A while back, I wrote about potential third party platforms emerging from the divergence of the Republican Party that resulted in the losses of the 2008 elections.

I personally have been struggling with this issue since before the National Republicans nominated John McCain, but when that happened, I lost all hope. The Republican Party lost its way under George Bush, all but completely shunning the limited government platform of its most successful modern-era politician, and founder of the Conservative movement, Ronald Reagan. Instead of following Reagan’s principles, these RINO’s abandoned his platform in favor of a watered-down, pandering, democrat-lite, socialist, big government, big spending, bloated bureaucracy that was handing out and printing money faster than the Chinese could lend it.

The voters, unable to distinguish Obama’s message from McCain’s message, voted for “change”…a very common thing to do after one party holds the Executive Branch for 8 years. The media, having incorrectly labeled George Bush as a conservative, corralled McCain into either being Bush’s lackey, or an Obama wannabe. McCain spent years trashing Conservatism, cozying up to the left, and then tried to position himself as Reagan’s ideological step-child…and no one bought it.

True Conservatism does not disenfranchise anyone. It simply wants government to stick to its Constitutionally granted powers. Since so many Americans have come to depend on the Government for their subsistence, it is far too easy for the Left to convince the uneducated, uninformed, and unmotivated that the Conservatives who want to eliminate wasteful government activity are coming to take away their livelihood. Since there is no “Great Communicator”, the Conservative message is most often defined by the Left Wing or angry RINO’s who will lose their power if Conservatism succeeds.

One third party political group that has some interesting ideas is the Conservative Party. From their website www.conservativepartyusa.org

“Mission Statement:

  ‘The Conservative Party USA’s mission is to promote and protect individual rights and freedoms as set forth in the United States Constitution, and to limit the scope of government to the authority set forth therein. Our efforts will be focused on building and leading opposition to intrusive government agencies and policies at all levels (federal/state/local); promoting initiatives and ideas that address issues via the private sector; and supporting candidates that understand the primary purpose of government is to protect its citizens from foreign threats, not the individual from himself’.'”

If you look under the tab “Creed and Principals” it says nothing about anyone’s race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation. Conservatives DON’T CARE about those labels and never have. If you are an American, you are to be afforded the same rights as any other American…no more and no less. The new term being used is “I-Cons” for Independent Conservatives – a term I can definitely relate to.

The next wave of political discourse within the Republican Party will be to decide the Party Platform’s for the future. Before the next election, the Republicans need to define a solid message with concrete ideas that voters can use to differentiate between the two parties. The fate of the Republican Party will be decided by the messages chosen, and they are running out of time…

As I see it, the Republicans have two choices. 1.) Move to the left, closer to the Democrats, and pander to every “label” that people place upon themselves. 2.) Treat every person as an American, and put into place Constitution-based policies that treat everyone equally and move the country forward as a whole, with an emphasis on creating private-sector jobs.

This reorganization process will be very interesting to observe. The wrong decisions could send some members to third parties, and others to the left. Personally, I would be in favor of having more than two viable choices. I am an American and I like having many choices as both a consumer and a voter.

Many of my very conservative Republican friends favor re-taking the party rather than building a 3^rd party. The recent Gallup Poll that showed 40% of Americans defining themselves as ‘Conservative’ vs. 36% ‘Independent’ vs. 20% ‘Liberal’ tells me that there may never be a better time than right now to challenge the Two-Party System that has systematically ruined this country. A Conservative party would only need about 1/3 of the Independent voters to vote with them, and they would have a majority. The recent election in New York, in which a totally unknown, very poor candidate almost won running on the Conservative Party platform may be an indicator of what is to come. Had the election committee properly removed the Republican candidate, who dropped out of the election, from the ballots, the Conservative candidate would have beaten both the Democrat and the Republican…in deep blue New York state.

I suppose I will continue to struggle with this issue. Until a true leader with vision, courage, and a true disdain for government emerges, there is nothing in the Republican Party for me. If a Democrat proposes a 15% tax on something, and the Republican says NO taxes, but then agrees to 7.5% behind closed doors, he is simply a half-Democrat. That is not a “compromise” – that is a win for the Democrat. If the Dem would have asked for a 30% tax, and only got 15%…they still got what they wanted, and the RINO got played. If the Dem proposes $100 Million to study squirrel habitats in Maine, and the Republican agrees, as long as he gets $5 Million to build a library with his name on it in Dirthole, Nevada, the Republican is just as guilty of defrauding the tax-payer as anyone else. Compromise sounds great, especially to the uninformed, low-information voter, but two thieves compromising on how two divide stolen goods is not a representation of virtue. Yes, they are compromising – isn’t that dandy – but they should instead be sitting in prison dividing up cigarettes and toilet paper.

Working together to steal liberty, raid the treasury, or spend other people’s money fails to recognize the fact that the “working together” is part of the problem. By working together, they have become so efficient at robbing the populace of money, freedom, and liberty that most people don’t even notice. The two-party system has become a “Sham-wow” commercial with some slick selling and fast talking…and the end result is the same: You send them money; they send back some over-priced rags.

P.S. I would rather have the Sham-Wow guy running the country than what we have right now…