Booman Tribune

Social Conservatives Fed Up With GOP

by BooMan
Sun May 21st, 2006 at 12:24:28 PM EST

Richard A. Viguerie is one pissed off conservative. He's finally figured out that the Republicans exist to promote the interests of big business and that their Christian conservative rhetoric is merely a pretense that allows them to attract middle class and lower middle class voters. He might consider that Jesus spent more time criticizing hypocrites than he did criticizing people that didn't embrace Judiasm.

Viguerie lays out his case point by point. He's not happy about the No Child Left Behind bill, signing McCain-Feingold's campaign finance bill, or the medicare overhaul. Congressional corruption has gotten to him.

Conservatives did not spend decades going door to door, staffing phone banks and compiling lists of like-minded voters so Republican congressmen could have highways named after them and so there could be an affirmative-action program for Republican lobbyists.

He is disgraced by the federal response to Katrina and appalled by the cronyism of the Michael Brown and Harriet Miers nominations. He sees nothing being done to curtail abortion, is appalled by continued stem-cell research funding, and thinks hate-crimes legislation will ban speech that criticizes homosexual behavior. He's even dissatisfied with Bush's performance in nominating conservative judges. His message to conservatives?

As long as Democrats controlled Congress or the White House, Republicans could tell conservatives they deserved support because of what they would do, someday. Now we know what they do when they have control. Their agenda comes from Big Business, not from grass-roots conservatives...

...The current record of Washington Republicans is so bad that, without a drastic change in direction, millions of conservatives will again stay home this November.

And maybe they should. Conservatives are beginning to realize that nothing will change until there's a change in the GOP leadership. If congressional Republicans win this fall, they will see themselves as vindicated, and nothing will get better.

We here a lot of the same talk from disaffected liberals (much of it on this site). The fact of the matter is that both parties are ignoring their grass-roots supporters in favor of big business. The code word for corporatism is 'centrism'. Viguerie favors a similar approach to the one I am pushing. I am calling for a party within a party, funded by small donations from grass-roots and independent of the DSCC, the DCCC, and the DNC. Viguerie is calling for something even more independent.

At the very least, conservatives must stop funding the Republican National Committee and other party groups. (Let Big Business take care of that!) Instead, conservatives should dedicate their money and volunteer efforts toward conservative groups and conservative candidates. They should redirect their anger into building a third force -- not a third party, but a movement independent of any party. They should lay the groundwork for a rebirth of the conservative movement and for the 2008 campaign, when, perhaps, a new generation of conservative leaders will step forward.

Both major parties have abandoned any sense of populism in favor of corporate welfare, an increasingly regressive tax code, anti-environmental and anti-labor legislation and regulation. I don't mind the GOP giving lip service to their religious conservatives, but I'm glad that their FOX News "we're on the side of the little guy" routine is starting to wear thin. The scales are starting to fall from the eyes of social conservatives that now realize that they have been working all these years to serve, not their agenda, but the agenda of Wall Street.



Display:
and usually the most painful.  I have been so angry at many of them I have to remind myself that nothing is to be gained by sneering at their suffering as they realize they have been used and used and even abused.

PMS Purchase More Shoes
by Militarytracy on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 12:41:17 PM EST
it is amazing that they were fooled into thinking people like Tom DeLay are Christians that have their best interests at heart.
by BooMan on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 01:22:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
2 points:

1.Conservatives (GOP) not pissed enough to have their congresscritters do the right thing. Impeach.
Had this president been a donkey rider, long, long ago he'd been found guilty in the senate.

2.Democrats should not take it for granted they'll win November. They're not seen as the alternative party. Just too timid to take a stand, running away from issues while shooting at each other. Failure needs no plan.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 01:57:21 PM EST
They have another viable option: it's called the Constitution Party.  Try reading their platform sometime.  If they want theocracy in America, they should go with the party that promotes theocracy in America, rather than try to co-opt the fiscal conservative party and turn it into a theocracy party.

Because the fiscal conservative party is smarter than they are.  They'll take advantage for as long as they can.

Far-Shooting Politics: http://www.hekebolos.com

by hekebolos (hekebolos-at-gmail-dot-com) on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 02:37:46 PM EST
and where should fiscal conservatives go?  The GOP certainly isn't being fiscally conservative.
by BooMan on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 02:41:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Should join the environmental movement. Those people, all they can think about is efficiency and curbing waste, preserving the best in life!

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org
by Isis on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 03:01:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
All I can say is to echo a bumper sticker I saw recently:

Isis! Isis! Ra, Ra, Ra!

Ecological collapse is already happening. Your resentment of the word doesn't change the fact that it is occurring.

by Knoxville Progressive (green_planet_2000 (at) yahoo (dot) com) on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 08:17:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday in the Reddest part of San Diego that said "Ex-Republican, Ask me why" I about crapped right there!

Frodo failed...Bush has got the ring.
by alohaleezy on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 08:38:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This brings up the usual piggy-backing pattern all minorities use to gain some advantage. The Right sucked up to the Corporate Republicans, the Corporate Republicans, being opportunists and cheap-skates, colluded with the Right to finance the corporate agenda at the grass roots, take congressional seats, and throw bones of contention to the Right like gay rights, antiabortionism, and religious intolerance. Well, seems the deal is going to be off soon, and the Right will slowly split away from the Rethugs. The Right can't have it's crown jewel, the presidency and hence, theocracy, but they damn near got there.

It's not that those on the Left haven't done the same thing. The Democratic Leadership Counsel seduced the center of the Democratic party to support it's Corporate goals, and look what it's done -- split the Democrats apart, leaving them headless and testicle-less.

Me? I'm a Green, because I can't sully myself with the stench of the split in the Democratic party. It's just not liberal and progressive enough for my one vote. Oh, I'll pull the trigger for Hiliary in 08 if I have to, especially since Jeb Bush will be her competitor, but what a sad world. The Great Democracy of the United States becomes a Biarchy in a matter of 20 years! :) :) I laugh my way to the poorhouse  . . .  (oops, they don't exist any longer -- guess I'll end up on the streets.)

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

by Isis on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 02:59:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
OMFG!!!

Thanks Boo!

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi

by Street Kid on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 02:57:16 PM EST
I just had a glimmer of respect for true, principled conservatives.

Of course, once they stop talking about Republican corruption and start talking about the perfidy of evolution, I will lose respect for them once again.

by inkadu on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 03:06:22 PM EST
They're not!

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
by Street Kid on Sun May 21st, 2006 at 03:43:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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