Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
In the wake of Mitt Romney’s resounding victory in Florida’s primary, the odds of anyone other than Romney capturing the Republican nomination seem to be as low as the odds Barack Obama will be offered a guest professorship at Hillsdale College. As one of the many conservatives who are less than enthused about the nomination of a self-described “Progressive whose views are moderate,” the time has come to decide whether or not to bite the bullet and vote for Romney in the general election. Traditional party orthodoxy suggests that I should support the lesser of two evils. However, Romney’s ideology is so antithetical to the principles of conservatism that I believe the best thing I can do for the conservative movement and the country in the upcoming election is refuse to give my support or vote to Mitt Romney.
The biggest blow to Romney’s conservative credentials is his support for the state-level version of Obamacare during his time in Massachusetts. Romney’s supporters have painted Romneycare as the best of many bad choices for Romney in Massachusetts (although why they would offer up “Three Cheers” for the best of bad alternatives is beyond me.) I would be OK with supporting Romney if he openly stated that Romneycare was a mistake that the legislature forced on him. Unfortunately, Romney has decided to defend his mini-Obamacare project. Romney himself said “I’m proud of what we’ve done” in reference to Romneycare and lauded it as a “Model for the nation.” When asked about what he thought of Obamacare in 2010, Romney said he wanted to “Keep the good parts,” and applauded the “Incentives to purchase private insurance” (in other words, the individual mandate.) These are hardly the words of someone who views Romneycare as the lesser of many evils. Instead, they point to a man who is proud of signing the precursor to Obamacare into law and is fine with an individual mandate on the federal level.
Furthermore, Romney’s defense of the individual mandate bears a surprising resemblance to the arguments used by Progressives such as Barack Obama and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to justify their expansions of government. Romney has argued that government-mandated health insurance is based on “Personal responsibility” and Romneycare protects individual rights by preventing “free riders” from gaming the system. It almost seems as if Romney believes we must abandon free market healthcare principles to save free market healthcare. Furthermore, Romney’s argument for Romneycare echoes Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s sentiments in the Commonwealth Club Address that “The exercise of the property rights might so interfere with the rights of the individual that the government, without whose assistance the property rights could not exist, must intervene, not to destroy individualism but to protect it.” FDR and Romney make identical arguments. Romney argues that the exercise of individual rights on healthcare infringes on the rights of other individuals, and thus the government must intervene to protect “individualism.”
Jonah Goldberg recently wrote a column arguing that dissatisfied conservatives should vote for Romney because he will owe the conservatives who elected him and govern like a conservative. Unfortunately, Romney and his supporters have shown no sign that they care what conservatives in the Republican Party think. Romney’s scorched-earth campaign tactics against Newt Gingrich and the dismissive, snide treatment Romney’s apologists have given anyone who dares question The Mitt Romney’s conservatism (I’m looking at you, Ann Coulter and David Frum) doesn’t bode well for conservatives who hope Romney will listen to them. Furthermore, voting for Romney will hardly make him want to listen to conservatives. If anything, it will show that Romney can take conservatives for granted and still earn their votes.
Mitt Romney’s approach towards government places him drastically outside the conservative camp. Instead of arguing that big government must be eliminated, Romney seems to believe that he can run big government well. Voting for Romney sends the message that conservative voices can be ignored with impunity. Conservatives are ignored by candidates like Romney because they believe conservatives will simply vote for whoever has an R next to their name, the only way to ensure the GOP understands that conservative voices cannot be ignored is to show that our votes are not guaranteed. Mitt “I’m a Progressive” Romney is the ideal candidate to use as proof that even the most loyal Republicans have their limits and will not vote for Liberalism Light.
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Comments :
Dec '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
The "stop demanding purity" arguement is just plain stupid and insulting. It assumes that we have a dispute over degrees and not of kinds.
Jul '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
K T Cat
Hey, it's not worth getting angry about. · 15 minutes ago
That's going to be the new catch phrase. The issue I have is how low does a candidate have to go to inspire a vote against them. Obama is really really low. Really.
Edited on Feb 4 at 8:01amOct '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
So Romney's similar to the guy who lost to Jimmy Carter? I guess I agree, he's a lot like Ford.
