It's About Conservative Principles, Stupid!

~Douglas V. Gibbs~


Human Nature dictates that it is more comfortable to be in a crisis and blame others, than to be in a comfort zone and look inward. People tend to not like to look at themselves. It is much easier to ignore the decisions one has made in their life, and blame others for their predicament instead.

I have accused the Liberal Left many times of ignoring human nature, and that is exactly what they do. However, human desire is hardly ignored by The Left. During this last election, the human desire for any change during a crisis, whether that crisis is real or not, was not ignored at all. During the Obama Campaign, the Democrats were banking on Human Desire to takes its course, and elect the next president on emotional impulse, rather than principles that best serves this nation.

Obama's Health Care plan took advantage of the human desire to have access to health care, no matter what the cost. However, Obama's Health Care Plan ignores human nature when it comes to the human tendency to take advantage (to the point of over doing it) of what seems to be a freebie, even if it is not from a taxation point of view. Barack Obama proclaims that his Universal-style government health plan is completely voluntary. If you have good health insurance, you can keep it. His plan only supplies government paid (taxpayer paid) health care to those who can't afford such plans (mostly illegal aliens). But, as his alleged birth state of Hawaii has proven, such a plan is doomed to fail.

Why did Hawaii's health plan, similar to Obama's in all ways except that it specifically targeted children, fail? Because those who already had health care plans dropped them for the government freebie, which in turn bankrupted the government plan, and after seven months Hawaii had to kill it and proclaim the plan to be a failure. Oh, the idea had a noble ring to it: "Hawaii lawmakers approved the health plan in 2007 as a way to ensure every child can get basic medical help. The Keiki (child) Care program aimed to cover every child from birth to 18 years old who didn't already have health insurance — mostly immigrants and members of lower-income families."

Sound familiar?

But hey, like with all of his other socialist ideas, Obama's attitude is that failed policies need not fail with his messiah-like touch involved. Obamaism will succeed because he will make it so.

And Obama said, "Let there be utopia, and there was."

As stated earlier, Obama and the rest of the liberals, do not take into account human nature when it comes to their programs - that is why their neo-socialism/neo-Marxism is doomed to fail, and by the end of the Obama presidency America will be begging for "Change."

The Democrats, however much they ignore human nature when it comes to governing, definitely recognized the potential of human desire when it came to campaigning.

"Crisis" is an important component to bring about change, and change - any change - can be instituted once humans believe they are caught up in a teeth gnashing crisis.

Knowing this, the Democrats created crisis when they launched their "hate Bush" campaign five years ago, and hammered away at it until they believed that most Americans felt that George W. Bush is the worst president this country has ever seen. Of course, like with any leader, I do not agree with many things Dubya has enacted, but having disagreements with a politician doesn't automatically make him the "worst ever" as a result. If that was the case, every president that has ever been elected (and one that wasn't) has been the worst ever. Heck, I even disagreed with Ronald Reagan a couple times!

Unfortunately, the Republican Leadership got sucked into the "crisis hysteria" as well, and began to believe there must be something wrong with the Republican Brand under the constant deluge of attacks, and often lies, from the Liberal Left Democrats. As a result, the GOP decided it would be prudent to move leftward and become a party of moderates (but sometimes call it conservatism hoping that some of the base may actually believe them).

The Republican Party, in that sense, began to think like the Democrats, and placed Party (and winning the next election) over and above their principles.

Conservatism isn't about power, control, big government, or any of the other things that seems to define today's liberalism or moderate Repubicans. Conservative Principles are about down-sizing the size of the federal government, practicing fiscal responsibility, supporting family values, providing a strong defense, encouraging individual rights and responsibility, keeping taxes and government spending down, and adhering to the United States Constitution.

How can the Republican Party proclaim to be a party of conservatives when government spending has skyrocketed under the control of a Republican President (that convinced many that he's a Conservative), earmarks by Congress just as rampant among the GOP as it is with the Democrats, and a national border left wide open during a time that providing a strong defense has become crucial? How can the Republicans claim to support family values when scandals like Senator Larry Craig's Bathroom Stall antics crop up, or politicians with an "R" after their name, like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, say things like "The fight for gay marriage is not over in California?"

The image above at the top of this article is the 2008 Election Map by counties. Looks like a Republican landslide, doesn't it? Fact is, the population centers elected Barack Obama for president, while the Conservatives of this nation stayed home and let it happen. As for the other voters, the Democrats saw that their "Bring the troops home from Iraq" plan was losing, and were able to make the economy the number one issue going into the election - and then turned Obama into a tax cutting conservative to win!

It turns out that people did not flock to the voting booths in record numbers as the mainstream media had expected, and by percentage the voter turnout was virtually the same as 2004. However, African-American and Hispanic Voter turnout was up, while White voter turnout was down. Registered Democrats voter turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008 while Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent.

In short, Republicans stayed home while non-Republicans flocked to their voting locations.

The question, then, is why?

The Republican Party erroneously put the party first. Winning the election became more important than sticking to Conservative Principles. A moderate, well known to buck the GOP and leap across the aisle to hang out with Democrats, was the Republican offering. The GOP has become more and more convinced that moving left will win elections for the party, rather than sticking to "believing in something." Therefore, the GOP is being seen by the voters as being a party that essentially stands for nothing. Many conservatives stayed home to punish the Republicans. Now, among the moderates, I am hearing rumblings of how they can brand the Republican Party to appeal to the younger crowd, and the minorities - - - that they must move further to the left in order to win the next election!

In a word, the Republican Party Leadership is now populated by idiots. You don't abandon your principles to gain a handful of votes from voters that have no principles of their own, or maintain leftist leanings. You stick to your principles, you proclaim your principles, and you explain how your conservative principles are good for all Americans. Then, when people understand that Conservatism is not the lies the left puts out, but the idea that not only should one group not be punished for being successful, but that all people should be encouraged to reach such success in this nation of opportunity, people will vote for the party because they wish to vote for the principles the party stands for.

The Republican Party lost this election because it turned its back on Conservative Principles, and allowed the Democrats to proclaim "crisis" successfully, and herd the people in the direction of Socialism. The Republican Leadership believes the lies put out by the left, and reacts to the ridiculous accusations put out by the left, and like cowards abandoned their Conservative Principles under the pressure.

If abandoning Conservative Principles is the recipe for success in elections, then show me the overwhelming success of moderates across the nation?

The two most popular governors in America, at this moment, are Republicans that cling to their Conservative Principles, Sarah Palin of Alaska and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. The last landslide election win by Republicans for President was Ronald Reagan in 1984 - a campaign run on strict Conservative Principles.

America is the greatest nation on this earth, not the nation to blame for the world's ills as the Democrats paint it out to be. Fiscal Conservatism, as it did in the 80's, can lead us back to economic prosperity. Peace can be maintained in the world with a strong American Military that sends fear down the spines of every dictator and madman abroad. Our moral compass can be righted again with legislation that protects the unborn, protects marriage, and continues to encourage families to be the backbone of this nation. But this can only be achieved if the Republican Party returns to its base. Politics should not be about winning elections and gaining or holding power. It's about Conservative Principles, and sticking to what is right. It is about doing what is best for this nation. It is about standing up for the American Way.

~Douglas V. Gibbs~