March 9, 2009

A lesson in moderation

After touring with Senator John McCain and endorsing him for President during the 2008 campaign, Senator Joe Lieberman has turned back to his Democratic roots and started singing the praises of President Obama. No knock against Senator Lieberman - he's a Democrat so it's not surprising, and he's allowed to change his thinking just as any other Senator or any other American on any issue.

But it signals another lesson for those who believe in the moderates mean Big Tent conservatism theology. Big Tent conservatism never meant watering down your beliefs to grow the tent, it meant expanding those who truly believe in the basic principles of conservatism. In other words, reach out, explain, educate and get people to realize the benefits of conservatism. By doing so the tent will grow on its own.

Joe Lieberman is simply doing, whether he believes what he is saying about the President or not, what is necessary to save his political skin, and his political weight. Without folding like a cheap suit, Senator Lieberman would have no say in the Democratic caucus, no power, no real offerings to bring back to his constituency explaining why electing him over Ted Lamont in the last Senate election was a good idea.

Here's the crux of the lesson; politicians will most often do what is politically expedient. This is especially true of weak Republicans (RINOs) like Senator Arlen Specter. Thus they cannot be counted on to vote the conservative line. They can be counted on to waver or cave when it comes to pork or when it comes to siding with liberals. Do we really need that in the Republican party? After all the support deserted the President and Congressmen and Senators when they started to act like classic spending liberals. So why do we need more of that in the party's future? It will mean more electoral defeat because it truly is Democrat-light versus Democrat or else it's two very alternative visions for America - liberal versus conservative. And if you can't stand the heat of that fire-fight then you don't belong in politics. If you don't believe in your principles how can you stand up for them?

As a parting shot at those who would argue that the future is moderation, compromise is not a principle, it's a negotiating tactic, nothing more.

1 comment:

  1. A lot of Joe's ethics went out the window when he ran with Algore. That is the problem with the left. They don't know what they believe.

    ReplyDelete

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