Couldn't agree more with the bolded section.
And I know that. but your line of acceptance is to the left (understand I am saying 'toward center') of mine.
And I'm NOT saying some principles can be sacrificed...I AM saying that "if we don't bend a little, we'll most certainly break".
Well yes, it seems you are. 'Bending a little' to me would be a mostly balanced budget that was maybe a half a billion off.... That guy is alright. That guy tried, and mostly hit his marks, and can lay claim to doing better in his next administration. That guy - though the 'miss' is grievous (grievous, I say), could probably win my vote. I am not unbending. I could provide a reasonable answer to my fiscally oriented brothers, who would be profoundly offended... And offer a balm.
But trillions - Feel that: Friggin ~trillions!~ off - And at that, not a few... 10s of trillions of dollars sideways IS SURELY sacrificing principle. There ain't no two ways about it. I dwell on the fiscal conservatism because it is so very undeniable. There can be no justification. This is nothing short of an horrendous breach of faith. EVERY SOB that made that happen deserves massive consequences. You should not merely be pissed about that. You should be enraged. Every single damn Republican that let that happen should be *gone* at the earliest convenience. Understand me: Political heads need to roll.
But that's not where you seem to be.
So own that. Admit you are OK with throwing SOME principles away, and you are OK with throwing fiscal conservatives right under the bus. Admit that you are alright with feeding the beast, and that in feeding it, propose to control it better than the democrats...
Because that is how it looks when you are talking to me. And I will not lend that my endorsement. By a long, long way. That examples why little compromise exists until AFTER we are standing in the framework provided by the principle things of ALL the factions.
The issue that separates you and I is not issues based...its strategic approach.
Oh, yes it is... AND strategic approach thereafter... The wounding is in the endorsement of an utter breach of principle. And in that, weakening further the only coalition that matters. Understand that:
That is no different than any other RINO-hyphenated 'conservatism'. It is merely the one tolerable 'to you'.
The very point of the spear of political conservatism is the Conservative Coalition, and the very tip of the point of that spear is the vow to uphold each other between the factions. IN FACT your claim at least intends to abridge that vow. That vow cannot be abridged and still maintain the coalition. That vow, in its function must needs be sacrosanct.
IF you are Conservative, you MUST keep that word, laid down in Reagan and Goldwater... Or Conservatism means literally nothing at all.
This is no small thing. This is not a thing to 'bend'.
I will no more tolerate a RINO than will you...I'm disgusted by the McCain-Romney-Bush Axis...but the GOP can no longer win if it ONLY attracts the religious right and hard core fiscal conservatives. We MUST have something to offer to the blue collar Joe breaking rock and smelting steel...Trump understood this...that's why the focus on rolling back regulations and dropping corporate taxes to launch industry upward and forward.
Well yes and no - What Republican president DIDN'T cut taxes while refusing to cut spending. It looks like typical candy from the front of the parade to me.
And you can appeal to joe-six pack *just fine* balancing the damn checkbook the same way he has to at his kitchen table every night. The Folks appreciate the truth. Someone who will stand up and say, "We just flat ain't got the money for all this shit." Every damn person that pays his bills would perk up and pay attention to that.
And I am *for* Tumpy's elimination of regulation, as far as it went... But he barely scratched the surface. Some wee credit? Sure. Jumping up and down happy? Not even close. More of a 'meh'.
As you can see...Trump's pro-industry/pro-worker policy is already being shut down by the Dems (SD pipeline, restoring regs, raising corporate and industry taxes, etcetera). They are desperate to undo his success in this area. The Left is terrified of this aspect of Trumpism...stark raving terrified...for good reason. They hate Trump because they think they should OWN the working man (and woman)...and Trump gained the allegiance of the old working stiff Reagan Dems.
Well that's like interpretive dance... while reading tea leaves. I CAN say the same damn thing happened at the end of *every* Republican president's reign. Every Republican president is hated with unmatched fury... Every EO gets overturned. That is why I am utterly unimpressed with presidents that rule by EO.
Who KNOWS why they're pissed. Even THEY don't know why they're pissed. They hate everything. Add to that Tumpy's unmatched ability to piss anybody off, and it ain't hard to see why they are white-hot apoplectic...
Union loyalty...the great bastion of Dem voting and monetary support for many decades...has been wavering. That makes them shit their pants...and they know they have a "left, enviro wacko" problem that is pushing the Unions away from the Dem party...we have to keep driving the wedge in harder and harder and Trump has been a master at doing so. We need more of that because THAT is the bloc we MUST win if we are to beat the Dems in a national election.
Fine. Then speak to them without breaking your oath to Conservatism. Because gaining unions and losing Conservatives is a net loss, I will guarantee you. Y'all are so very far away from being welcoming to me and mine that I can say with fair conviction that I will never again call myself a Republican, and I will never again call the Republican party the home of Conservatism.
That ain't a guarantee... But it's getting there.
