I'll admit to being on the wrong side of the debate in the fairly recent past (voting for McCain and Romney, knowing their faults). While always believing fully in the Constitution, I had given up that any President could ever live up to them so always voted "R." I had given up on the small government ideal, so factored it out in my decision.
This time.... with Trump......... I can go no farther because he is so openly and blatantly leftist, and still no one seems to care. While he's lying about some things, he still is declaring his liberalism, and watching the contortions his lackeys go to in order to excuse everything has just been astounding....... and disturbing.
He's not even a "moderate" Republican. He's full out Democrat, and still his followers, famous and not, proclaim fealty to him.
Before this election, I was a Conservative Republican. Now I don't believe that such a thing exists. And my belief that a return to Constitutional principles is the only thing that can keep America alive has grown stronger.
I'm not going back.
It is much the same here. Conservatives will have to regroup under a different banner, a difficult thing to do in the midst of battle. While I would not exclude those who have held their noses and voted Republican in the past (as have most of us), this time it is different. Then we had a hope of some conservative scraps from a moderate table. Now the dishes are all from the left side of the menu.
The reluctant I understand, the enthusiastic supporters of this candidate can dig their own hole (as they have), they aren't sharing mine. I am not so surprised that, in the end, we are few. People like Rush made 'conservative' a popular brand, but like Harley Davidson, there are far more t-shirts and baubles than riders or bikes. This is one of those times which weeds out the wannabes, those more enamored of appearances than principles. A few will follow reluctantly out of desperation. Small wonder so many eagerly embraced someone who is far more image than substance.
Those of us who stand on principle will stand together, back to back if need be, and continue to fight as we can for the Constitutional Republic that we embrace, either by birthright or as newcomers who recognize the wisdom inherent in the form of government our Founders intended, and the beauty of the Liberty that government was to leave unmolested.
If we count those who reluctantly follow that banner out of fear of being completely disenfranchised, I think we are far greater in number than most want to admit. Those who were strongly for Liberty in the original fight were only a third of the population, and those who fought a mere three percent.
So be of good cheer, the conflict is far from over, and the lines are just getting sorted out. During the Revolution, the patriots lost most of their battles, but won the war in the end.
