CPAC is What Trumpism Is Doing to Conservatism

[roamer_1]

I don't know if we'll ever see anyone do away with the massive spending part, if Reagan couldn't do it, who can?

Reagan is directly responsible for the 94 Congress - The closest we've come to a balanced budget in my lifetime.

I am still holding out hope on amnesty and gun control, with Trump.    What else do we have right now?

I don't deal in hope from a NYC liberal. I know better.

[Jazzhead]

Forgive me @Jazzhead but I am having a difficult time believing you are concerned in any shape, manner or form for the survival and growth of either the GOP or the conservative movement.

So spill it ... how are you hoping a deeper split between the GOP and Conservatives helps move your liberal agenda forward?

(It'll be just between us  )

I have no "liberal agenda",  RIV.  I have been a Republican since the seventies and have the same right as you and everyone else to express my opinions on the issues of the day.   I do not subscribe to protectionism and nativism, and support (as a traditional conservative) a rational immigration policy that encourages economic growth and gets employers that talent they need to prosper.   And I abhor racism and bigotry, especially the kind where the bigots claim the imprimatur of Jesus Christ.   

If that makes me a "liberal", then so are millions of my fellow Republicans.   

Conservatives are part of the GOP.   As has been pointed out, to win at the national level the GOP needs to form a coalition of conservatives and sympathetic moderates and independents.  I have no "agenda" to split the GOP from the conservative movement.  And I am no different than Buckley in wanting the bigots the hell out of my party, because it sullies our reputation.   

[roamer_1]

Conservatives are part of the GOP.   

No. They are not.

[txradioguy]

IIRC when Reagan lost to Ford by 57 delegates at the 1976 Convention he started planning for 1980 and one of the first places he went was the CPAC confab that year.

For many years that was the place to go for Conservatism and for principled Conservative and Constitutional law.

These days with the neo populism that passes for faux "Conservatism" Reagan wouldn't be allowed to get an invite much less a chance to speak.

[txradioguy]

No. They are not.

We haven't left the Republican Party...the Republican Party left us.

[Jazzhead]

These days with the neo populism that passes for faux "Conservatism" Reagan wouldn't be allowed to get an invite much less a chance to speak.

He'd be booed just like Mona Charen. 

[Jazzhead]

We haven't left the Republican Party...the Republican Party left us.

Nice paraphrase of Reagan.  But Reagan had a place to go when he left the Dems.   You do not.   

[txradioguy]

Nice paraphrase of Reagan.  But Reagan had a place to go when he left the Dems.   You do not.

You keep telling yourself that.  I'm sure you and the rest of your buddies in the DNC actually believe that.

History has proven the folly of thinking like yours...much to the detriment of the people thinking that.

[DCPatriot]

Politics as practiced on the national level in the USA requires putting together a coalition of interests sufficient to win a plurality of electoral votes.  The coalition  that George W. Bush put together was made up of groups that were shrinking demographically, and could no longer sustain a GOP national candidate.  Trump was able hold together the GWB coalition, and add one new group to it, namely disaffected working class males in the industrial heartland.

The problem is that it puts conservatives at odds over two key issues: immigration and protectionism.  For the most part, the open borders conservatives have stayed with the party because Trump is instinctively pro-business and pro-freedom.  I doubt that too many open border conservatives care about the wall and greater enforcement of immigration laws, but they do care about erecting trade barriers,  and if the Trump administration gets aggressive in this area, there will be a serious rift in the movement. So far that hasn't happened.

The bottom line is that a pro-life, pro-constitution party cannot be big enough in the modern era to accumulate a majority.  McCain and Romney demonstrated that.  The tent needed to be bigger, and the lowest hanging fruit was the disaffected white, working class male.  The fact that a New York billionaire was able to reel that group into the fold, right under the noses of the union bosses who assured Hillary the vote was "locked in," was an amazing feat.

Trump's next big achievement may well be wresting some of the African American vote away from the Democrats.  This is a big fear in Dem circles.


   

    QFT!

[endicom]

"...CPAC – the annual conference of conservatives that has become increasingly less conservative every year."


Then the problem is obviously not "Trumpism," schmuck Heck.

[roamer_1]

Nice paraphrase of Reagan.  But Reagan had a place to go when he left the Dems.   You do not.

Where else are they gonna go?

Already gone.

[roamer_1]

We haven't left the Republican Party...the Republican Party left us.

YUP. They need to go the way of the Whigs, and it can't happen soon enough.

[txradioguy]

YUP. They need to go the way of the Whigs, and it can't happen soon enough.

Yup the Whigs had the same attitude of "where are they gonna go" toward the newly formed Republican Party and look where it got them.

[Jazzhead]

You keep telling yourself that.  I'm sure you and the rest of your buddies in the DNC actually believe that.

History has proven the folly of thinking like yours...much to the detriment of the people thinking that.

