A message to my Principled Conservative friends

I saw a term the other day: “Principled Conservatives.” I read it in an article discussing the challenge a “principled conservative” faces in a Donald Trump era. For me, it struck the nail on the head. There’s nothing wrong with conservative values, but it’s painfully clear that the current Republican leadership can call themselves neither conservative nor principled.

I, personally, don’t necessarily consider myself conservative, although I do agree with some traditionally conservative positions. However, around 2005 I formally swapped from an Independent to a Democrat — strictly for pragmatic reasons. The Republican leadership had begun behaving (in a word) unacceptably. And since I could not foresee myself supporting any of the likely Republican candidates in the next election cycle, I wanted a say in who the Democrats ran.

I do understand what happened to the Republican party around that time. Specifically, it was an atmosphere leading to the rise of the Tea Party. You remember them. The party of “Less government, unless it’s about women’s bodies!” and “Entitlements are socialism, but KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE!” Naturally, the GOP pretended to disavow these “more radical fringes” — except when cultivating their votes or quietly embracing newly elected “Republicans” who had clearly risen from a Tea-party base.

The Tea Party has since disappeared, having been fully absorbed into mainstream Republicanism. Conservative leaders continued traditional soundbites like “Fiscal responsibility”, while simultaneously taking massive loans against Social Security (which would never be paid back. Enter the sudden war against “Entitlements.”) and causing America’s downgrade by Standard & Poor. They screamed “Personal Responsibility” over a hurricane wind of blame-the-victim sexual scandals.

Finally, the GOP embraced Trump — driving out many of their own moderates and rising stars. Gone are the days of pretense. Enter the era of finger-pointing politics. Rules for SCOTUS appointments are dependent on whether it’s “our turn” or not. “No one told me” and “Nice people on both sides” became reasonable excuses for negligent ignorance about one’s job. And “What about Obama?” continues (still — somehow — four years later) to ooze from Republican Twitter feeds.

It’s undeniable. The Republican party of our fathers and grandfathers is long gone. The integrity with which it had so long defined itself died a pestilent, prurient death. Now there is only agenda — the quest for which no double-standard is too repugnant. While the Democrat base has certainly shifted left, the Republicans have rocketed so far right that I struggle to define an “extreme right fringe” today without including active white supremacists and the (formerly assumed lunatic) armed militias.

And yet, many continue to support the Republican leadership out of habit, tradition, or simply because, “Those damn libtards are worse!” So the message to my Principled Conservative friends is to send their own message this election. Abstaining is useless. Abstaining is never seen as a protest, only as lazy or unpatriotic.

No, the message is “We need something else, and you are not it!” The message is; Vote third party.

I realize most will consider this “throwing their vote away.” But unlike not voting at all, it tells the GOP where you stand without actually leading to another 4-year Trump-train wreck. This may be an even more effective message in the congressional races. Just imagine if enough third-party Senators existed to prevent any vote from succeeding without more than one party’s buy-in! Both Democrats and Republicans would be forced to come to compromise with the third-party, if not with each other.

It’s just a suggestion. But it seems like it’s either this or a continuation of the divides, nepotism, and unethical politicking we’ve seen for the last 15 years.