Jul '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
Guruforhire
The "stop demanding purity" arguement is just plain stupid and insulting. It assumes that we have a dispute over degrees and not of kinds. · 2 minutes ago
So is a Romney for 4 years and then Rubio//Rand primary for 2016 better than an Obama for 4 more years of pure hell and potentially a Rubio/Rand presidency in 2016.
How would you like your candidates classified? The two frontrunners are stink and stank. But filthy oasis water still slakes the thirst of a man in the desert near death.
I am off to my caucus today to go support Santorum who will probably finish fourth here.
Aug '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
See, I hear this argument and I think "where is the guarantee of an ideologically strong and passionately supported Congress"?
We're not just gambling on Mitt here, we're gambling on Congress remaining in GOP control. And not just RINOs, but having it swing toward conservatives.
That's way too much gambling. Newt is a far better choice. So is Rick Santorum. Why we're settling for the lesser evil is beyond my understanding. Just because the establishment is pulling out all stops (and in some cases becoming completely unhinged about it) doesn't mean we have to behave like sheep.
Dec '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
DocJay
Guruforhire
The "stop demanding purity" arguement is just plain stupid and insulting. It assumes that we have a dispute over degrees and not of kinds. · 2 minutes ago
So is a Romney for 4 years and then Rubio//Rand primary for 2016 better than an Obama for 4 more years of pure hell and potentially a Rubio/Rand presidency in 2016.
How would you like your candidates classified? The two frontrunners are stink and stank. But filthy oasis water still slakes the thirst of a man in the desert near death.
I am off to my caucus today to go support Santorum who will probably finish fourth here. · 3 minutes ago
There is no difference in that choice.
Aug '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
I know people who voted for Obama because they felt the same way about Hillary. Obama the campaigner is not the same guy who's spent the last three years destroying our country. While some of us could look at his past and easily see how dangerous he was, a lot of people felt as Romney supporters feel. He's not that terrible! Don't look at his record in Massachusetts, just lie back and think of Buckley!
So fair warning.
Edited on Feb 4 at 8:17amJul '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
Sorry, but like many others here I just cannot subscribe to this "take your ball and go home" mindset. If you're looking for someone to blame for the paucity of conservative candidates who can actually win in November, then blame the ones who sat this one out because they feared the savaging of a $1 billion war chest aimed directly at them: Daniels, Christie, Thune, and especially Jeb. As far as Newt goes: conservative when it suits him, but he's for Newt first, last and every time in between and I just don't trust him. As far as Santorum goes: I admire his principles, and certainly love his family life, but I just can't forget that he backed Arlen Specter against Toomey. What other big ones will he bail on? And re both of them: they will get savaged in the general, and will most likely take down many down ticket races. And when it comes right down to it, I don't believe Romney is as "moderate" as many here would paint him to be. Finally, Romney at least seems to have the financial acumen we're going to need near term.
Jul '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
There is a difference for me. My deepest fear is another lunatic SCOTUS that rules with liberal insanity. Gun laws come around they will rule on partial or total disarmament and I will become an instant enemy to my government in the most real of senses. Real in that I will die. We all have our lines in the sand and yours is not voting for Romney or any other RINO I'll disagree but accept anyone's right to vote their conscience.
Guruforhire
DocJay
Guruforhire
The "stop demanding purity" arguement is just plain stupid and insulting. It assumes that we have a dispute over degrees and not of kinds. · 2 minutes ago
So is a Romney for 4 years and then Rubio//Rand primary for 2016 better than an Obama for 4 more years of pure hell and potentially a Rubio/Rand presidency in 2016.
How would you like your candidates classified? The two frontrunners are stink and stank. But filthy oasis water still slakes the thirst of a man in the desert near death.
There is no difference in that choice. · 4 minutes ago
Oct '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
this election is the last chance for fiscal cons to repeal obamacare. if romney is the choice of the primary voters, so be it.
and if romney loses to obama in november, then it's time for the tea party to seriously consider starting a third party.
Oct '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
DrewInWisconsin
I know people who voted for Obama because they felt the same way about Hillary. Obama the campaigner is not the same guy who's spent the last three years destroying our country. While some of us could look at his past and easily see how dangerous he was, a lot of people felt as Romney supporters feel. He's not that terrible! Don't look at his record in Massachusetts, just like back and think of Buckley!
