The Folly of a Conservative Third Party

Southern Appeal has a good post on this at The folly of chasing the third party dream. Also as the comments point out why not just get involved in the GOP and try to get your views expressed more. That is really not hard. Which makes me think that except for the diehards most of what I hear about this on the net is just folks typing their pontifications.

What a Party meeting? I got to go deer hunting.

That being said numerous times I have said the main problem with this is conservatives have of late been intolerant of discussion with other conservatives. While it is easy to talk about lets say Senator Specter as a RINO( which means in their view not conservative enough) this term is being thrown out all the time as to other conservatives.

You have at the least these conservative strains:
Paleo Conservatives
Libertarian Conservatives
Crunchy Con Conservatives
Neo Con Conservatives
Social Conservatives
Fiscal Conservatives

These groups often think the other groups are faux conservatives and if they were just gone it would be election victory after election victory. The discussion among these groups among themselves is often not very civil.

How would a Conservative party handle this? When I see people like Mike Huckabee or Lindsey Graham or John McCain called faux conservatives I just shake my head.

With McCain I see this STILL going on. People seem not to have been able to come to grips that yes a lot of actual conservatives liked him. If they did not he would not have been able to rise from the media proclaimed dead of August 2008. Looking at a lot of areas where McCain got votes these are not exactly Liberal Republican bastions.

The same with Huckabee. I know a lot of conservatives that think like Huckabee. I don't think they got the memo they have been deemed Faux Conservatives by the internet talking heads. Perhaps if you wish to show all these people the door you need to do it. It would be honest at the very least.

The problem that people seem to miss is that large groups of conservatives agree with them. This gets missed. It is sort of like the whole gay marriage debate. It appears a lot more people oppose gay marriage than we have been led to believe. Why is this? Perhaps it is because most people have learned to shut up because they are tired of being called bigoted. In the "who is the real conservative case" I expect a good many people have just decided it not worth it to get into this war either and just be quiet.

You are just not excommunicating these particular office hopefuls from the movement but their supporters. Soon one has 3 or 4 conservative parties that can hold their Convention in a telephone booth.

If I saw more tolerance and discussion among these conservative factions heck maybe a new conservative party would have a chance. But too often when a new issue comes up people take their positions quickly and then the charges of RINO begin. What are they saying on Hot Air? That must be the conservative position.

I believe in the old fashion solution Have our fight and discussions in the GOP primary. If your ideas are good then the people will respond. Then we all back the person that wins for the general.