At the risk of turning this beautiful thread into yet another Tumpster fire... You are stone dead wrong.
To claim Conservatism,as it touches the political realm, you necessarily fall with in one of three definitions: Goldwater, Reagan, or Factional.
HorseHillary! Half the voters of today can't even tell you which century Goldwater and Reagan lived in,never mind the base of their political viewpoints.
As for Reagan,I admire the man greatly,but flat-out,he was just too damn nice and polite with the left. Not to mention trusting.
A 2020 non-professional career politician who doesn't give a squat whose toes he steps on is not only what we need,but what we MUST have if there is going to be any hope of saving America as a free and independent nation.
The Goldwater Coalition preserves the unmovable principled things of three factions: Fiscal conservatism, Military and Foreign Policy conservatism, and civil Conservatism (ie: civil-libertarianism). The proverbial three-legged stool of Conservatism.
There IS no Goldwater Coalition in existence,and there won't ever be one if Trump isn't re-elected.
The Reagan Coalition embraces Goldwater, and adds the unmovable principled things of Social conservatism - The political formation of the Christian Right... Adding a faction.
The "Christian Right" are NOT political conservatives. They are members of a religious cult,and like ALL religious cults,their primary concern is with preserving and strengthening the power and influence of that religion.
Political parties are nothing more than a tool to be used for this purpose,and if any were to ever take control,the Bill of Rights would be history,and mandatory prayer by one of THEIR cult leaders would be the order of the day.
And it makes no difference if they are Christian in one of it's many flavors,Muslim,Hindu,Jewish,or any of the other hundreds,maybe even thousands,of faiths. Their ultimate goals are always the same,which is obtaining the ultimate power they need in order to be able to dictate their faith be the law to everyone alive.
They are about slavery,not freedom.
As for claiming the name of Goldwater (BIG fan!) or Reagan (WAAAY too polite and willing to go along) I am and have no intention of doing either. MY prime concern at this point is stopping the advance of the international left who have now gone so far left they are far right Fascists.
If you support one faction or another, but not the whole, you are but a factional conservative... Not to lessen that value - factional conservatives are the point. But none of the factions are strong enough on their own, which is the point of coalition.
HorseHillary! There is no such thing as a coalition with religious fundamentalists. To borrow a term,it is "a deal with the devil" because the devil will always lie and try to gain total control. Religious fundamentalists will NEVER compromise and will only accept total control.
BTW,"communism" is also a religion.
Principled Conservatives 'take their ball and go home' because one or more of those factional principles are not being met... Which is the proper thing to do in service of a coalition in which the agreement was to support each and every faction together, according to their principles.
See? Even you agree with me on this.
When I say I will not support Tumpy because I refuse to throw Fiscal conservatives under the bus, it is in service of that promise held through both Goldwater and Reagan to support those coalitions without fail.re the unity of Conservatism in service to Reagan's Coalition.
It is in service to your ego and your religious cult,NOT to America and people who want to live free.
The exact opposite is true. I am structuring my vote according to 'us', meaning Conservatives, meaning the Reagan Coalition. It is I that is in support of the principles of all of those factions, and will not let them down. Period.
Some people just ain't happy unless they are losing and have a crusade to fight. The "Reagan Coalition" no longer exists,and I sincerely hope it never returns because that is the type of thinking that "threw American away" with their compromises,right when we had a return to Constitutional law and sanity in our grasp.
When you ask me to do otherwise, it is you that is being divisive.
I can live with that. Never been one of those "we iz da wurld" people,anyhow. I am a free American who demands the right to live free and make up my own mind about what is right or wrong.