The Battle for the Soul of Conservatism

In the midst of two consecutive electoral debacles, the Republican Party is surveying the damage, searching for the causes and trying to figure out what has gone wrong. As happens when any party is soundly beaten in consecutive cycles, the talks of irrelevance and party doctrine are questioned by those within and those without. Think of where the Democrats were in 2002.

Now we see the battle for Conservatism itself being waged within the GOP and the ultimate winner will decide if we become a strong party once again or wander aimlessly in the hinterlands as a powerless minority party that can only sit helplessly as massive spending programs and huge legislative attempts to change America culturally occur.

On one end, you have the old school conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh who preach fiscal conservatism, social conservatism and the power of conservatism in general. On the other you have beltway Republicans who want to take the GOP to the middle, spend foolishly, vote according to popular opinion and generally disregard conservative principles except when those principles are politically palatable.

The latter of these have eschewed the all the gains and tactics that gave rise to the Reagan revolution and the Contract With America. They sit idly by as Three senators join the most liberal president in a generation in passing a bill that will bankrupt us as a nation. These beltway conservatives insert earmark after earmark into bills while talking of fiscal responsibility out of the other side of their mouths. They voted for the prescription drugs for seniors bill without so much as raising their voices in response to it. And Reagan turned in his grave.

We have a contingent of supposed conservatives in D.C. who vote by what they think will deliver them the most donations and votes while spitting on what it was that allowed us to emerge as a political force unlike any other in the latter part of the 20th Century. They are weak and gutless and will never stand up for what is right and look this president in the eye while saying no.

Not just politicos are in this but beltway pundits as well and their efforts to change the party are having an effect. People like David Frum whose idea of conservatism is roughly that of Sen. Arlen Specter. Frum is the Neville Chamberlain of this debate pushing appeasement with an administration and a Congress that is looking to wipe us out once and for all. Frum is living in a 9/10 world where all the signs were there but no one put them together.

Limbaugh on the other hand sees the signs and has connected them. He is not a politician but is the heart of American conservatism. He is a missionary who preaches why our way is better and why it is the correct course for a nation founded on conservative principles. He hasn't wavered and he hasn't backed down. He knows exactly what we have to do but since he's a beltway outsider, he's laughed at by the RINO's who work within it. Still he preaches and points out what he sees as the radical changes being proposed for our nation.

Here's to hoping that Limbaugh can win this battles because a loss means a decade or more of floundering in the wilderness while a neo-European style of government runs roughshod over the country. If he loses, the America of 2019 will be a sad shadow of the America of 2009.