Hold the Mayo

November 08, 2009

Getting it Backwards

John Hinderaker at Powerline takes a look at basic political philosophy and party affiliation and comes to a conclusion that gets it exactly ass backwards. (emphasis added)

The basic asymmetry of American politics is that there are more conservatives than there are Republicans, while there are more Democrats than there are liberals. This is why Nancy Pelosi wasn't able to persuade anything like a unified caucus to vote for her government takeover of health care, and why Democratic Congressmen were competing for permission to vote against the bill.

Why is it, though, that while conservatives outnumber liberals by anywhere from one and a half to two to one, depending on the poll, there are significantly more Democrats than Republicans? There are a number of answers, but one of them is that conservatives, as a group, are insufficiently loyal to the Republican Party.

This is the kind of party first thinking that lead to failed GOP nominee it the NY23 special election. Party first people like Newt Gingrich wound up endorsing a candidate who was so liberal that in the end she endorsed the Democrat.

There are more conservatives than Republicans precisely because they are loyal to their ideas and values before a political party that does not represent them.

To me the math works this way if there are more Conservatives than Republicans, and more Democrats that Republicans, the problem is the Republican Party is insufficiently loyal to Conservatives.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 10:32 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment

1 On a similar vein, the AARP has abandoned the folks whom they represent and come out in favor of Health Care Reform, a piece of terrible legislation which all of its membership will be damaged by.

So where are conservatives supposed to congregate; the Republican Party has abandoned conservative values in favor of being identified as moderates.

Posted by: T F Stern at November 11, 2009 11:00 AM (Ruh11)

2 The ultimate goal over this discussion should really be to educate people to vote based on what they believe in. There are some great, pro-liberty, pro-conservative Republicans out there, and there are also others that aren't. Just because a group within the party is bad, does not mean everyone in the party is bad and that is what people need to realize. Start voting on the issues instead of the parties and this problem won't be an issue anymore.

Posted by: Miraj Patel at November 11, 2009 04:01 PM (s/zk0)

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