Republican Civil War

                Skirmishes of a Republican civil war continue to take place between the GOP Establishment and conservative Republicans, a “war for the soul of the party.”  Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) led a Tea Party effort to defund – or to at least delay – Obamacare in a budget standoff in October.  Barack Obama and Democrats shut the government down in an effort to protect the program.  When the Tea Party efforts were crushed and political damage began piling up for Republicans, long-time GOP Establishment party leaders lined up to chastise their Tea-Party colleagues for their “losing strategy.”  Among those piling on was Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who said, “Let’s face it:  it was not a good maneuver.” 

                Then the Obamacare roll out proved disastrous to the Democrats and put them on the ropes.  Even though Republicans could use the Obamacare fiasco to win big in November 2014, Establishment Republicans continue to fight their conservative base for control of the party even though they should be focusing on beating the Democrats.  Why are they willing to destroy their party rather than work with their conservative base?  The reason is certainly not a desire to do what is best for our nation.

                Leading the battle against the Tea Party are two well-known organizations:  American Crossroads Super PAC led by Karl Rove and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  These organizations claim to be conservative, but they apparently despise the conservative movement.  These are the same organizations that brought in moderates John McCain and Mitt Romney to be the GOP presidential candidates.

                Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator  called the GOP Establishment “socialists” and said that filling Washington with Establishment Republicans will not make any difference.  “The Republican Party can control every last seat in Congress after 2014 and the White House in 2016 – and it will not make a lick of difference.  Because just as occurred when Rove was a man with clout in the White House and John Boehner was on an earlier ladder of the GOP House leadership passing No Child Left Behind with Teddy Kennedy – the Washington GOP Establishment will do everything they can to fight efforts to limit the size and growth of the federal government.

                “Why is this?  The answer is as simple as it is blunt.  Follow the money.

                “The major industry – the trough, if you will – in Washington, D.C., is the big, bloated federal government.

                “And groups like the US Chamber of Commerce wallow in this trough….”

                Conservative talk show host Mark Levin discussed the US Chamber of Commerce on his radio show, and his comments were reported by James Beattie:  “We need to shake up that place like it’s never been shaken before.  And the problem with groups like the United States Chamber of Commerce is they’re not conservative, they’re about business.  They’re not about capitalism, they’re about cronyism.  The reason there is a United States Chamber of Commerce is so they can get Congress to cut deals for them, or the White House to cut deals for them, or the bureaucracy to cut deals for them.  That’s what they’re there for.”

                Levin continued his comments:  “They’re part of the problem.  The idea that big companies are necessarily conservative is absurd.  Who do you think funds the left?  Who do you think funds the Democrat Party?  Or, all their little organizations?  Big businesses do.  Corporatists do.  They’re trying to buy favors.  That’s what they do.  So, you have to be discerning.  There are some good businesses and there’s some bad businesses.  Just like there’s some good people and some bad people.  Some good politicians and some bad politicians.”

                ABC news reported in the middle of December 2013:  “Years of growing friction between the Republican Party leaders and its Tea Party faction has erupted into what one conservative said today was `full-scale civil war.’”

                House Speaker John Boehner, “repeatedly thwarted by Tea Party revolts in recent years,” showed his frustration with Tea Party activists.  “Well, frankly, I think they’re misleading their followers.  I think they’re pushing our members in places where they don’t want to be.  And frankly, I just think that they’ve lost all credibility.”

                Tea Party conservatives believe their conservative leaders in Washington betrayed them.  “It’s just another example of D.C. elitism.  They think they know what’s best for the rest of the country and they want us to just sit down and shut up,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told ABC News.

                I am a member of the Republican Party who is conservative but not officially a member of a Tea Party.  I have lost confidence in the Republican leaders in Washington because they tell us they are for something and then vote against it.  Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is guilty of doing this very thing so often that she might as well be a Democrat!  Conservatives fight for conservative principles just to see their fellow Republicans and leaders in Congress betray them.  If all the Republican Senators had stood with Senators Cruz and Lee, they might have been able to stop Obamacare before millions of Americans lost their health insurance.  If Republicans had stood tall and unitedly against any law signed by Barack Obama, Americans would have more liberty today!

                I believe strongly that we must weed out the Establishment Republicans if we are to save our nation.  I believe that the time has come to stop supporting politicians like John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, John McCain, etc.  They are progressives who believe in big government.  They claim to have conservative principles when they seek re-election, but they do not vote conservatively.  Instead of doing what is best for the United States, they seem to be more interested in their own financial situation.  We must learn to “follow the money” in order to know who can be trusted as well as who cannot.

                I entered into this Republican civil war by putting my money where my mouth is.  I refuse to send money to the Republican Party because the party does not support conservative efforts.  My money goes to organizations such as The Heritage Foundation, organizations that respect and support conservative principles and the US Constitution.  I have in the process of determining which political candidates are truly conservative.  When I learn where I can put my trust, I will also give them financial and physical support in their campaigns.  This year I will not only be working against Mark Begich, but I will be working to elect a conservative Senator in his place.  I hope other Alaskans will join me in this effort.

                The Republican civil war is not a war that conservatives can sit out.   When liberals, progressive and socialist ideas are measured against conservative principles, conservatives always win.  This is why liberals and progressives lie to us.  They cannot tell us who they really are and what their real plans are because they know they would lose.  We all must enter into the battles and support our fellow conservatives.  We must stand immovable on conservative principles.