The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 10)

p>Political parties in this country are about coalitions, not about one faction of the party getting exactly what they want and the rest of the party falling into line. So-called "conservatives" are not the only ones who can sit at home and the next time Rush et al find their icon, they might find that many Republicans have other things to do besides support "conservative" candidates, because of OUR principles. br> -- Brian Schafer br> Arlington, Virginia /p>

Mr. Lord's piece would have been not only a home run, but a grand slam, if he had just pointed out that the Republican Party and the conservative movement should now be mutually exclusive. Notice how the acronym "CPAC" does not contain the word "Republican" when spelled-out in the long form.

For the past 44 years, true conservatives used the Republican Party as their vehicle to push conservative ideals through the cogs and gears known collectively as the US Government machine. From 1964 to 1998, they were fairly successful. From 1998 through current times, the Republican Party has morphed into "Demo Lite."

The bottom-line is this: those (like me) who espouse conservative principles, such as limited government, low taxes, respect for the individual, strong national defense, and economic freedom, need to de-couple those cherished principles from the Party in order to gain visibility and viability in these modern times.

p>To keep using the Republican Party today as the vehicle for the conservative movement is a death by a thousand paper cuts. br> -- Owen H. Carneal br> Yorktown, Virginia /p>

I have noticed that some of your contributors and correspondents have an erroneous perception of Conservatives. Let me set them straight.

p>First of all, there are very few conservative Republicans. There are a large number of Conservatives who happen to be members of the Republican Party. What is the difference? Mainly that true Conservatives adhere to a fixed set of principles and they are extremely reluctant to compromise those principles. Historically, the Republican Party has, at least, paid lip service to most principles held dear by Conservatives. The Conservatives of the Republican Party have waited, patiently, for the elected officials of the party to live up to the tenets of the party platform. They have waited for twenty years. And the elected members of the party have failed to enact

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