God, guns, and gays?

Gerard Baker of the London Times had this to say about John McCain’s resounding victory in Florida…..: “It could be that we are witnessing the end of a political era, the domination of conservatives, at least those who have hewed to a traditional social and religious line, in the Republican party … The irony is that it is exactly the positions that conservatives have felt would make Mr. McCain unacceptable to most Republicans - his support for strong measures to tackle global warming or his opposition to some of the Bush administration’s interrogationtechniques for terrorist suspects, for example - that may have helped him connect with a different type of Republican voter. The Republican party may be badly fractured, but it is changing steadily. It may no longer be the case that solid positions on God, guns and gays will be enough to win the party’s nomination….”

Obviously, Baker's view is quite myopic. I find such a statement odious and offensive. Conservatives are more than just about God, guns, and gays. Conservatism also means being strong on national defense and homeland security; it also means securing our borders first to keep out illegal immigrants and terrorists who attack our way of life; it means being fiscally sound by lowering taxes and reducing spending; it means devolving power back to the states as the laboratories the founders designed under our federalist system that produce real solutions for real problems; it means supporting justices/judges who striclty construe the Constitution, not legislate from the bench; and it means getting big government out our lives and allowing us personal and economic liberty that made America "a shining city on a hill". These are just a few of the things that conservatives believe. To read Baker is to believe conservatives are nothing more than neanderthals, and I'm personally tired of such a stereotype. Republicans are not fractured, as Baker implies, but rather, we have yet to have a candidate emerge who can unite us.

Conservatives still matter and they will make a difference in the upcoming election determining whether we send Clinton/Obama to the Whie House by our apathy, or McCain by our support. I, for one, am not against deconstructing the party and starting over based on the principles our party was founded on. These are the principles that made us a great party in the first place, and for me I'd rather lose an election than sacrifice my principles. Sometimes party does ask too much and in this case I did not leave the Republican party, it left me!