Conservatives and Republicans
by JB Williams

In a recent column titled "Are Conservatives Running Scared," I asked conservatives to examine and explain their apparent early support for a presidential candidate who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights, pro-illegal amnesty and sitting on a record of appointing 75 judges, 8-1 liberal. The column about Rudy Giuliani sparked an interesting debate and it provided some interesting answers to my question.

The '08 presidential primaries are shaping up to be a bout between conservatives and Republicans. We have known for some time that while most conservatives are Republican by default, not all Republicans are conservative. George W. Bush has spent like a drunken liberal for six years now, refused to respect American sovereignty and security at our borders and fought perhaps the most important war of this generation in a politically correct manner instead of with a single purpose of victory. Such things do not make a conservative, just a typical modern politician, a Republican at that.

As the campaign for the next president heats up, the difference between conservative and Republican comes into stark focus as the party leadership attempts to force-feed three social liberals down the throats of their conservative base and after six years of compassionate conservatism, the gag reflex is in overdrive.

Are conservatives running scared? No, but Republicans are! What's the difference?

After a trouncing in the '06 mid-term elections that hoisted Democrats back into control of both houses of Congress, the Republican Party and true partisan constituents are desperate to make certain that a President Hillary or President Obama never becomes a reality. The prospect of such an event is so frightening to both Republicans and conservatives that some are willing to do whatever it takes to keep it from happening, and rightfully so.

But the difference between conservative and Republican is this. Conservatives are married to their principles, the ideals and values that they believe make America worth defending, protecting and preserving. They bought into the Declaration that promises an unalienable right to LIFE, Liberty and the individual pursuit of happiness. They believe in the First Amendment that says nobody can silence their religious expression or right to dissent. They hold dear the Second Amendment that guarantees every free law abiding citizen the right to bear arms in the protection of his family and property. And they insist upon leaders who support these same principles and ideals, which they don't consider to be conservative notions, but wholly American ideals.

Republicans have bought into the Party power principle and they are increasingly willing to toss their core conservative principles overboard in exchange for making certain that their party wins the election.

Republicans are willing to accept less than conservative candidates as mandated by the Party powers, who tell them with the help of a liberal press, that only liberal Republicans can win today. They are almost sold on the notion that Life, Liberty and Individual happiness can no longer be successfully defended by conservative values, against a rising tide of voters consistently seeking favor from the treasury. They are becoming convinced that to defeat the left, they must join the left, only at some lesser degree.

As a result, people who support life, liberty and individual rights, find themselves promoting candidates who don't. And that sets the stage for a square off between conservatives still clinging to the fundamental values and looking for a real conservative leader, and Republicans simply looking to block Democrats from winning the White House, by any means available.

There is something to be said for focusing on the primary goal of keeping today's socialist Democrats out of the White House. There is no more worthy goal on earth at this moment in time, other than booting them back out of control of the Congress and courts as well. But the debate is over how to best accomplish this worthwhile goal.

Republicans argue that this goal is more important than clinging to our core conservative principles. Conservatives argue that without a leader who shares those core principles and values, we have not elected anything different than a Democrat in Republican clothing.

Republicans want to support candidates who do not share their core values on the basis that they can win. Conservatives want to know what they won when a leader is elected who doesn't share their conservative values, no matter what Party they belong to.

For decades, Americans have been complaining that we have no real choices worth supporting in the general elections. That's because for decades, we have allowed the national committees to anoint candidates early in the primary season, then protect them from honest debate with silly rules and limited public exposure intended to conceal the fact that they often can't hold their own in a simple college level debate.

We are talking about electing the next leader of the free world in a manner in which we wouldn't even elect a high school class president.

There was nothing more embarrassing than watching Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pander to their black brethren in the south by using demeaning faux southern drawls and poorly written slavery references as they both failed their desperate attempts to appear as black and southern as the congregation.

Yet watching conservatives twist and turn in an effort to justify their unjustifiable support for candidates who openly stand against much of what they claim to believe in, is almost as embarrassing. Republicans are dangerously close to falling into the same trap the Democrats fell into years ago and can't get out of now. Buying into partisan power over people power, Party over principle.

While any fool can see the need to unite behind a solid candidate to protect the nation and indeed the world from the prospects of a President Hillary, the question is at what expense?

Are McCain, Giuliani and Romney the best we can do? If it is, we deserve to lose and my guess is we will.

Clinton and Obama are on a collision course to destroy each other at present. Allowing that to continue much longer will completely divide the DNC vote and the DNC will not allow that to happen. Pressure will mount to end that cat fight over voters and once Obama comes to the realization that he can not survive a full scale Clinton war-room assault, the first female President and First Black Vice President will be joined on the same ticket.

No social liberal Republican can compete with a fully liberal Clinton/Obama ticket. Only a real alternative, a true conservative ticket rooted in true conservative values can draw the much needed moral majority out of their complacent resting places into the voting booths to defeat the likes of a completely socialist anti-American ticket across the aisle.

Accepting liberal Republican candidates early in the primaries is akin to the woman who knowingly marries a drunken abusive loser with the thought that she can fix him after the wedding. It ain't gonna happen! The same folks angry over how Bush betrayed the base over the last six years will soon be angry again over how they got snookered into electing someone even more liberal than Bush.

Conservatives are going to hold on to their principles no matter what. That's what it is to be a conservative, principle over politics. But Republicans are going to have to choose between political expediency that will leave their Party divided over the social issues and uniting their Party on the basis of conservative principles instead political rhetoric and weak excuses.

The last thing this country needs is a defeatist socialist hate-filled Democrat in the White House. But if Republicans think that they can unite the Party behind a liberal candidate without the principled core of the Party on board, they are sadly mistaken I'm afraid.

If a candidate does not stand for the unalienable right to Life, personal Liberty and the individual pursuit of happiness in a free-market economy free from federal tyranny and constant attacks on marriage, gun rights, religious expression and common decency, what makes him any different from today's Democrats?

The war on terror? You think someone who can't get the moral fundamentals right, can somehow get the war against international jihad right?

I realize that all the Republican talk show hosts, liberal press and political pundits are promoting the liberal frontrunners. It's good to have friends in high places. Politics always trumps principle in certain circles. What about at your home around the kitchen table?

Conservatives are awake and paying close attention. Republicans had better wake up!

J. B. Williams notes that he is a business man, husband, father, and a writer. His website is at http://www.jb-williams.com.