"If the Republican establishment is not careful, they are going to destroy themselves in the process of this campaign. We've never had a better chance to win than this." ~ El Rushbo
Following yesterday's news of Santorum's departure, I was privy to a number of discussion that unfortunately for the most part seemed to culminate into a disregard of Newt Gingrich's candidacy as the only conservative still in the race (primarily with unforgiving jeers of 'adulterer' that have little to do with our current quagmire) and a concession of far too many to the weakest, nonconservative, establishment candidate, Mitt Romney (including excuses for RomneyCare and the rest of his short, but disastrous gubernatorial record that reflect heavily upon our present path). White flags abound.
At that time, I made the statement to many friends that "Today, I am a conservative without a party." I meant it then, and I mean it now...only now I also question those who fold so swiftly in the fight against the establishment, yet insist that they are 'conservative'.
The body blows continued with calls of "time to face reality" and "Romney's the only one left" to a discouraged "we live to fight another day," and then came Levin's resigned message (from his website):
Rick Santorum has dropped out of the Republican primary and Mark says Newt needs to do the same because it is inevitable that Mitt Romney will be the nominee. It is now up to the conservatives to pull out the victory for Romney and it is up to Romney to appeal to them. The Republican Establishment has gotten their candidate, and it will be up to Romney to try and gather the conservative vote if he wants to have a chance at winning the Presidency. Mark gives advice to Romney: pick a solid conservative for Vice President and rebuild the Reagan coalition that he tore apart with his negative campaign ads.
There's so many contradictions and defeatism to address there between conservative conviction and establishment might that I don't even wish to begin exploring at this time. I can't seem to find the time nor energy to do so.
Just as I've become exhausted with constantly battling the establishment march, I tire of choosing between the 'lesser of two evils' every four years, as well as being asked to cast aside my conservative principle for party politics. So, what I do want to say at this time is that I've got a lot of thinking to do between now and November. My feeling at present is that of introspection, so perhaps my flow should temporarily subside a bit, and during this ebb, turn my attention towards my family, my faith and sharpen my mind and soul to tackle the next leg of this political chasm and current schism. This is most assuredly not 'Uncle', for I've never been known to keep my mouth closed for too long!
