I’m in a bad place right now and I am taking things too hard. Last night I was apoplectic over the apparent inevitability of Newt Gingrich’s candidacy, and it really, really hurts. That’s because I am a Republican, and even though I am a libertarian Republican, I think of myself as a loyal person. For years I defended Bush despite my problems with him. My thinking is that if there is any hope of this country going in a libertarian direction, it has to come from the Republican Party. In any case, it damn sure isn’t going to come from the Democratic Party.
But Newt Gingrich is so anti-libertarian that he is the anti-libertarian’s Anti-Libertarian. The Anti-Libertarian in chief, if you will. And if he becomes the standard bearer for the Republican Party, that means libertarianism is dead in the Republican Party. I worry that I cannot remain in such a party, and it really sucks, because I am a very pragmatic person with shockingly low standards.
And Newt Gingrich crosses a line that’s hard to cross, because I’m not into drawing lines, and barely have one.
He violates my shockingly low standards. He offends my shallow and flexible principles.
I don’t know what to do. I have not discussed my political involvement much in this blog, but I am involved in local Republican politics, and I know that Republicans will be expected to pull together, support, and work for whomever the candidate is. But if that candidate is Gingrich, that is something I cannot do. While I might be able to vote for him (and even for that I’d feel guilty for the rest of my life), enthusiasm is simply beyond my capacity. The man is a statist’s statist, and on the drug war, a fascist’s fascist. Plus I don’t like his personality. In short, the man sickens me. Seeing that this is what I think, how I am I supposed to be a loyal Republican?
Disloyalty is not my shtick.
Any thoughts are welcome.
Comments
17 responses to “How’s that loyal Republican stuff working out for me?”
There’s always voting one’s conscience. In your case, that may mean voting for someone other than Gingrich or Obama.
After all, the GOP would have us consider that loyalty to the concept of individual liberty is not their schtick.
I keep hoping against hope that Palin is playing a long game and is maneuvering the process towards a brokered convention that will be split between Romney and Gingrich, with neither of them having a majority of the delegates. After they get their obligated votes for their candidates out of their systems, they can turn around and vote for somebody who the Republicans could really rally around. (Yes, that would be Palin, IMHO.)
And yeah, I’m a dreamer.
I’ve held my nose before voting for a Republican in the past. I can’t see as how even Gingrich could be worse for liberty than Obama is. (Romney, weirdly, would probably be a better proponent of liberty, generally than Gingrich, and I’m certainly no Romney fan, either.)
I’m pretty much sitting on my hands at this point, waiting for things to shake out, and praying for a brokered convention.
Brett ,that’s what I’m going to do .
For the 1st time in my life I will not be
voting Republican.
The GOP race this year has so turned
me off I’ll be voting for the Libertarian
Party this year.
I would like more insight to your thinking. And, I am not a fan of Salamander.
Uhhhh…. nobody’s going to run on cutting out the War On Drugs. That’s just politics (a cynic would add “now that soccer moms and other women can vote…”)
This is even more so in the current situation where “defending our borders” is a touchstone/code word for many conservatives… explaining the connection between the WOD and the violence on our southern border does not fit into a sound bite. In sound-bite land, it sounds soft/unpatriotic/loonie-leftie.
BUT BUT BUT
Gingrich is the only one – now that Perry’s gone – who is credibly talking about cutting back the Federal bureaucracy. Santorum is hardly a small-government conservative, Romney is a cipher who will not stand in the way of business-as-usual pork.
Gingrich is the only one who seems serious – and has the track record – of dismantling federal agencies. Whether he gets to the WOD or not, that’s a step in the right direction that will, at the very least, throw the money thrown at drug enforcement into strong relief.
Obama is so appallingly bad, such an imminent threat to America and us individually, that you are morally required to vote for the Republican candidate no matter who or what he is.
To not vote or to vote for a third party candidate is an act of moral depravity. And may God damn to eternal Hell the soul of anyone who does so.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
oh cut the alarmist rhetoric, bob. If Obama was such an “imminent threat” we wouldn’t still be alive and posting on the Internets after almost four years of him with a dead bin Laden and an unemployment rate that’s at least not getting worse…. I’m not saying he hasn’t been bad or that we don’t have really bad things looming in our near future, but Obama hasn’t proved himself so completely evil that it’s beyond a shadow of a doubt that Romney or Gingrich wouldn’t conceivably be so similarly bad that it’s worth at least considering voting third party. (Just my biased opinion, of course 🙂
As to Eric’s conundrum, I also consider loyalty to liberty more important than loyalty to the GOP. Of course when November comes we will each have to make up our minds as to what degree we feel that is important.
Another variable to keep in mind is Congress; it’s early and there have been few polls but there is a very significant chance that the GOP will control both houses come 2013. That would lessen the pain of casting protest votes for the Presidency.
Eric, I say this as someone who is going to hold his nose and vote for whomever gets the Republican nod (now that Santorum is pretty much out of the picture)…
…but you need to vote your conscience. If you cannot vote for Gingrich, don’t. I know this flies in the face of what I said to Simon a couple of months ago, but what can I say? I’m a flip-flopper. (Although I do hope you decide to hold your nose like me, and vote for the Republican candidate.)
I know you want to be a loyal Republican, but at this point, you need to examine whether you owe your loyalty to the party or to yourself.
The brokered convention is starting to look pretty good.
Newt Gingrich = Barry Goldwater (64) = Republican Train Wreck = Obama Victory.
The red meat crowd in the Republican Party are not thinking clearly about putting together a center right coalition. The Dems I know are giddy about a Gingrich candidacy, and rightly so. My family of 5 will be voting our conscience and will not support either Gingrich or Obama.
With the big, stinky elephant of the economy sucking up all the oxygen, it’s hard to remember that the President (Executive) job is defense and foreign policy. The economy is Congress’s responsibility which is why Ron Paul is just fine where he is. Newt or Mitt will be good executives.
Oh, and no third party for me. Been there, done Perot, have felt guilty about Clinton ever since.
Uh… Newt will be a horrible executive, as indicated by his past work history. Saying something doesn’t make it so.
Gingrich won’t be the nominee. On Tom Sullivan’s radio show today a campaign operative from years back called in to unload some dirt. He said there are files from Gingrich’s ethics probe that will destroy him, that they are already uploaded on websites, and they WILL be available if it looks like he is getting anywhere close. His old House buddies will perform the coup de grace. Newt is a flash in the pan, even and especially if he wins Florida.
You can remain loyal to your principles. A higher calling.
Bob,
I don’t believe in ghosts. I have actually seen fathers and sons.
Eric,
The name of the game is a repeat of 2010: take House and Senate seats with folks who adhere to the Tea Party values. Then it won’t matter if Newt becomes Pres; he simply won’t be able to get any of his radical mainstream Republican values passed as legislation.
Well, I have issues with Newt too which are pretty congruent with yours. However, there is a bright line between acceptable and unacceptable. Newt is (barely) on my side of the line, Romney is not even close. Real hope is that Newt will create enough chaos to lead to a brokered convention. If Romney wins, the Republicans are over as a conservative alternative.