Posted by
Michael Scotto on Saturday, January 19, 2008 2:45:52 PM
Losing Conservatism (and the Founders) in the ProcessThe idea that McCain and Huckabee (Hike-a-fee) are polling a combined 50% in SC is depressing, insane and unfathomable. It is especially unbelievable in light of the onslaught against both from every corner of the conservative universe.
We may be able to explain McCain's success to this point by noting the participation of Independents and Democrats in the early primaries, but how do we explain Huckabee? How is it possible that Evangelical friends of mine are imploring me to vote for a man with Huckabee's liberal record? The only thing I can figure is that Evangelicals have been melted down to two issues: abortion and gay marriage.
Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-life and the words "gay marriage" do not compute, but there are other candidates that deliver the whole conservative package... including the social issues. To the point, why hasn't Fred Thompson caught fire with Evangelicals?
Dumbing Down the Big TentJim Dobson's
early attack on Thompson's faith didn't help. Perhaps the fact that Huckabee was a Baptist pastor may also be clouding the judgment of some.
Evangelicals were brought into the "big tent GOP" but never educated on the ties that bind economic and Constitutional conservatism with social conservatism. If Huckabee
believes that the Constitution is a "living, breathing document" how can he argue that Roe v. Wade was a ridiculous decision? That's just the tip of the iceberg.
I have more faith in Giuliani nominating strict constructionists than I have in Huckabee doing so.
The dumbing down of the GOP began with Bush 41 and has continued through Bush 43. Evangelicals were convinced that Bush was a "man of faith"and accepted the ridiculous combination of words "compassionate" and "conservatism." Governments should be small, just and responsive. I cannot imagine anything in the Founder's arguments for the Constitution that could be understood to mean that the government should be "compassionate."
If "compassion" is allowed to be defined as THE GOVERNMENT giving benefits to illegals, redistributing wealth and showing mercy to remorseless criminals we will never out-compassion the Left. It is a foolish strategy and indefensible in light of history and in light of biblical and Constitutional precepts for government.
The big tent didn't bother educating its inhabitants on the basics of conservatism and we've been paying for that oversight for 20 years now. Evangelicals have looked to men like Jim Dobson for guidance and they have been grossly under served.
We have allowed ourselves to become two issue voters and the conservative movement may suffer a great setback if the ship is not righted. The Bush/Rove strategy of appealing to Evangelical voters on social issues ALONE is coming back to haunt the party. If we end up with Huckabee as our standard-bearer,
it may be time to start over.