Comments on: Your Conservatism Is Too Small

By: Booker Rising

Booker Rising — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:51:09 +0000

DENNIS SANDERS COMMENTARY: Your Conservatism Is To

The moderate-liberal Republican blogger opines about an op-ed piece by Alex Massie, a Scottish journalist, about dogmatism in the Republican Party and how it mirrors the UK Conservative Party after Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Sanders argues that American …

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:29:58 +0000

Who says that Whitman was successful in New Jersey. She left zero legacy, did not mentor the next generation and now the Repubican Party in New Jersey is so irrelevant that it has zero affect on policy. If you pander to moderates while spitting in the face of the base, the Republicans will become irrelevant faster than their current schedule.

The Bush Administration spent like Democrats, expanded the government like Democrats, and pander to minorities like Democrats. And in the end, it lead to more failures than if he had decided to actually lead like a conservative.

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:24:09 +0000

Great post, Dennis, and it has a lot of truth to it!

The dogmatism of the GOP has pushed weak Democrats to become stronger ones, weak Republicans to become Independents and Independents to vote Democratic. They have a major problem winning elections with an exclusionary doctrine and the Democrats have capitalized on it by embracing diversity. As our population becomes increasingly diverse, the Republican party will by necessity fade into obscurity— and it is one of their own making.

Moderate Republicans who are pushing the pragmatic approach run the danger of being expelled as heretics themselves.

By: roro80

roro80 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:15:36 +0000

This article is timely for me, Dennis, I've been thinking about this issue a lot myself. I was thinking about how rarely one hears the term “DINO” in comparison to “RINO”. It's like the mind-set is totally different, even among, say, the extremely left-wing factions (feminists, LGBTQ, etc). The Dems will fight among themselves, as will the sub-groups, but nobody says “Your opinion on [x issue] means you're not a Democrat”. Dems have just as many pet issues at the Reps, and they are certainly just as passionate about those issues, but it seems they are more able to fight about one point of disagreement at a time, and not totally brush off their momentary adversary as an enemy-for-all-times. If you're a person who is a small-government fiscal conservative who goes to church and loves guns, but you also think indoor smoking laws are a good thing and that early-term abortion should be legal, the Reps pretty much have no use for you these days.

By: DLS

DLS — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:27:56 +0000

“how the GOP resembles the mainline Protestant congregations”

Excellent insight! The “traditionalist” conservatives (a broader and more accurate identification of those in charge than “social conservatives,” much less the smaller Religious Right) run the Republican Party. And they're aping the Dems, fully happy much of the time with big government and interventionism, so long as _they_ are in charge. Mike Huckabee was correct about the actual way in which the Republican Party exploits the Religious Right (so much an object of hype and hysteria by the Left, when not accompanied as well by hatred). The Religious Right is tolerated, allowed on the GOP “bus,” but always forced to ride in the back (given a sop now and then, that's all, so they return to vote Republican again in the next election). We who are libertarian-oriented non-liberals are on the budget plan when it comes to that GOP as less of two evils, riding the GOP “bus.” We're forced to ride on the roof (or rear bumper) lately.