Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, March 17, 2008 6:10:34 PM
I heard a bit of Michael Medved today, detailing the latest exploits of Alan Keyes. It makes me sad. I backed Alan Keyes in the 2000 POTUS primary, knowing his chances were slim. Then came his embarrassing Illinois campaign in which he was trounced by B. Hussein Obama, a campaign during which, as far as I can tell, Keyes jumped the shark.
Is John McCain perfect? Was he my first choice for 2008 GOP POTUS nominee? Is the GOP currently doing a bang-up job of implementing and popularizing conservative policies? The answer to all of those is “no”.
But Alan Keyes isn’t going to improve the situation one bit by leaving the GOP and continuing to make a ruckus. Alan Keyes has spent any credibility and political capital he had, and that’s really sad.
There are many issues where I agree significantly with Keyes:
-I’m pro-life in the sense that I believe human beings have a right to life from conception until natural death, and I don’t think killing an innocent person because they are ill should be legal. (If someone wants to kill themselves, it is kind of hard to stop them.)
-Sex outside of marriage is wrong, and that includes sex that is filmed for someone else’s entertainment.
-School choice should be the norm – parents should be able to send their children to any school that agrees to take them.
-Our national borders need to be secured.
-The Constitution recognizes that the people have the right to bear arms.
-We must be diligent in fighting terrorists.
-Our tax system should be overhauled.
-Judges should interpret and apply the law – the laws of their jurisdiction under our Constitution, not make law or look the laws or decisions of other countries.
So on, and so forth.
Are there a lot of Republicans who disagree with us on some of these issues? Are there Republicans who care more about their personal power than anything else? Of course. Is the solution to leave the GOP or sit on our hands? NO!
The reality is, we have a two party system, and it is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future unless something very big and unusual happens. We have two parties with which to work. Right now, the GOP is more friendly to our concerns than the Dem party.
As I’ve said before, if you’re not happy with our candidate this year, the solution is to identify and build up viable candidates for the future. Are conservatives running for school board? Local office? State legislatures? Congress? Governor?
The unions, especially the government and teachers unions, are controlled by Leftists, and that’s not going to change. Academia is going to be largely Leftist. Most newsrooms and Hollywood productions are going to be Leftist. Many religious institutions are going to continue to drift Left. Large corporations are going to continue to support and lobby both major parties. People who make money off of killing babies and experimenting on human beings are going to keep fighting for more government support. People who stand to gain through promoting gender confusion are going to continue with their efforts.
But we still have our votes, our voluntary contributions, and our voices.
What we do with our voices is especially important. We should encourage, but not preach to the converted. We should not throw pearls before swine. It matters who we talk to, how many we talk to, and how we talk to them.
Talking to 30 delegates of a political party that will never have any power is a waste of time.
Our elected Republicans are more likely to listen to Republican voters - voters who actually vote. We showed it with shamnesty, we can show it again. Let’s elect Republicans, and let’s strengthen conservative principles within the GOP.