It is your choice to render yourself politically irrelevant.  Any conservative who wants to actually exercise political influence, instead of merely flapping his or her gums on the internet, must do so through the vehicle of the Republican party.   There is zero chance of a conservative third party emerging.  Zero.   If a third party ever does emerge, it will be a centrist alternative to the increasingly radicalized major parties. 

[Jazzhead]

Already gone.

Then stay gone.  Be self-satisfied, and irrelevant.   One less fool to deal with.   

[txradioguy]

It is your choice to render yourself politically irrelevant.  Any conservative who wants to actually exercise political influence, instead of merely flapping his or her gums on the internet, must do so through the vehicle of the Republican party.   There is zero chance of a conservative third party emerging.  Zero.   If a third party ever does emerge, it will be a centrist alternative to the increasingly radicalized major parties.

You keep telling yourself that.  History proves that your arrogant world view has been proven demonstrably false and littered with fools like yourself who arrogantly sniffed at the possibility that a new political party could ever come along and dislodge the establishment from their rooted positions of power.

Sic transit gloria mundi...all glory is fleeting.

[Jazzhead]

You keep telling yourself that.  History proves that your arrogant world view has been proven demonstrably false and littered with fools like yourself who arrogantly sniffed at the possibility that a new political party could ever come along and dislodge the establishment from their rooted positions of power.

Sic transit gloria mundi...all glory is fleeting.

You and roamer:  two less fools to deal with. 

[roamer_1]

It is your choice to render yourself politically irrelevant.  Any conservative who wants to actually exercise political influence, instead of merely flapping his or her gums on the internet, must do so through the vehicle of the Republican party.   

LOL! No.  Political influence is MONEY. That is the vehicle, not the Republican Party. The Republican Party is nothing more than a bumper sticker on the vehicle, and believe you me, it is easy to peel off a bumper sticker. It doesn't cause the vehicle any harm at all.

There is zero chance of a conservative third party emerging.  Zero.   If a third party ever does emerge, it will be a centrist alternative to the increasingly radicalized major parties.

There is NOTHING radicalized about the Republicans. They are the moderate left, and lukewarm. And in that, without any value at all. Just a 'kinder, gentler liberalism', doomed to be in the shadow of democrats, not having the balls to be anything or stand upon anything. You can keep em.

[roamer_1]

Then stay gone.  Be self-satisfied, and irrelevant.   One less fool to deal with.

Riiiight. Me AND my donor's list. You'd be surprised what this old redneck can do on the phone.
But you needn't worry. I won't be helping your party do anything. And I haven't since 07.

[Jazzhead]

Riiiight. Me AND my donor's list. You'd be surprised what this old redneck can do on the phone.
But you needn't worry. I won't be helping your party do anything. And I haven't since 07.

If you haven't helped the GOP since 2007,  why should I even listen to you?  You've been politically irrelevant for a decade now.  Did you enjoy the Obama years?   You should; you enabled them.   

[txradioguy]

If you haven't helped the GOP since 2007,  why should I even listen to you?  You've been politically irrelevant for a decade now.

really?  What exactly has the GOP done for the average American in the last 11 years.

Did you enjoy the Obama years?   You should; you enabled them.

Actually the GOP enabled them by going along with every single thing Obama did and in some cases worked directly with him behind the scenes to get Democrat legislation passed.

Your political myopathy prevents you from seeing that...your Liberal underpinnings prevent you from admitting it.

[Jazzhead]

really?  What exactly has the GOP done for the average American in the last 11 years.

Got a nice little bump in my take-home pay this month - thanks, GOP!

[INVAR]

It is your choice to render yourself politically irrelevant.  Any conservative who wants to actually exercise political influence, instead of merely flapping his or her gums on the internet, must do so through the vehicle of the Republican party.

25 years of doing that very thing has proven to be nothing more than practicing insanity.

An apostate party must be treated exactly like an apostate church: it must be left to itself to be consumed by its own follies while those true to principles follow what is right - even if everyone else is marching off the cliff to the Left.

[txradioguy]

Got a nice little bump in my take-home pay this month - thanks, GOP!

Yeah and the .25 cent a gallon gas tax being floated will erase all of that.

Don't spend it all in one place.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I have no "liberal agenda",  RIV.  I have been a Republican since the seventies and have the same right as you and everyone else to express my opinions on the issues of the day.   I do not subscribe to protectionism and nativism, and support (as a traditional conservative) a rational immigration policy that encourages economic growth and gets employers that talent they need to prosper.   And I abhor racism and bigotry, especially the kind where the bigots claim the imprimatur of Jesus Christ.   

If that makes me a "liberal", then so are millions of my fellow Republicans.   

Conservatives are part of the GOP.   As has been pointed out, to win at the national level the GOP needs to form a coalition of conservatives and sympathetic moderates and independents.  I have no "agenda" to split the GOP from the conservative movement.  And I am no different than Buckley in wanting the bigots the hell out of my party, because it sullies our reputation.   

Thanks for the thoughtful reply @Jazzhead