Memo to GOP: This is not a monarchy

Rep. Allen West summed it up best on Conservative Republican Forum the other night when Steve posed the question of a possible presidential run in 2012:

“Well of course not.” He went on to say, “It’s so important that we as conservatives avoid the cult of personality style of leadership. But we really do elevate people based upon merit and talent. And, you know, I have to prove myself as an American statesman, as a political leader, and not just someone that is able to, you know give some good speeches. I have to be able to get up there and create legislation and get legislation pushed though and make myself a game changer on the House floor.”

Congressman West went further saying “What I am concerned about as far as on the Republican side is that we don’t continue with the entitlement mentality when it comes to elevating people to the next levels of leadership. We’ve got to break this paradigm. We cannot continue to have the model of Bob Dole against Bill Clinton or John McCain against Barack Obama. We’ve got to do something totally different.” [Emphasis mine]

Our Founders dedicated their lives to triumphing over elitism and oppression by the Crown. In modern times, conservatives are waging a similar battle for the soul of the Republican Party and the good of the country.

My sentiments exactly.

Look what moderation has wrought upon us since Ronald Reagan left office. If only George Herbert Walker Bush had continued Reagan’s successful blueprint and unapologetic championing of conservatism, we might have been spared the spectacle of the Ross Perot spoiler in 1992, followed by eight years of Bill Clinton’s decidedly non-presidential behavior; decimation of the US military and treatment of terrorism as a law enforcement matter instead of an ongoing war against western civilization. Clinton’s second term of course, was abetted once again by our GOP elites with the nomination of yet another moderate, Bob Dole, who — despite his Viagra commercials –  wasn’t exactly a dynamic presence on the campaign trail.

Hanging chads: the ultimate result of years of abandonment of conservatism by the GOP. Alienating your base does not win elections.

And then the fiasco of  2000 presidential election — complete with hanging chads, endless recounts and apoplectic liberals — also brought about by the GOP’s refusal to get back to its conservative roots and actually promote the principles of the platform like limited government, personal responsibility, individual liberty and peace through strength.

Sure, we could blame the entire mess on South Florida; however, when you analyze it further, there’s simply no way a Republican nominee can win handily when millions of conservative evangelicals stay home out of fear that the new boss would be the same as the old boss — a retread of his squishy moderate father.

And indeed, “compassionate conservatism” was nothing more than the GOP’s version big government, spawning even more entitlement programs like No Child Left Behind and the Medicare prescription drug expansion.

Then of course,  the 2008 election brought us yet another “entitled” Republican with a track record of poking conservatives in the eye at every opportunity: John S. McCain, “co-conspirator” in one of the most egregious assaults on free speech — campaign finance reform legislation — along with his buddy, far-left progressive senator (now thankfully retired) Russ Feingold.

And what was the GOP response to its angry base?

Why, calm down of course. After all, we have to moderate in order to win over the swing voters and independents. And the decrepit, wishy-washy John McCain is just the guy to go up against a dynamic, young black guy with a silver-tongued teleprompter, soaring (if deceptive) rhetoric and a slobbering (to use Bernie Goldberg’s term) media doing his bidding.

Sarah Palin: the only bright spot of an otherwise dismal 2008 election, and the driving force behind the success of the 2010 midterms.

If not for the selection of Sarah Palin, a staunch conservative with a proven track record of fiscal restraint, a clear understanding of energy policy and a genuine regard for this country’s founding principles — wrapped up in an attractive, high-energy  package  — McCain would’ve lost in a landslide.

And yet even after the 2010 “shellacking”, our self-professed intellectual superiors on the right bitterly cling to their “next in line” mentality, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that the peasants have revolted, even though said peasants (along with their tireless champion Sarah Palin) are the ones responsible for the GOP takeover of the House.

Well, I got news for you GOP: just like the absurd listening tour you embarked upon after Barack Obama’s election, your equally distasteful monarchical philosophy is way past its expiration date. Retreads like Romney, who imposed Obamacare-lite on Massachusetts, publicly praised Obama’s stimulus, flip-flopped on issues like abortion just to keep his political ambitions alive, and most recently, joined with Obama in declaring radical Islamists in Egypt “democratic” has no business anywhere near the White House.

Two progressives united in the farce of climate change. Newt as the GOP nominee? What a joke!

Ditto for Newt Gingrich who sat on the couch with Nancy Pelosi in 2007 over “climate change”; endorsed liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 over Doug Hoffman and teamed up with Al Sharpton for so-called education reform. These actions do not qualify someone as a conservative in my book — let alone a president, no matter how many times he appears on the Sean Hannity show.

And talk about being past the expiration date….exactly how long has Gingrich been a  Beltway creature???

To sum it up, I’m with my congressman Allen West all the way when he says we have to do something different — like actually put up presidential candidates who can and will unapologetically stand up for the US Constitution and clearly articulate why conservatism is good for everybody.

The other Divas  may disagree with me when I say that if we end up with another RINO Republican presidential candidate, I will put my focus solely on congressional elections and abstain from voting for president. The Senate and the House need more solid conservatives to oppose the progressive agenda, which would still be advanced by a RINO president, if perhaps a little more slowly than the manner in which  Obama is doing it.

So yeah, call me a purist. But I’m stickin’ to my guns — and my religion — on this one.