Arnold, Rush Battle for Republican Party’s Soul
I agree that this is the defining conversation for the conservative community: To what extent should there be compromise with Progressives.
A few nuggets:
…Rush closed with this telling summary: “The problem with that is the liberals and the Democrats aren’t going to punt their ideology, because it defines them. And so when we end up agreeing with them just to get compromise, even if the numbers they want aren’t as much as they wanted, we are still compromising our ideology. They are not.”
…Some candidates will refrain from laying out strong policies and will argue that the country urgently needs to come together to address long-run problems such as the entitlement programs that are headed for financial ruin. That can only be done, it will be argued, if Republicans are willing to compromise with Democrats.
…Others will describe explicit conservative policies — a flat tax and Social Security privatization, for example — and will passionately argue the merits of those reforms.
The compromisers will call the traditional conservatives unrealistic and ideological obstacles. The traditional conservatives will call the compromisers sellouts. The voters will have the difficult job of choosing between them.
I am all for the “sell outs” because from my point of view this is just a pejorative spin on the essential skill of politics to collaborate, compromise, moderate and move forward.
Ideologues are useless negotiating partners. What we witness on the international stage is no less different in domestic affairs.
Born 1950, Married, Living in Austin Texas, Semi
Retired Small Business owner and investor. My political interest
evolved out of his business experience that the best decisions come out of an objective gathering of information and a pragmatic consideration of costs and benefits. I am interested in promoting Centrist candidates and Policies. My posts are mostly about people and policies that I believe are part of the solution rather the problem.