Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Conservative Cannibalism

Six months ago...two years ago...even a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have imagined writing this to any one. But I'm through with conservatives. No, I will not be so arrogant as to use the phrase "so-called conservatives" like many people on these groups do on a regular basis. I considered anyone who wanted to take back this country from the Progressives who have stolen it from us to be conservative. But that doesn't matter anymore.

From what I've seen on these groups the past several months I can't even imagine how we'll ever restore this country to its conservative integrity. We not only can't agree on what that means...we can't even agree that its okay that it means different things to different conservatives.

I've been fighting the conservative battles earnestly since the early days of the Clinton years. I've fought the IRS, the California FTB, the courts, and numerous corrupt officials. My family lost our first home because of those battles with the IRS. We lived in near poverty for several years because we fought for our convictions with every dime we had. And watched as our efforts went for naught because most conservatives decided that it was better to be asleep than it was to fight the corruption.

Then we fought the election of this current usurper in the White House. We fought over his very eligibility. We tried to warn people what would happen if he was elected and still most conservatives slept or mocked (and still mock) us for even questioning his eligibility.

Then we fought every battle for three years as this president and his cohorts in Congress began execution of their final game plan for the overthrow of the country we've loved our entire lives. And slowly people woke up. We won in Virginia in 2009. We even won a Senate seat in Massachusetts held by a liberal Kennedy for more than 50 years (and people actually complained he wasn't conservative ENOUGH). Then we fought and won back the House...even though we SHOULD have won back the Senate too. But we couldn't stand together enough to beat back even the establishment GOP in Delaware, Alaska, and other places to win the seats we needed.

Now we're looking at a legitimate chance to actually win back the White House, along with the Senate. And what happens? We decided the liberal media is right about us...we're our own worst enemy.

First we decide to kill a good man from Texas. Is he a poor debater? Sure. Does he have weaknesses? Absolutely. But we didn't just point out his weaknesses. We decided to decimate him. Take him out...destroy him and any chance he has of winning the nomination.

Then we get this nice outsider who could, it seemed, win the nomination. And we aren't satisfied. Did the Obama camp throw out those women with their accusations? Don't fool yourself. What possible good would it do them to bring those things up now. If he won the nomination, they would have locked up re-election by doing that next fall. This crap came from some of us...someone inside OUR party. Why? Because we are truly our won worst enemy.

Now we have another man in the forefront. The only man who wasn't taking potshots at the other candidates. The only one who actually put into practice the mantra of keeping the campaign clean. Why? No doubt in some part because he knows he has his own dirty laundry. But also because he believed that a candidate could win based upon the issues and not the thirty second attack ads.

And what happens now? He's being eating alive not by the liberal media or the Obama camp...but by our own people.

Even that other Texas candidate...that funny old guy with the really strange notions that we should actually run our country based upon the fuddy duddy old Constitution...he can't catch a break either. Why? Because so many of his crazy, lunatic supporters are the worst cannibals of all. Most of the ones we meet on here are incapable to accepting anything except their own definition of what a conservative is. And, of course, the rest of us respond by eating HIM alive in return.

So now what? As for me, I have some real friends I've made on here. Others who have winced every time they see another cannibal fest and wished they could figure out a way to make it all stop. Wished they knew how to get the rest of us to stop killing each other and all the candidates so we can go out and at least take the next step in restoring our country. Those people I will continue to share conversation with...encourage and perhaps even pray with. I'll go out and vote in our state primary come June and then figure out to what degree I can go help our nominee win against Obama next fall.

But I will not be participating any longer in our own self-destruction. For the many times I have spoken out in anger at the baseless attacks made against one candidate or another, I apologize for including anger in those responses. I will come say hello once in awhile to my friends here. But at this point I feel I've actually wasted the last 25 years of my life fighting for....for this. We honestly don't really deserve to have our country back. We would, if this is any indication, only destroy it ourselves as we fight each other over what its supposed to look like. I wish you all the best.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Bruised and Bloodied Conservatives

One of the most distressing characteristics of many conservatives is their penchant for thinking that ANYTHING that comes from a liberal must inherently be evil and should be shunned in every way possible.

Back in the days of Jesus there was a sect of the Pharisees known as the Bruised and Bloodied Pharisees. They weren't that way because they were battle tested or anything like that. They were so intent on sustaining the purity of their faith that they didn't even want to risk the chance that they might look upon a woman with lust. So when they were walking along and came upon a woman they would instantly close their eyes and keep walking. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how they got their nickname.

Many conservatives treat their political views in much the same way. They want to maintain some sense of purity to their political views and thus whenever a liberal opens their mouth to speak they close their minds and reject even the possibility that they might say something of worth.

Newt is not one of those people. He is not afraid to let a liberal speak and should he find something of value in what they say, he is unafraid to admit it. Unfortunately for him, that makes him a bad person to our Bruised and Bloodied Conservatives. When explaining why on earth he would ever get on a park bench with Nancy Pelosi he said he thought, at the time, it was a good idea to let it be known that conservatives can show they are concerned about our environment and at least willing to at least identify conservative ways in which we can approach environmental issues...instead of summarily rejecting them simply because the left so ardently supports them.

The same thing occurred when Newt endorsed The Third Wave. The Third Wave is a semi-futuristic look at where American society is heading. Written by two extremely progressive authors, Newt found it deeply satisfying that even in their attempt to write about a future for America that they ultimately saw a future America with a far more decentralized government and far more individual liberty and responsibility.

It is not difficult to understand why many conservatives struggle with the way conservatives like Newt are able and willing to reach across the aisle to work with people with whom they fundamentally disagree on so many issues. For me, I find it refreshing when a politician can see the good even in something otherwise so deeply bad. That's a man who can more readily find solutions and find ways of acquiring the support he needs FOR those solutions.