So fair warning. · 7 minutes ago
so now romney is worse than obama? romney might end up like christie--a person who ran as a moderate (mcdonell got more tea party attention than christie when both ran for governorships), but governed as a fiscal conservative.
Jul '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
John Marzan: this election is the last chance for fiscal cons to repeal obamacare. if romney is the choice of the primary voters, so be it.
and if romney loses to obama in november, then it's time for the tea party to seriously consider starting a third party. · 8 minutes ago
I'm up for that.
Another SCOTUS issue is obamacare. The first ruling is now but future rulings are coming. One of these will be the law that demands physicians be part of obamacare or get no license. H Clinton had this in her 93 manifesto. Obamacare will be so unpopular among my colleagues that the opt out folks will dominate discussions of how to fix the system. Shackles on doctors will be one solution bandied about. I'll quit if that comes to pass. I exist off the reservation already and could never go back unless it was volunteering for the poor.
Jan '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
Maybe so, but is this the ideal election in which to make that point? Obama has repeatedly shown his disdain for the Constitution, Congress, the rule of law, and the American people. I don't want to vote for Romney, but contemplating the damage Obama could do in a second term will drive me to the polls anyway.
Jul '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
DrewInWisconsin
See, I hear this argument and I think "where is the guarantee of an ideologically strong and passionately supported Congress"?
We're not just gambling on Mitt here, we're gambling on Congress remaining in GOP control. And not just RINOs, but having it swing toward conservatives.
That's way too much gambling. Newt is a far better choice. So is Rick Santorum. Why we're settling for the lesser evil is beyond my understanding. Just because the establishment is pulling out all stops (and in some cases becoming completely unhinged about it) doesn't mean we have to behave like sheep. · 27 minutes ago
Life doesn't come with guarantees.
If you think Newt is a far better choice, fine.
People who disagree with you aren't behaving like sheep. They just disagree with you.
Sep '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
In this election, the party has sided with David Bonior on Newt's ethics charges and Barack Obama on health care.
I'm voting Republican ... why?
Sep '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
Chris Cristie? Jeb Bush? It doesn't make sense. You have company in the punditocracy, so don't take it personally, but where did you get the idea that they were A) real conservatives and B) electable? Christie isn't a conservative, not even close. Jeb is closer but he would never win a general election. You see, he has this name problem. It's a fact. It's not just a name problem, but he has a family problem, and his running would create a perception problem about the USA and about the GOP. Anyone who suggests Jeb is in deep, deep denial and doesn't understand the zeitgeist.
Christie, besides not being a conservative would also fail in the general.
Mar '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
Did anybody here see Moneyball?
Kurt Schlichter over at Big Government did, and he has some pretty insightful things to say about how the movie (and the method the movie documented) can be applied to the current campaign, where we find ourselves between the catastrophe that is Barack Obama and the merely (hah!) atrocious Mitt Romney.
Read the whole thing.
We are starting to get past the part where getting angry advances our cause. Next, we get smart. Then, we get strong.
May '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
The individual mandate was, and is, vastly superior to single payer. That's why the Heritage Foundation invented it. That's why Romney supported it. Because the alternative was not the status quo, but single payer. And the difference between good and better is far less significant than the difference between bad and worse.
Jun '10
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
I have a terrible feeling that the results of this election will be moot. At some point the debt crisis is going to pitch the world economy into the abyss. Our professional political class seems oblivious to the crisis. Eventually events will overwhelm us, and then it's every man for himself. I wish I could maintain even a glimmer of hope, but I can't. Tell me what difference the Supreme Court is going to make when the government is broke and can't afford to enforce it's dictates. Anyone? The only silver lining I can see is that I'll no longer be morally obligated to obey the laws of an increasingly capricious government. Prepare yourselves. The worst is yet to come.
Sep '11
Re: Don’t Vote!-It Just Encourages the RINOs
This train Obama has us on is headed off a cliff, and some of you are in the dining car arguing over soup or salad. At the end of the day, it looks like you will have a choice of Obama or Romney. Would you really not do all in your power to defeat Obama? The "stop demanding purity argument" is only stupid and insulting if you can't see the forest for the trees. Defeating Obama is the object of all this. Anything else is static.