Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
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I think there's not a whit of difference in degree of harm extremists do to their respective parties. I do find it ironic that many board Conservatives see the extremists in the Democrat party as "Marxist/Socialist/Communist/Fascist" (a smörgåsbord of every derogatory political term they've ever heard and completely without intellectual merit) and the extremists in the Republican party as patriots/spawn of the Founding Fathers/Heroes.Let me see if I can crack the nut of this thread.
The OP contends that when Conservatives (an ideological group) votes, their votes tend to go to the Republican candidate most of the time if not always. Therefore, Conservatives are Republican by their voting record. But, not every Republican is Conservative enough to satisfy the hard core Conservatives who are now trying to co-opt the power base of the Republican Party.
In the coming election in 2012, Conservatives will vote for the Republican candidate only because that candidate will NOT be Barack Obama. Even if the Republican candidate does not pass muster with the extreme Conservatives, he (or she) will get that Conservative vote. Therefore, the Republican candidate, if victorious, will have to pander to the Conservative wing of the Republican Party and the fringe Conservatives, be they Tea Party, Libertarians, Secessionists or whatever.
My contention is: too many people have the ideology of Conservatism and the political identity of Republican so interlocked in their minds that any rational discussion is impossible. Further, the Conservatives will hang tough in their ideological bent to cripple any Republican elected official, thus further poisoning and polarizing the politics of this country.
Compromise is the lost art. The constitution is a study in compromise and I find it ironic that the Conservatives, who wrap themselves in the Constitution like an aegis, can't grasp that simple fact.
I tend to agree with most of what you said, except where you argue that conservatives are hurting the Republican party. It seems to me that they do no more damage to the Republicans that the radical left does to the Democrats. The extremes keep the party focused on what should be their core values by holding them to account when they say one thing and do another. After all is said and done compromise is not about always going to the left.
And, believe it or not, compromise IS ALWAYS about going to the Left. Without the momentum of the Left, America would not have Civil Rights protections, child labor laws. environmental protections, equal pay for equal work protections, worker safety safeguards, Social Security protection for our senior citizens, fair housing legislation, food and drug safety regulations and other social safety nets that make life tolerable in modern America.
Except for the fact that the left opposed civil rights in their present form I would agree with you, just something you might want to consider before you try to lay all the blame on the other side.