When will we learn?

I was recently invited to share lunch with a group of political activists which included other former Congressional staffers from around the Midwest. During our conversation, someone asked a former staffer from Kansas, “how in the world did a state like Kansas ever elect a Governor like Sebelius?”

He said, “The moderates elected Sebelius.”

Everyone sort of took the comment at face value and the conversation started to move on, so I asked, “What do you mean the moderates elected her?”

He replied, “When she first ran for Governor, we ran a real conservative candidate against her, but the moderates decided they would rather have her than a conservative.”

Now, I didn’t pay any attention to that race, so I don’t know who their “conservative” candidate was, nor do I know what the other dynamics of the race were, but the concept of the Republican moderates electing a radical lefty Governor like Sebelius was something I couldn’t help but comment on. So, I almost went out of my way to overplay my reaction.

“You mean to tell me that the same moderate Republicans who are always telling the conservatives to get over the way we’re treated in the primaries, and that we should go cast a vote for the party in a general election, actually abandoned a Republican conservative and helped elect a Democrat? The party didn’t fall in line? They didn’t tell each other to suck it up and vote Republican? Were there no calls for party unity? Didn’t they get a token moderate to make the rounds and convince the other moderates that if they didn’t vote for the Republican that they would be personally responsible for everything Sebelius did?”

He laughed and said, “No. They didn’t. What’s worse, when her Lieutenant Governor resigned after the first term, she nominated the guy who had been state chair of the GOP during her first run for Governor. He accepted the nomination and changed parties.” That comment caused my jaw to drop. He concluded by saying “Fortunately, he’s not planning to run for Governor himself.”

The whole conversation caused me to think about those who are constantly calling on Christians and conservatives to be quiet and go vote for whomever the Republican candidate is every two years. In particular, it reminded me of the op-ed article that Des Moines attorney and former Branstad staffer Doug Gross submitted to the Des Moines Register.

In that piece, Mr. Gross talked about a Republican Party in Iowa that is “riven by cultural and ideological wars” and his hope that the Party would “get its act together quickly enough to take advantage of what could be a seismic electoral event in 2010.” He made it patently obvious that in his opinion, the reason Republican candidates keep losing is because the party activists have been “driving away voters who share the Republican philosophy of limited government, but grew tired of a preachy, old party that reminded them of their grouchy, old uncle.” He ironically concluded his negative commentary on the core ideology of much of his party’s base by saying, “candidate ideological litmus tests serve only to limit the party's reach and effectiveness.” His apparent message, “My litmus test is the only one that matters.”

Never once was there any reference to the political damage done to his party by secular ideologues who insist that people of faith abandon their core principles in order to participate in the party. He completely ignored the large chunk of former Republicans who held their nose and voted for RINO candidates like John McCain, and then left the party in disgust having realized that they compromised their principles and got absolutely nothing in return but a guilty conscience.

While there is certainly a debate to be had within the ranks of the Republican Party, someone as divisive as Doug Gross is not the most likely individual to referee the discussion. If people like me are the grouchy old uncle of the political right, Doug Gross is the frat boy who has never been as popular or successful as his drinking buddies thought he was back in college. He becomes increasingly irrelevant as time goes on, he continues to refuse to grow up, and eventually people quit listening to how great things were “back in college.”

So, there I sat, listening to how the inner party squabbles played themselves out in another state. The only difference was, the tables were turned. It was the “moderates” who were forced to choose between compromising with a conservative or abandoning their party. Evidently, the moderates in Kansas are just a bunch of “purists,” because they were willing to abandon their party if they didn’t get their way.

The other thing I found myself thinking was – THEY HATE US! When will we learn? Christians and Conservatives are the ones who push for lower taxes. Christians and Conservatives are the ones who know and believe that overspending politicians created the current economic woes and not the other way around. Christians and conservatives are the ones who want to get rid of the state’s dependence on gambling and the junk I-Bonds that they produce. Christians and Conservatives understand that it was moderate Republicans, who when given the reins of power at the national level, went crazy and violated those principles.

When will we learn that what we need is not more RINO wolves in conservative sheep’s clothing? When will we learn that the lesser of two evils leaves us with evil in charge? The encouraging thing is that, despite the best efforts of folks like Doug Gross, Christians and conservatives in Iowa are beginning to wake up. The Republican Party may continue to lose elections if they continue to empower moderates who will compromise on moral issues, but many Christians are done placing themselves in the position of waking up with a guilty conscience the morning after the election.