David

Karki

Read David's bio and previous columns here

May 12, 2008

Conservatives Have Bailed: Now What?

In my last column, I argued that conservatives must leave the Republican Party. That wasn't a conclusion I came to lightly, nor did I enjoy doing so. But I think we must, for three reasons:

•  First, because I think a debacle is pretty much inevitable. The GOP has no money thanks to its alienating of its base. Congressional candidates have already been told it's every candidate for himself, and the one guy with enough of a bully pulpit to turn this around, Sen. John McCain, steadfastly refuses to do so, instead pre-emptively surrendering to liberals.

•  Second, so that Democrats get held solely responsible for the equally inevitable disastrous consequences, which they wouldn't if President McCain were rubber-stamping all their liberal ideas – with which he agrees, by and large. (Or, if we must accept McCain in order to stave off the unthinkable in Barack Obama, let's not kid ourselves into thinking we still don't have to abandon ship apart from that one race.)

•  And third, because the only thing worse than having to suffer through a debacle bigger than the Carter Administration would be for us not to have substantially improved our position for having so strategically retreated, regrouped and found reinforcements.

On that last point, what I mean is this: We need a massive infusion of new, fresh conservative troops to run for office. If there is anything that has become exceedingly clear during this election season, it is that there are no longer any Republican incumbents – and precious few challengers – who can speak from a conservative viewpoint with any credibility.

Their six-year-long pork-fest this decade has undercut any chance they might have to tack back rightward rhetorically, not that they'd really believe in any of what they would be saying. But at least they could do it without being laughed right off the stage, to the extent they're paid any attention at all, as is the case now.

Which means that the GOP is, for all practical purposes, a Dead Party Walking. They are more or less what the Democrats used to be before they went stark-raving mad and turned into megalomaniacal totalitarians with the relentlessness of The Borg on Star Trek and the ferocity of Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy. Or, to quote the Declaration of Independence describing King George III, "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance."

Perhaps you think my analogy reeks of hyperbole, but a quick look at just the two E's – environment and education – shows their intent and intensity.

Liberals want to control you right down to what type of light bulbs you can buy and will stop at nothing to keep our own vast energy supplies off-limits, no matter how high oil prices get and how much of a fraud global warming is indicated to be. Nor do they know the meaning of the word “enough” when it comes to funding the leftist propaganda machine known as public schools, which churn out more fresh, new, 18-year-old Democrat-voting ignoramuses every single year. (Where would the Obama campaign be without the college crowd?)

And if you dare to suggest what ought to be common sense – that we should drill ANWR, build more refineries, and erect nuclear power plants for electricity, or that government schools are a vastly overpriced monopoly yielding a lousy product handling something that they should not be – what happens? Liberals emit furious demogogic screams accusing you of raping the land and hating children.

The list of issues goes on and on – Speaker Pelosi dumping a Colombia trade deal negotiated in good faith at the behest of the AFL-CIO and hurting national security by not protecting telecoms from lawsuits for having shared phone records of possible terrorist calls at government's request at the behest of the trial lawyer lobby are but a couple big ones.

The point of all this is that, in order to defeat an opponent, one must first understand his nature. So those new conservatives must realize what the stakes are and what they must commit to the battle. This is not going to be for the faint of heart or the weak of will. This is a fight for the very soul of our nation as bequeathed to us by the founders, presuming there is still enough of it left that they would recognize. 

And just as the founders had to stake their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” on a cause wherein they were outnumbered (as it seems conservatives are today) and facing the mightiest military on Earth at that time (comparable to the force of government liberals would marshal should their power be legitimately threatened), so too must we be willing to give it all up for our posterity.

The weapons used here might not be muskets and bayonets, but the attitude we must bring to this is the same as if we were wielding them. If we do not match our opponents' determination – which is virtually off the charts – it's all an exercise in futility. Strategy and tactics won't matter one bit. If we are not willing even to fight the rhetorical war and call a spade a spade, reaction to it be damned, and be as ardent in defending liberty as they are in squelching it, we might as well pack it in now.  

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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