American Republic Online

The present presidential campaigns have gotten me thinking.  As I’ve pointed out before, parts of the current campaigns remind me a lot of former elections, just reversed.  The Republican candidates (now just McCain) have made their potential opponent a key part of their campaign(s): i.e., Hillary Clinton.  In 2004 we heard, “vote for me, I’m not Bush,” now we are hearing “vote for me, I’m not Hillary.”  I find it quite interesting that each party has been able to rally support based upon hatred of another.  Let me reiterate what I’ve said before, I want to vote for someone, not against another.  I want my vote to be a statement that affirms something, not just out of disagreement of something else.  These rallying cries carry little more significance for me than “vote for me, I don’t smell like poo.”   “Well, in that case, you got it.  We wouldn’t want the White House to smell icky.”

Joking aside, it brings to light what is becoming more and more apparent to me.  Liberalism truly is based more upon emotional decisions, as opposed to rational ones.  Conservatism is the opposite: relying more on rationality than emotion.  That is why Kerry (yeah, remember him, he served in Vietnam?) was able to create so much support based upon such a ridiculous premise.  This is also why I believe if McCain relies upon a similar argument, he’ll lose come November.

Don’t get me wrong, Clinton is a strong rallying point for Republicans, and will produce a large amount of reverse support, just not as much as Bush did for Kerry.  This raises another point: is the Republican Party really the party of conservatives?  Or has it degraded too much into just another populist party, only from a different angle or flavor?  (By the way, what will McCain say if Obama wins the nomination?)

These questions lead us to another question: what about this whole issue of a divided Republican Party?  The media has been harping on this for a couple weeks now: “Will John McCain be able to unite the party?”  Have they been reading their own stories?  From all appearances, it looks to me like Republicans are lining up behind him.  Every candidate that has bowed out as put their support behind McCain: Thompson, Guiliani, Romney.  Even the Governator and former president Bush are backing him.  The party is uniting behind his candidacy.  Where the media is missing the point is in their assumption that Republicans and conservatives are synonymous, or, that conservatives only/always back Republicans.  I’m not sure this has always been the case, and it appears to not be currently.

To witness a party divided, look to the left.  They have already tied their hands by wondering out loud if the country is more sexist or racist.  Will they not decide that for us before November?  Do liberals hate women or blacks more?  As of now, it looks pretty evenly distributed.  To be sure, whether the sexists or racists prevail, they will line up behind their candidate as well.  I merely point out that the media reports that yet another Republican leader has voiced support of McCain and in the next sentence wonders if he can reach out to conservatives, but never wonder if the result of the Democrats’ sexism or racism will be able to reach out to liberals.  And therein lies a subtle distinction, and growing reality.  Democrat has pretty much come to equal liberal, but Republican does not necessarily mean conservative.

A while ago I offered the prediction that the Democrat Party would fracture.  It appears I may need to reverse that prediction.