Job, I’m Not. My Patience Has Run Out. … J. D. Longstreet

Job, I’m Not. My Patience Has Run Out.
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Exactly one week after the election, on the morning of Tuesday November 13th, 2012, I ceased being a Republican.

It was a decision I had wrestled with since, at least, 2004. It was, for me, a gut-wrenching decision. And it was long overdue.

At this point, allow me to assure you that I remain a CONSERVATIVE, albeit, a conservative without a political party. I am a social, fiscal, religious, political, and, well, you name it — and I am that type of conservative. I have mentioned before that I believe I entered the world hard-wired as a conservative. It seems to be my nature.

Having registered the first time as a republican on my 21st birthday, I have been active in the life of the party for well over fifty years. And after the GOP — once again — demonstrated its unparalleled talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on November 6th, I decided enough is enough. My patience has simply run out. Half a century is, I believe, long enough for the party to get itself together, if there was any chance at all that it would. Job, I am NOT.

I am a political junkie and junkies of all kinds must eventually face up to their problem and correct it, or they spiral into oblivion — or cease to exist. Since neither of those options was attractive to me, I chose to confront my problem — head-on — and correct it, or, at least, do what I could to extract myself from the seemingly ceaseless downward spiral of the Republican Party.

I take issue with those reports in the press as well as comments by other opinion writers concerning the war within the Republican Party. So far as I have been able to determine, the “war” between the liberal/moderate faction and the conservative faction of the GOP simply does not exist. It has been my observation over the years that it is extremely difficult to engage in a fight when the other pugilist refuses to do combat.

Don’t misunderstand now. The conservative faction within the GOP would love a fight to determine the leadership and direction of the party. However, the blue-bloods and the country club set in the hierarchy of the party refuses to come out and fight. They smugly sit tight — holding the reins of power — and deny the reality around them, the reality that the GOP is dying on the vine, withering up and about to blow away.

The high “muckity-mucks” of the party have insisted on offering up candidates for national office that have roughly the chance of a snowball in hell — in the middle of August — of winning in a no-holds-barred mud-slinging, in your face, roll-in-the-gutter, dog fight of which the democrats are past masters.

That leaves the conservatives in the party absolutely frustrated, angry, depressed, disappointed, and bewildered.

And they do it every election.

You can rest assured, even today, that come the 2016 presidential campaign, the GOP will field a list of limp “warmed-over” candidates, whose only hope of victory is the off-chance that the democrats will field an even worse group of candidates. That almost never happens.

Even when the dems run out a less than acceptable candidate, they actually fight like hell, go to the wall, get toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball, roll in the mud and gore, and hope that plain ole force-of-will pushes their candidate across the finish line to victory. More often than I care to remember — it has worked.

I am now, and always have been, a conservative republican — NOT a republican conservative. I’m conservative FIRST.

Look. As many conservatives as there are in the United States, one would think a viable Conservative Party could be crafted which could challenge the current Democratic and Republican Parties. Oh, there are a host of conservative political parties in existence around the fringes of the political playing field of America.

Yes, I am aware that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have, over time, made it as difficult as possible for the formation of a conservative party that could present a viable challenge to their hold on power. Just getting a new party on the ballot in most states is darn near impossible.

America is in shambles and neither of the political parties in power seem to really be concerned about it. While America races toward the precipice they are busy playing games of “gotcha.”

It is said that we deserve the government we get. Honestly, I can’t say that I disagree with that sentiment. See, we American voters brought all these “troubles” upon ourselves. It is we who voted the charlatans into office and it is we who rewarded their bad behavior with additional time in office to wreak even more havoc on our once fair land. Yes, I am saying it, flat out. If you want to see the cause of the problems in America today — you have only to look in the nearest mirror. And yes, I accept my share of the blame, as well.

Unfortunately, in life there is no “redo” button or “undo” button, for that matter. Everything we do has consequences — especially elections.

Democracy is a wonderful thing. It is also an extremely dangerous thing. Of all the bad forms of government on earth democracy is quite likely the least bad. But it is still bad. For a democracy to work optimally, it must be populated by moral, educated, and, I would add, “God-fearing” people. America’s constitution and America’s government were both designed for a moral people. Compromise the people’s morality, compromise the people’s education, and compromise the people’s belief in and reliance upon their God, and that democracy WILL fail. It will turn on the people and devour them and their nation.

We are seeing the scenario described in the preceding paragraph play out in America today. All three, morality, education and faith have ALL been compromised in America and we now find ourselves in an adversarial relationship with our own government.

My friend, Alan Caruba, said recently that America committed suicide on November 6th,2012. I believe he was correct in that assessment. That’s what all those secession petitions are about. For the thousands upon thousands of Americans signing those petitions, there are millions more who share the belief that our constitutional representative republic has failed and they want a chance to start over on a smaller scale beginning with their own state(s) many of whom, I would expect, would adopt the original US Constitution for their “new” country.

It is said that state sovereignty died at Appomattox, Virginia in April of 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to U. S. Grant of the Union Army. That may well be true, but I believe the sovereignty of the American individual remains and more and more of my fellow citizens are discovering their personal sovereignty is now under attack from a government they feel has betrayed them and their constitution.

I would not be too hasty in ridiculing the efforts of those petitioners as history may record them as the opening salvos of another struggle for freedom within America. Only time will tell.

After considering all the above, I felt I had no choice, if I wished to be true to myself and my core beliefs, but to emerge from the trees so I could, indeed, survey the forest. And the forest, I must say, is foreboding.

