Conservatives: Don’t Leave GOP, Take it Over

by / on March 19, 2015 at 12:40 pm /
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Glenn_BeckThere’s been considerable discussion of Glenn Beck’s decision to leave the Republican Party. Over the past six years or so, a lot of us conservatives have thought about that a time or six (or six thousand).

After all, why would conservatives want to stick around in a party that only mouths conservative values, and then betrays those same values when it comes time for action?  Why would conservatives want to remain in a party whose leadership demonizes them and the documented values of the party as “fringe,” “kooks,” “extremist”, “nutty”, “racist”, “bigoted”, and so forth?

I dunno. Why would a patriotic American want to remain in a country led by an anti-American Marxist who loathes the principles that made this nation great and wants to subjugate its free people?  Maybe because we realize that our current leader is little more than a usurper, that he is NOT what this country is about, and that America is worth saving and restoring?  That’s why I remain here and remain in the fight.  That’s the same reason why I remain in the Republican Party and remain in the fight for it.

That’s why I, and some others, despite our sympathy for Beck’s disgust with the current state of the GOP, believe he is wrong for leaving and should have stayed around to fight for what is right.

George Rasley says at ConservativeHQ:

we conservatives are tantalizingly close achieving the goal Buckley, Goldwater and Reagan set before us – taking over the Republican Party.

We’ve got a deeper bench than ever before – from city councils, to state legislatures to the halls of Congress we have more limited government constitutional conservatives in office than ever before.

But what we don’t have – the one key element we are lacking is our people in the key offices that control the levers of power in Congress and the Republican National Committee.

Today, conservatives are like the Biblical Israelites who could not get to the Promised Land until that generation of failed/flawed leaders had passed from the scene. And, likewise, conservatives are not going to get to the political Promised Land until we get new principled leaders.

The day after the 2014 midterm election we ran an article on CHQ quoting our old friend the late M. Stanton “Stan” Evans who once said, “The problem with ‘our guys’ is that once they get to Washington they stop being ‘our guys’ and become ‘their guys’.”

It’s well-known that there’s no cure for Potomac fever except death, and likewise, there’s nothing that will cure a congressional Republican of being addicted to big-government except a primary.

As Mr. Viguerie said in TAKEOVER: It’s the primaries, stupid.

The most important thing for conservatives to be focused on between now and election 2016 is the Republican primaries.

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been trying to tell conservatives this since at least 2007 prior to the 2008 election. If we don’t fight tooth and nail to get conservatives on the ballot in the primary, we’re left with nothing but liberal and liberal-lite to vote for in the general election.

You have to decide for yourself, but as for me, I’m DONE with holding my nose and voting for liberal-lite out of fear and/or desperation. I’m for making it clear not only to other conservatives, but especially to the RINO sellouts in my party that if you insist on throwing your money, your buzz and all your support behind gutless betrayers who have proven they sell out our party’s documented values, you WON’T get my support for them in the general election.

So if you feel save in alienating me (and a growing number of conservatives who refuse to prop you up in your corruption anymore), then go ahead, ram a liberal-lite sellout down our throats…and run the risk of watching him lose. Because Democrats won’t vote for him, and a growing number of conservatives won’t vote for him. If you think you can win without the hard-core Left and without the Right, and pull off victory with only the fence-straddling fakes and those you can dupe into supporting the fence-straddlers, go for it. We now have several presidential elections that PROVE you’ll lose, and as more conservatives learn about your betrayals and get fed up at the state and local level, you’re going to lose more there, too.

So, Mr. Beck, I hope you change your mind and come on back. In fact, if a lot of folks who have left the GOP over the last 10 years or more because they were disgusted at the Leftward tilt it has taken…if they were to come back, odds are we’d have enough people to throw out these usurping frauds and restore our party to the conservative values it is on record as standing for.

What do you say?  Shall we put our hand to the plow and make a difference in 2016 by nominating a real Republican presidential candidate in the primary, as well as real Republicans in all other races to throw out the pretenders who are squandering our legacy of freedom and prosperity?

