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The Lesser of Two Evils
Craig BedwardThere is an attitude among conservatives that I find increasingly frustrating. It says something like "You have to vote for him because if you don't it is just like voting for the other guy and we sure don't want him in office. It's the lesser of two evils."
The problem is, even if you vote for the "lesser" evil, you are still casting your vote in favor of evil. Why is it that we continue to accept the idea that we must vote for the "lesser evil" that is presented to us by the Republican establishment?
The idea is often taken one step further to suggest that if the Democrat wins it is the fault of the unfaithful or uncommitted Republicans who didn't vote for the "lesser evil" like good little Republican drones. Nonsense! If these "lesser evil" candidates keep failing, it is the fault of the Republican party for offering the wrong candidate. And it is the fault of the candidate for being evil.
The rallying cry continues to be "big tent", which, if you really break it down means "we are going for broad appeal by standing for as little as we can get away with just so long as we gain power." It is least-common-denominator politics. And then we are told if we don't come under their tent, we are to blame when it collapses.
The only thing this seems to do really effectively is to divide social conservatives. Unless we can stand together, we will not have a significant impact on the Republican party. And the only thing on which social conservatives can stand together are the very moral issues that are the first things banned from the "big tent."
In the last Presidential election cycle, many conservative leaders were harping on the issue of the next President appointing Supreme Court Justices and how we had better make sure we had a Republican in there so he could appoint some good ones. Six of the justices on the Supreme court responsible for the Roe vs. Wade decision were appointed by Republican Presidents (see Sen. Bob Smith's speech resigning from the Republican party). What makes us think a Republican will make the right choice this time?
Republicans appear to have more desire for political power than for actually standing for something. Party leaders favor having no backbone to the fear that someone may feel unwelcome in the tent. But it is impossible to have a party that is worth anything if we can't agree on our basic principles. And you have to state those principles first. They are the corner posts that hold up the tent. Determine what they are, pitch the tent, and let in those that like it. And above all, don't let in those whose main purpose is to kick out your corner posts. You'll end up with a big tent all right, a big flat tent.