The Fall of the Republican Party

An election of John McCain will do more harm than good.

Hello from Ellensburg. I am the newest contributor here, and would like to thank Mr. Forbes. I have long considered myself a Republican, going so far as to be President of the CWU College Republicans for a time. Lately, however, I feel as though I am not so welcome in the party.

My first vote was cast in 2000, and it was an easy decision. George Bush was my guy. Eight years ago, the competition was fairly stiff, with Dan Quayle, Steve Forbes, and Pat Buchanan all being in the running. Solid, accomplished candidates all.

Which brings me to our present situation. This year, after sorting through a field of the half-crazed (Ron Paul) to the half-dead (Fred Thompson), to the half-liberal (Rudy Giuliani), we have settled on the greatest enemy Senate Republicans face, John McCain. In the process, we discarded Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo. I am not very excited to vote.

I define my views as those of a paleo-conservative first, and a Republican second. Not too very long ago, the Republican Party was the vehicle for advancing the cause of conservatism. Currently, it is a convenient way to convince people that you are any sort of conservative. It has been betrayed by the likes of Arlen Specter in their quest to be elected. John McCain stands to be the final nail in the coffin for any sort of return to viable conservatism in the next twenty years.

Can anyone honestly say that John McCain appeals to the base? Who among us wants an open-border, anti-growth, tax-hiker claiming the Republican label? Why should we settle for the weakest Republican and one of the most easily defeated horses in this race? His military record is dubious, and has even gone so far as to work with the Brady folks. (See links below for more information)

Should John McCain get elected, the Republican Party will be fundamentally changed for all time. The platform will be composed of 'whatever it takes to get elected' and there will be no unified set of values to work toward. Democrats have nothing to fear from John McCain, he would rather work with Ted Kennedy or Russ Feingold anyhow. Taxes will rise, deficits will continue their out-of-control spiral, and our policy of pointless entanglement into foreign affairs will continue. Aside from alienating those within the Party, it gives Republicans a very bad name.

The obvious question is, would you rather see an Obama presidency? And my answer is without a doubt, yes. Either of these two clowns is gonna screw it up and screw it up hard, why not let a Democrat take the fall? In 2012, maybe the Republicans will have pulled their heads out and realized that electing weak Republicans, liberal Republicans, and phony Republicans got us into this mess, and it's probably not the way to get us out.

Links:
http://www.vvof.org/mccain_hides.htm
http://www.vdare.com/awall/080202_memo.htm
http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/art ... rticle=231
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/graham/080224
http://www.usvetdsp.com/mcianhro.htm
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/
http://offthegridgirls.wordpress.com/20 ... hn-mccain/
http://bconservatives.blogspot.com/2008 ... about.html
http://journals.aol.com/sazzylilsmartaz ... erica/2570
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/earlhopp ... eb08.shtml
http://www.gunowners.org/pres08/mccain.htm