SiteRing by Bravenet.com

Please support Soldiers' Angels and Project Valour-IT

« Desert Invasion - U.S.
Main
"Reform" bill would double immigration »

There's been much talk on the web recently about "Conservative Battle Fatigue" and giving up on the Republican party to "teach them a lesson".  See for instance Bruce Kesler's posts here, here and here, Captain Ed's posts  here and  here, and Dafydd's post here. I guess my attitude is still best summed up by Jim Geraghty's post here:

---

[...]

... Sure, right now the Republican base is furious over immigration and spending, independents are glum about Iraq and gas prices, and Democrats are livid about – well, just about everything. But will the first two groups get what they want under Speaker Pelosi & Chairman Kennedy? ...

[...]

---

When I emailed a link to that post to a small circle of friends, George "Rurik" Mellinger wrote back:

---

I've been arguing over this one for nearly a decade now - both with friends and with myself. I've always come down on the side that said 'vote fore the lesser evil' - even while criticizing the American Blacks for re-enslaving themselves to the Democrat Party. Well, how is Conservatives' loyalty voting for the people who use, screw and abandon them any different?

The Harriet Myers fiasco spin attempt was a kick in the butt for me. I am not going to forget that the GWB machine tried to argue "Since you voted for him, you're obligated to support him now on his nominations. If casting a vote becomes some sort of a contractual obligation for future support, henceforward, I'm gonna insist on knowing what I'm signing on for. And if I've got reservations, then sod the sucker!

If bad laws are enacted by "our" party, it will be very difficult to repeal them later, while repeal might be possible if those laws were enacted by "the enemy party". If passed by your own, they are legitimized in principle, and can and will be expanded later when the other guys regain power - with no more bases for opposition. This is how it went with Nixon's OSHA and EPA.

Lenin was terrible on economics and social engineering, but he did know political hardball, and there we may study him for tactics and strategy. And one of his most important principles was - At all costs you must retain control of your political organization, of your party. or you have nowhere from which to operate.

Passing the other guy's laws for him, even as half measures, merely means doing his dirty work, and taking on his burden of guilt for him. It proclaims "You're right and we're wrong but niggardly". How do you reverse after that?

In much of Europe the locals were able to resist the Nazis, if not actively at least passively,  because it was a foreign occupation, but Vichy France created a special problem because the country was auto-occupied.

As for me, I doubt whether I can vote yet again for yet another Vichy Republican.

-George

---

An interesting way of looking at things George, but I guess we're going to have to disagree for once. If someone could throw together a party consisting of Zell Miller, Jeff Sessions, Tom Tancredo, Joe Lieberman and some others cut from the same cloth, and if it looked like there was any chance at all of that party winning a national election, I'd jump right on their bandwagon. Unfortunately there isn't any realistic chance of that happening and I'm not going to help the likes of Reid, Pelosi, Kerry and Murtha take control of the country. I hope you'll reconsider your views some more before election day and vote to keep the only party worse than the Republicans out of power.

Posted by Bill Faith on May 14, 2006 at 11:07 PM in Rurik | Permalink

TrackBack

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Time to abandon the "Vichy Republicans"?:

» Interesting Stuff # 55 from Democracy Project
Time to abandon the "Vichy Republicans"? Incumbents Under Fire : Pennsylvania lawmakers may take a hike in more ways than one. Is it a portent for November? Books on Anti-Americanism: They Hate Us, They Really Hate Us (Some good... [Read More]

Tracked on May 15, 2006 12:46:27 AM

Comments

Note: I hate to have to do it but I'm turning on comment and trackback moderation. If you post a legitimate trackback or comment I'll do my best not to be too slow about approving it. If the only reason you're here is to advertise your porn, music, or penis enhancement site you can kiss my sweet ass.

---

Posted by: Richard Martindale | May 17, 2006 9:04:29 AM

Post a comment