I’m in. How about you?

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Bob Ellis has been the owner of media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran, a political reporter and commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for over 20 years. He was a founding member and board member of the Tea Party groups Citizens for Liberty and the South Dakota Tea Party Alliance. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.
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  • AC700

    Lots of dirty tactics to keep the true conservative out or quiet when they get in….. Cruz is more the exception and has been a blessed nightmare on the est. But can’t be done - new party time - I’m with Beck!

  • retiredday

    The reasoning at the beginning of this article is flawed — comparing leaving a political party to leaving the USA. I’m not so cavalier about the option of moving to another country. Where can anyone find a safe haven for true conservatism? That really isn’t an option.

    In spirit, I agree with wanting to win the Republican party over to conservative values. Regrettably, it does not follow that supporting Republicans will cause the Republican Party to adopt conservative principles.

    While there are a few individual exceptions, the Republican Party leadership is not so much an aggregate of politicians representing the principled views of their constituents, as they are a power block who sees themselves as a ruling class. They’re main focus is maintaining the status quo — a balancing act between themselves and their Democrat counterparts. Add to that, that most politicians at the federal level are globalists. So much for nationalism.

    Conservatives have become so disenfranchised that even defining conservatism is problematic. Thank you, Mr. I’m a “compassionate conservative”. But true conservatives have two choices: put your hope in the power of a big, political machine, or put your hope in the power of conservative principles.

    The Republican Party refuses to stand on conservative principles. Therefore, I will not support them. The Constitution Party is all about conservative principles. Therefore I will support them. Mine is a principled stand. And if you look at our Constitution, you will see it is principled design for the self-governance of a principled citizenry.

    If every dissatisfied conservative Republican were to go over to the Constitution Party, I believe that would suddenly become the most influential party in the country. Not the Republicans. Not the Democrats. But that probably won’t happen because conservatives have been fooled — like everyone else — into focusing on issue-based politics. Principles don’t mean much anymore.

    • http://www.americanclarion.com/ Bob Ellis

      You’re absolutely right that the GOP leadership/establishment sees themselves as just another flavor of the ruling class. They are almost as corrupt and immoral as the out-of-the-closet Democrats. Hell will freeze over before I support any of them again, even out of desperation.

      But when I encourage conservatives to not leave the GOP and to support the GOP, I’m not asking them to support the corrupt leadership, or even the party in general (if the party is staking out a wrong position, it shouldn’t be supported). The principles of the party (as seen in the platform) remain sound and fully conservative, just as American principles remain sound while it is the LEADERS who are the problem.

      What I AM asking conservatives to do is to get fully engaged with the GOP again and TAKE IT OVER. To oppose at every step those corrupt RINOs who are helping the enemy to pass liberal legislation and helping the enemy oppose conservatives and conservatism.

      Yes, if all conservatives left the GOP and went over to the Constitution Party, that party could quickly gain ascendency, then power, then start returning America to greatness.

      The only problem is, most conservatives won’t do that. A few will (there are less than 1,000 registered members of the Constitution Party in my state), but most will either stay in the GOP and fight for its soul, or will tune out altogether. Without some switch to flip to make all conservatives go over to the CP en masse, I’m afraid we’ll be forefeiting any influence we still have in the GOP…and at the same time, not bring enough to the CP to help things at all.

      There remains too much infrastructure and momentum to build for the CP…and too much remaining in the GOP to abandon to the Left. It would be immeasurably easier to take over the GOP than to stoke the ranks and the engine of the CP.

      The day may come where the GOP establishment so alienates conservatives that most will have no choice but to leave the GOP in disgust. But I don’t believe that day is anywhere close, and until the scales shift a LOT, we (and the country) would be much better off throwing off the yoke of liberal leadership in OUR party. Unfortunately, too many of us would rather b**** that it isn’t possible than to put the sweat equity into making it happen.

      • retiredday

        As usual, you make some excellent points. I think apathy and being self-absorbed has increased non-participation of the electorate and dependency on leaders who don’t share our values and aren’t open to consider or respect them.

