George W. Bush left the White House with an approval rating hovering around 30%.\u00a0 Courtesy of his tenure, and his second term specifically, by 2008 large numbers of conservatives ceased to identify themselves as \u201cRepublican,\u201d such was their shame. \u00a0At least one million of them refused to vote for John McCain.\u00a0 But two years before this, their enthusiasm had already begun to wane considerably, for the Democrats hammered Bush\u2019s party, regaining control once more of both chambers of Congress.\u00a0 By 2012, even fewer <\/i>conservatives showed up at the polls to pull the lever for Mitt Romney.<\/p>\n
If all of this fails to convince the GOP that it is hemorrhaging its base, the party\u2019s leaders would be well advised to look carefully at the comments\u2019 sections of any <\/i>number of \u201cconservative\u201d leaning publications\u2014including those that are most friendly to the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
The internet has been a great equalizer, the one outlet\u2014the only <\/i>outlet (sorry Fox News and talk radio)\u2014for conservative-minded Americans to give uninhibited expression to their views. To judge from these views on race relations, immigration, and everything in between, it would seem that perhaps a revolution of sorts is beginning to brew among those whose voice has been marginalized and suppressed by the self-appointed guardians of Political Correctness\u2014both Democrat and <\/i>Republican.<\/p>\n
Yet whether this is a real revolution or not, this much is clear: from the perspective of the great unwashed conservative masses, things are not looking too good for the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
In the court of public, on-line opinion, Marco Rubio, for example, has been tried and convicted of traitorous conduct toward both his party and his country for his tireless support of amnesty.\u00a0 McCain and Lindsay Graham long ago had this verdict visited upon them, but their latest attempt to secure Democrat Party rule in perpetuity via amnesty has renewed with vigor the contempt in which legions of conservatives hold them.<\/p>\n
But everyone knows that McCain and Graham are has-beens who\u2019ve gone as far as they are going to go. \u00a0Most troubling for the GOP is that its newest line of \u201cconservative\u201d stars is fizzling fast.<\/p>\n
Paul Ryan and Chris Christie are as unpopular among the conservative base as is Rubio\u2014and for essentially the same reason: they are viewed as \u201cRINO\u2019s.\u201d What this really means, though, is that they are regarded as fake conservatives who talk the talk when they need the base of their party but dance with the Democrats at all other times.<\/p>\n
Even Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are not above suspicion. \u00a0The former has made it clear that he supports amnesty\u2014\u201ca pathway to citizenship\u201d\u2014in principle, even if he eventually refused to endorse the specifics of the Gang of Eight\u2019s bill.\u00a0 As for Cruz, that he was once one of the architects of Bush II\u2019s immigration reform plan back in 2000 is enough to raise concerns.\u00a0 That he hasn\u2019t done more to lead the charge against the Gang of Eight\u2019s bill compounds those concerns.\u00a0 Lip service is one thing. Going to the mat against amnesty in the manner in which Rubio and his gang have gone to the mat in favor of it is something else entirely.<\/p>\n
The point is this: unless the Republican Party poses a genuine alternative to what the Democrats are offering, its base will continue to erode.\u00a0 The formalities of its platform aside, it has shown itself time and time again to be, at best, but a lighter version\u2014and only a slightly lighter version at that\u2014of its rival.<\/p>\n
Amnesty is guaranteed to consign the Republican Party to oblivion.\u00a0 It also promises to expedite the left\u2019s agenda to \u201cfundamentally transform\u201d America.\u00a0 Far from being just one more policy among others, nothing less than the fate of our country depends upon it. \u00a0\u00a0Why, then, should any conservative vote for a party that wants amnesty?<\/p>\n
Yet it isn\u2019t just amnesty that is dampening conservatives\u2019 spirits.\u00a0 While championing \u201climited government\u201d out of one side of their mouths, Republicans actively encourage anything but the \u201chumble\u201d foreign policy that Bush II claimed to want back in 2000.\u00a0 But Big Military is <\/i>Big Government. Moreover, Americans of all stripes believe that the American soldier, being an American <\/i>soldier, and not a soldier of Planet Earth, shouldn\u2019t be deployed around the globe to fight for the sake of some abstract ideal like freedom, equality, or Democracy.<\/p>\n
If the party of \u201climited government\u201d wants to be treated seriously by both their one-time friends and foes, it has got to radically revise its stance on Big Military.<\/p>\n
The GOP has some major soul searching to do. Unless it does so soon, its base will continue to shrink.\u00a0\u00a0 Anyone with any doubts on this score will have them dispelled quickly enough by the most casual perusal of what conservatives are saying at any number of places on-line.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
George W. Bush left the White House with an approval rating hovering around 30%.\u00a0 Courtesy of his tenure, and his second term specifically, by 2008 large numbers of conservatives ceased to identify themselves as \u201cRepublican,\u201d such was their shame. \u00a0At least one million of them refused to vote for John McCain.\u00a0 But two years before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n