{"id":383,"date":"2011-08-26T11:21:09","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=383"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:21:09","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T15:21:09","slug":"splitting-the-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=383","title":{"rendered":"Splitting the GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

I try to focus my blog on issues, not politics or personalities, but something has become too obvious to avoid any longer. The GOP has split into two factions and they don\u2019t seem to be getting along very well. I\u2019m oversimplifying here to make a point, but follow along and let me explain.<\/p>\n

In one camp, faction 1 has been around for a while and follows a consistent theme:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Defending the establishment. Washington\u2019s not too bad; it just needs a tune-up.<\/li>\n
  2. Pro-business. We need business-friendly legislation to get our economy moving.<\/li>\n
  3. Global intervention. Like it or not, the US is the world\u2019s policeman. Military involvement is part of the package.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    However, faction 2 shares many of the same values as faction 1 and even talks the same language at times. But when conversations and campaigns get a little deeper, you start to see the distinctions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Defending the establishment as it was meant to be in the beginning. Washington needs an overhaul and return to Constitutional principles, not a tune-up.<\/li>\n
    2. Pro-liberty. We don\u2019t need more corporate tax breaks and incentives. In the long term, business is strongest when Washington stays out of the way.<\/li>\n
    3. Global leadership. We can\u2019t afford to be the world\u2019s policeman and it\u2019s not cost-effective anyway. We can exert leadership without excessive meddling.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The split between these two factions has widened during the last few decades. In fact, Reagan seemed to straddle the two camps quite effectively. Washington was certainly dysfunctional in his day, but fixing it without a major restructuring seemed possible then. He made some progress, but only got so far.<\/p>\n

      With today\u2019s burgeoning debt, ongoing economic stagnation, Middle East turmoil, and a federal bureaucracy more confiscatory than ever, a large number of \u201cconservatives\u201d have abandoned faction 1. Many distance themselves from the GOP altogether, preferring to call themselves Constitutionalists, libertarians, tea-partiers, or (small-r) republicans. To them, faction 2 is the only rational alternative. We tried faction 1 (McCain) in 2008 and lost.<\/p>\n

      This factional split is evident in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Faction 1 is anchored by the likes of Romney, Huntsman, and Gingrich, faction 2 by Paul, Bachmann, and Johnson. Perry might<\/em> be the consensus candidate, but it\u2019s still very early to tell, and straddling these two camps will become more difficult as the campaign intensifies.<\/p>\n

      I\u2019m aware that there are real intra-factional differences among all of the candidates; illegal immigration policy is a good example. But the left smells blood here, which is why the tea party (faction 2) seems to be replacing Bush as their favorite boogeyman. Now is the time for vigorous debate, but we can\u2019t let Obama split the party. The election is still over a year away, and it\u2019s ours to win\u2026or lose.<\/p>\n

      <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I try to focus my blog on issues, not politics or personalities, but something has become too obvious to avoid any longer. The GOP has split into two factions and they don\u2019t seem to be getting along very well. I\u2019m oversimplifying here to make a point, but follow along and let me explain. In one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}