GaryDog
Gold Member
- Feb 10, 2016
- 4,369
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Very true. John Adams knew this and warned of it. See the fifth quote in my signature. 'Nuff said...The Republican party is fragmenting simply because the "conservative ideology" is fragmenting. Is there any doubt that the Tea Party, Neo-Cons and Goldwater conservatives (to mention a few) have different goals and ideologies yet they are claim to be conservatives.....When you actually begin to objectively try and define what conservatives believe in, you will find that it's difficult to pin down to a particular set of beliefs or ideology. That's because it's not an ideology, it's a philosophy. Ideological beliefs within conservative philosophy vary sharply.
In comparison, the Democrats are more homogenized, but only in comparison. It wasn't that long ago when they had "the Rainbow Coalition" and more closely resembled a monkey house on fire than a political party. The Republican party is falling apart simply because there are so many highly partisan albeit "conservative" agendas dividing them.
Again, why do I have to keep repeating this? There is no Conservative ideology. There are ideologies which reside in a philosophy of Conservatism. The Republican party is a dysfunctional party at this time. It has nothing to do with Conservative philosophy. Indeed, it has much to do with partisan ideology.
I believe the Millennials hold the key to the future of Conservatism. I think someone is going to come along who can speak to the Millennials... maybe that's not Ted Cruz or Mike Lee... Maybe it's not Rand Paul or Marco Rubio... Maybe it's someone we don't even have on the radar at this time? I just know that many Millennials are core Conservatives at heart. They also seem to be more open-minded in terms of ideologies and willing to respect different viewpoints.
But Conservatism has to get back to the basics of presenting itself as a philosophy which encompasses many ideologies.
Conservatism has to role to play in the federal government. Politicians like Ted Cruz are simply an eye sore to the establishment.
Conservatism is about limited government, something that is foreign to the US federal government. Both are natural enemies of each other.
If conservatism is to play a role in the future of America, then it will probably come about by the Article V movement designed to take back power from the US federal government through states amending the Constitution. Any thing less and it will fail.
I often wonder though, can society be trusted with increased freedom and personal responsibility? Looking at the morality of the culture today, it may not be capable.
We are taught that democracy fixes everything, but looking at how democracy has been used in places like the Middle East to only elect terrorist regimes, democracy is the last thing you want for an immoral or amoral society.
If confronted with a society of convicts, the only thing that will do to maintain a civil society is to build a wall around them and hire a warden. We grow closer to that every day I'm afraid.
This is why leftists focus on destroying the moral fabric of society. They know that the more immoral people become, the more likely the freedoms of those people will have to be taken away in order to maintain order.
To be clear though, we do not live in a democracy, that would be lunacy at this scale, we live in a democratic republic. It may seem like splitting hairs, but it is an important distinction.
The constitution was not made for only religious people. Come on. Otherwise the 1st Amendment's establishment clause is meaningless.