Posted by
JayPeriod on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 2:36:04 PM
The Republican Party was founded to be the party that would oppose slavery. They have stood on the right side of the Civil Rights movement and abortion, as well. Conservatives have always taken the higher moral road, realizing that a nation founded and governed by moral people will long outlive one living by an "if it feels good, do it" philosophy.
Morals generally fall into the social issues of political campaigns. While Southern Democrats may have once stood on the side of higher moral standards, i.e. Zell Miller and crowd, the mainstream of the liberal movement has placed experience, relativism and expression at the core of its beliefs. The "free-love", sexual revolution of the '60s opened a floodgate of moral ambiguity that is leading our great nation down a path that has led other nations to their downfall.
There has been much outrage over recent statements by Dr. James Dobson regarding a possible third-party entry into next years Presidential election. He has spoken out about the need for the Republican party to keep with its historical moral positions. When we have candidates who are willing to abandon those principals, no one should be surprised that the conservative base is so willing to throw the whole party under the bus.
It seems easy to call for the party to ease up on its moral stance. We can say that more and more Americans want a more "open" society. There may be some small truth to that, but that should not change the party and its core beliefs. Once we start down that slippery slope, there is no way back up.
Remember, this is not about which party is right or wrong, which party is better. Americans don't care which party they vote for. They want the party who shares their values and those values are conservative. Once a party has lost that trust, the people will look for who holds those values. We need look no further back than the mid-term elections of 2006, when Democrats proclaimed strong conservative values and displayed the lack thereof in the Republican party.