So, I begin anew, in the early winter months of my life, as an Independent voter.

© J. D. Longstreet

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Republican Regrets and Revisions … Alan Caruba

Republican Regrets and Revisions

By Alan Caruba

Like a lot of conservatives, I have been thinking about what went wrong in the recent election. All my assumptions were wrong and, sadly, even though I advocated for Mitt Romney early on, he turned out to be a disappointment as a candidate.

Remember, though, the other choices we were offered. Rick Santorum? Newt Gingrich? Michelle Bachmann? Herman Cain? Et cetera! The leadership of the RNC could be found hiding in the bathroom during the primaries.

I liked Romney because he had strong credentials in venture capitalism and had a record of success in the world of business. I thought, then and now, that’s what the nation needed to avoid financial failure. I dismissed his history of “flip-flopping” because, well, that’s what politicians do. Even so, he had a good record of bipartisan success with the Massachusetts legislature. He also had “Romneycare” and I didn’t like that at all.

In the end, I was wrong and—this may not make any sense at all—every time I saw Romney receive applause or end a speech he had this sappy smile on his face that seemed to say “What a good little boy I am.” It bothered me. Okay, he also had a broad smile, too. Jimmy Carter got elected with his and the voter reaction to Watergate. George W. Bush smiled all the time and I had the feeling he really liked being President. The best smile of all was Ronald Reagan’s. It came from the heart.

Reagan’s dead. Get over it. The 1980s were a long and very different time ago.

Over the years the values of the Republican Party pretty much matched my own. However, I began to wonder if both myself and fellow conservatives were going overboard on a number of issues This was confirmed by a Wall Street Journal commentary by Bret Stephens on November 12. He articulated a lot of doubts I have had for a long time regarding the issues to which I and other conservatives have long been wedded.

For example, you can’t just tell twelve million illegal Mexicans and other Hispanics to go home. You can’t tell the children of illegals to leave the nation into which they were born. Then there’s the practical problem of some 2,000 miles of a mutual border. Immigrants know and we should know they are happier here. Amnesty now seems an appropriate response. We need to help them transition them into red-white-and-blue Americans and, by most reports, they do share conservative values. They just don’t like the way Republicans have been talking about them for a long time.

Over the years I have been critical of the demands of just three percent of the population, the gay, lesbian and transgendered. I have always believed that what two people do in a bedroom together is their own business, not mine. That said, I have opposed the propagandistic efforts of this minority to insist on full acceptance of their sexual preference as “normal.” It is nowhere normal in nature. But if they want to get married, let them. We should heterosexuals be the only ones who have second thoughts after the wedding and honeymoon?

The Republican Party has, it would appear, turned off a lot of single women. The married ones seem to like it. As someone who has never understood women, I am the last person to comment on this, but I still don’t understand why I am expected to pay for their contraceptives.

The big divide—one that the Democrats and Obama capitalized upon—is between those without wealth and those with it. As Romney inelegantly noted in a closed door fund raiser, a lot of Americans don’t pay any taxes and a lot of Americans receive all manner of benefits from the government such as unemployment compensation and food stamps.

As for Social Security and Medicare, those of us who have paid into these two programs have every right to expect to receive a check or help paying insane medical bills. Both programs, however, are in need of reform to reflect the changing demographics of aging Americans.

There were so many woman and people of color on the convention platform of the Republican Party I still don’t understand why anyone thinks the party likes neither of these groups. Blacks, however, have been wedded to the Democratic Party despite the fact that history documents that it has always been Republicans that led the fight for the abolition of slavery and for enfranchisement.

The Democrats fought granting any real equality for a hundred years passed the end of the Civil War. Well, there have been laws on the books now since the 1960s and, while there are individual blacks who have climbed the ladder of success through education and hard work, there are far too many who haven’t. Their crime rates, school drop-out rates, and fatherless children are all indicators of serious problems within the black population.

Conservatives have been obsessed with abortion for, well, forever. Simply said it is the murder of a human life. Frankly, I can’t get around this one. It is immoral. I am reluctant, however, to demand that it be made illegal again. I think we have come too far from the days when it was. In the end, I come down on the side of the women that must make the decision. It’s their body, not mine. Their morals, not mine. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 54% percent of Americans now identify themselves as pro-choice.

To end or at least deter more voter fraud, I want everyone who wants to vote to show a valid ID. You have to do it for a lot of things of lesser importance, so let’s make it a federal law.

I expect to see the Middle East remain a volatile basket case and I expect Israel to blow the hell out of Iran’s nuclear facilities and military bases. That will be fun to watch. If Obama does nothing to help defend its only real ally in the Middle East a lot of people will notice. As for Muslims in America, it’s time to find a nice church to attend.

I want conservatives/Republicans to hang the present financial “fiscal cliff”, the taxes to follow, and Obamacare around Obama’s neck like a noose.

That’s what I want, but it’s not what I think will happen. I expect Republicans in Congress to cave and try to put a happy face on it.

A lot of people are going to be very unhappy with having their taxes go through the roof along with the unemployment numbers, The Obama war on energy and a lot of environmental claptrap being shoved down their throats is a big turnoff. Events, too, may make Americans realize how reductions in our military have put the nation at risk. A lot of others will feel creepy knowing that an Orwellian future of Big Brother is coming true.

Finally, there’s a midterm election coming in two years and, if it is anything like 2010, the Democrats will take a hell of a beating.

This is what happens when an election comes along and slaps you upside the head and makes you think about what you’re thinking about.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

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Alan Caruba’s commentaries are posted daily at “Warning Signs” and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 2 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.