        Increasingly Americans are abandoning their civic duties of citizenship and wanting government to take care of everything. It’s killing our traditional American political process.

        • http://www.americanclarion.com/ Bob Ellis

          Too true. Just like owning a car, anyone who wants freedom had better be prepared to maintenance it, or they won’t have it for long.

  • AC700

    Wherever Ted Cruz goes I will follow….. Hes the most sincere Conservative politician willing to be this high profile since I’ve been paying attention

    • AC700

      As long as Cruz follows principles over party…. I’m sure he will bail if he’s legit

      • AC700

        Unless the GOP does a 360…. But if they fold on Ocare, amnesty & SSM….. What good are they??? Something drastic has to go down now! Do or die…. Let’s put major pressure on, if they don’t listen we should all leave together!

  • franklinb23

    I’m not sure Reagan or Goldwater would be at home with today’s “conservatives”. Goldwater was a libertarian on social issues (including abortion), and he was no friend of Jerry Falwell when his Moral Majority rose to prominence. However, he opposed the Civil Rights Act of 64 as an intrusion on states rights.

    In 1978, Ronald Reagan wrote an op-ed expressing his opposition to the California “Briggs Initiative” (which would have barred gays from teaching in public schools). Reagan also signed into law the act that brought no-fault divorce to California (which was opposed by the National Organization of Women).

    Sure, both Goldwater and Reagan were staunch anti-communists, but they would most likely be deemed far too liberal on social issues.

    Or perhaps I misread this column’s one-liner about both these men …

    • http://www.americanclarion.com/ Bob Ellis

      Goldwater definitely was more libertarian in bent than Reagan. I can’t speak to Reagan’s opposition to the Briggs Initiative (no first hand knowledge), but knowing what I do of Reagan (I remember both terms very well, and served in the military under him in most of his second term, as well as have read most of the best biographies about him), I can pretty safely say that he would have in no way, shape, form or fashion have supported anything remotely like the homosexual agenda that has played out in America over the past 10-15 years.

      As for no-fault divorce, Reagan later admitted that signing that bill was one of his greatest regrets.

      Some good biographies on Reagan (in addition to Edmund Morris’ “Dutch”) that would shed light on how conservative Reagan was socially are Peggy Noonan’s “When Character was King” and “God and Ronald Reagan” by Paul Kengor. I have them all in my library and highly recommend them.

      The oft-repeated Leftist lie that Reagan wasn’t conservative enough for today’s conservatives is just that; a 100% unadulterated LIE designed to attempt to discredit conservatism.

      • http://www.americanclarion.com/ Bob Ellis

        There’s another interesting aspect to comparing conservatives of yesteryear to conservatives of today, and it is related to the statement I made earlier about Reagan’s regret over signing no-fault divorce in California.

        It’s one thing to be optimistic and trusting at one point in your life, and quite another to have that same optimism and trust later in life…after such optimism and trust have been dashed on the rocks of reality and betrayal.

        Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, we have seen so, so many of the hopes, claims and promises of the Left come to utter ruin (the war on poverty, the Great Society, all the lofty aspirations of Marxist rhetoric, all the promises of the sexual revolution, etc.). All of these that sounded SO good at the time have been revealed to be morally and intellectually bankrupt-not just by academic logic, but by real-word EXPERIENCE-and have left a long trail of damaged and broken lives in their wake to prove what bad ideas they were.

        Put another way, it’s one thing to sign onto an idea when you don’t know better; it’s quite another to sign on again to that idea after it’s been PROVEN to be a bad idea.

        Just as Reagan regretted having signed no-fault divorce, somehow I suspect that if he could see the modern “America” where federal courts are mandating counterfeit marriage on states that have specifically and explicitly rejected it, bureaucrats are forcing Christian businesses to violate their consciences, and religious liberty is poised to become a contemptible thing of the past…Reagan would probably look back on the Briggs Initiative as having been amazingly prescient in attempting to nip a plague in the bud.

        • AJCastellitto

          If Reagan was running today, we conservatives would embrace him 100%!!!!!!!