". They say conservatives are being too hard on President George W. Bush, decrying that they do not give him their full trust and loyalty.

I found these responses somewhat distastefully analogous to the universal defense of their own that the Democrats apply when one of their party has made a mis-step and is under fire. I'm all for unity of purpose. But blind partisanship and lockstep conformity is not a desirable trait.

The issue here seems to come down to which is more important, the advancement of principals, ideas and values - or the advancement of the party?

Once upon a time, both parties had positive agendas of things they wanted to promote and accomplish. People voted for one or the other based on which party put forth a platform they agred with. But this has changed.

Conservatives tend toward the Republican party not because the Republican Party is conservative, but because the Democratic Party is the antithesis of conservatism, and there is no viable alternative. The Republicans are the default party of conservatives.

Conversely, the Democrats don't have a positive agenda to put forth, but they are the default party of everyone who rejects conservatism. Thus, both major parties have changed from parties of principal and values to simply two opposing groups formed on the basis of "we're not them"!

The result is that the Republican party has become diluted in its principals and values. While we still have our Tom Tancredos and Mike Pences and our Shaddigs and Allens, we also have our McCains, Specters, Chafees and Snowes. The RINO faction has more than once prevented the Party from accomplishing the goals of a conservative agenda... sometimes more effectively than the unified assault of the opposing Democrats.

This dilution of principal will bring about the decline of the Party. While the US has historically had a 2 party system, it is important to remember that they haven't always been the Democrats and the Republicans! What happened to the Whigs? The Federalists? The Prohibition Party? The Know-Nothing (American) Party? Did you know there was even once a "Democratic-Republican" Party?

Which brings me to the president. I'm the first to acknowledge his positive accomplishments. If he were running again today, he'd have my vote. On defending our interests abroad, I give him an A. Tax reform, A. Modernizing our military, an A. On his judicial appointments, I'd give him a B. Would have been an A but the Meiers debacle must be factored in. But his report card is not all A's and B's.

Bush is not a Reagan Conservative. He does not uphold the conservative value of limiting the size, scope and cost of government. He's never vetoed anything. Not even a symbolic act which would be overridden. He lets the Congress run roughshod over him despite bloated budgets, pork-filled transportation appropriation, etc. He still to this day supports guest worker programs and won't secure the borders. Even when he's right he fails to communicate effectively to gain the support of the public. When his popularity is down, he proposes massive new programs and expenditures. Conservatives are often disappointed in the directions President Bush chooses to steer the ship of state.

Most recently, the bone-headed proposal to turn over six of our cities ports to interests in Dubai has somehow managed to unite left and right in opposition, and Bush and his cohorts defend it, even threatening his first veto over it.

Should we, as good partisan robots, quietly applaud such a move just because our Republican President signs off on it? Is it really a good thing to blindly support a politician based only on the letter after his name?

No, Conservatives will stand for CONSERVATIVE principals over party unity, for as long as the Party fails to have a unity of principal.

Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator and a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice, and his work is also seen on News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, New Media Journal, Capitol Hill Coffee House etc. None of these pays him, so for the support of his family, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business. He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College, and maintains a blog at http://edeldoug.blogs.com/.

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