Ripping The Republican Big Tent Apart

FIFTY YEARS ago the US conservative movement began in a fusion between Burkean conservatives and libertarian conservatives. In the late Sixties they were joined by the “mugged by reality” neoconservatives.

Then in the 1970s the Supreme Court created the Christian Right with Roe v. Wade and added social conservatives to the movement.

These different factions in the conservative movement have not always got along, but they have learned to live with each other and to respect each other’s agenda. The poster boy for this is Rush Limbaugh. Divorced several times, he is a success-oriented conservative; yet he is respectful towards social conservatives and he is pro-life.

Having learned to live with each over the years many of us were shocked when John McCain ran for president against the social conservatives in 2000. Why would anyone want to do that, we wondered? It’s become clear, in the years since, that McCain is a national security conservative only, and just doesn’t understand, and doesn’t want to understand the other factions of the movement.

The initial first tier candidates for 2008—Giuliani, Romney, Thompson—are all fusion candidates. They may target their appeal to one faction or another, but they do not try to split the conservative movement.

But insurgents like Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee are splitters. Ron Paul is trying to create a divide between libertarians and the rest of the conservative movement and Mike Huckabee is trying to create a divide between evangelical conservatives and the rest of the conservative movement. And then there is John McCain, who still wants to split off national security conservatives from the rest of the movement.

I’m rooting for one of the uniters to win. And I hope that all of the dividers fail. Our conservative movement needs to grow. It needs to be ready and welcoming when the next troop of Americans is cast out into the political wilderness by the liberal establishment.

The various wings of the movement have broadly similar goals and the particular concerns of each faction informs and inspires the others.

We don’t want no stinkin’ dividers.

Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

Comments:

Posted by: Craig on 12/19/07 11:24pm

I agree, a divided conservative movement can't win in this media climate. Ron Paul has a lot of good things to say but he will never have the party behind him and neither will McCain. Huckabee, I beg you, please go away! What we don't need is a minister right now, we need a manager. The rest of the Republican hopefuls are imperfect but are all miles ahead of any Dem...

Posted by: Pete on 12/19/07 10:10pm

Very good analysis of the candidates. Ron Paul can be a particular danger to the Republicans this year. He has raised a decent amount of money and has gotten good exposure in the debates, etc., both of which he can use to great effect in a third party run after he is defeated in the primaries. After all, Paul did run for the presidency as a libertarian in 1988 -- what's to say he won't do it again. If he does, he'll probably get 5 to 7% of the vote, enough to ensure a Dem victory.