If all the really real principled Conservatives would really be real Conservatives then they would ALL be voting third party and at that for a third party that stands for what those really real principled Conservatives in reality want: Adherence to the Constitution.
yours truly
Weh Ahh Day EEsh
This is actually a really important post, because it cuts to the core of what is dividing so many of us.
@bigheadfred , I think if we did what you said, those "really really really principled conservatives" would constitute maybe --
maybe -- 20% of the vote. If I'm being generous. Probably closer to 15%. That's my educated guesstimate after seeing who wins primaries and observing politics for a long time.
To my way of thinking, that means that splitting off into a new "true hardcore conservatives only" party is electoral suicide. There would be the Democrats, a GOP consisting only of moderate Republicans, and then the Conservative (or Constitution, or whatever) Party. It would absolutely hand election after election to Democrats. And I'd point out that the "really really really principled progressives" are probably about the same percentage of the vote. But they are relentless, and keep their eyes on the prize.. And they're massively aided by a sympathetic media, and entertaining opinion-shapers (among low information voters, anyway). But they stay within the Democratic Party, and so get to shape policy.
I think that means that conservatives must build coalitions to be successful, and the only vehicle to build such coalitions is the GOP. So, our only realistic chance of regaining power is to get the right conservative candidate who has enough charisma to unite that 20% and win in the primaries, win the nomination and support of the other half of the party, and then starting from that 40% base, be a strong enough candidate to get over the top in November. I think that is our only plausible route to victory.
The thought that we can win simply because our
ideas are right ignores the reality that
being right isn't enough to convince a majority of voters.I see that as the
only feasible way to get a conservative in office. So, though I have no doubt at all as to the strong conservative beliefs of someone like
@Smokin Joe , I think he and others calling for an independent conservative party would succeed only in destroying whatever chance there is to actually put a conservative in the White House. I just don't see it happening. There just aren't enough of us to win on ideology alone. If there were, we should have been able to dominate the GOP primaries with ease, every time. And we can't/haven't.
I don't think you, Smokin Joe, or other conservatives advocating a new party are bad people, or liberals, or anything else negative. I simply think you overestimate the political/electoral (as opposed to intellectual/moral) strength of the "true" conservative movement.
ETA: Now, perhaps my estimates are wrong. Maybe there really are as solid 35-40% of the electorate who are true, hardcore conservatives who can win a three way race. But the fact that I don't believe an independent, hardcore conservative party can get 35-40% of the vote, and therefore don't support such an idea, does not make me a liberal. It simply means my sense of the prevailing political sentiment is wildly wrong.