Your school is, basically, that a party’s duty is to do whatever it can to get elected, no matter what it takes. That leads to parties that have no firm principles, are a collection of competing and often contradictory interest groups, and generally devolve in pure patronage parties.

Incidentally, that is, to a large extent, how the Democrat Party has operated, pretty much for centuries, and while it may win them some elections, it generally doesn’t win them any respect (or love).

The other school (to which I subscribe) is that it’s a party’s job to have a firm set of principles which it espouses, whether they are popular at the time, or unpopular, and to generally stick to those principles through thick and thin.

The consequence of that is that parties such as these will occasionally wear out their welcome, and become unpopular. It also means that sometimes such parties will become very unpopular and unelectable in certain regions of the country. But when those times hit, it’s a party’s job to stick to their guns and hold the other party accountable, and to keep reminding people what the other party is up to. But they shouldn’t change their principles just to get elected.

Long story short, I have zero interest in seeing the GOP compromise its principles just to get elected in CA, MA or NY. (If that were even possible, which I would argue that it’s not, and you just won’t see it.) It simply isn’t worth the cost. Let the people of those states suffer under their own misbegotten policies. Ultimately, the buck stops with the voters.

How’s it been working for us so far? 35 years and 40M+ dead children later, a change in tactics might be worth looking at.

OTOH, we have to start calling BS, loudly and often, concerning the false statement of being totally unreasonable on the issue. We still can be effective champions for the unborn, without seeming like fire-eyed whackos.

Unfortunately for me I’m currently having to deal with my older sons and their girlfriends and that’s lots of fun (sarcasm intended).

Here’s hoping their generation is smarter than ours.

I’ve always believed in life issues (except death penalty; hope that don’t make me a hypocrite), 2nd Amendment (hunter family), and the Constitution (me, dad, and deceased bro all served in USNR). I watched 2 of my 3 lovely daughters born (last was a C-section, couldn’t attend), and have no doubt in my heart or mind that abortion at any stage is murder. I think that shouting slogans and chants at the doors of clinics is the wrong tack to take, though I wouldn’t silence those who take that route. We need to reach young people before pregnancy, with a positive message about abstinence and marriage, with a little birth control common sense thrown in. I like to joke with my kids that, just because the teacher shows you how to put a condom on a cuke, don’t mean that’s where it belongs.

A lot of my friends and acquaintances are libs or mods, of various ethnic and social backgrounds. We get along great, and listen to each other’s opinions thoughtfully. Since I explain my position on abortion in the manner above, I don’t get called names.

The SoCon wing needs to get its act together, and stop pushing at an unbreakable (for now) wall. Roe will be overturned eventually, if we fight the smart fight.

Thanks for the kind response, and keep your chin up. Obama will drastically overreach on all the issues (economic, social and Nat Def), alienating Dem hawks and moderates across the board. His tax and spend plans are simply unreal, his take on foreign relations is a joke, and he’s never winning on life issues.

Back in ’94 when I was still very liberal, but beginning to wake up a little, one of the first issues that made me question my beliefs was women’s “choice”.

I was lucky enough to hear a lawyer from Tennessee explain how it was more difficult for a woman to sue an abortion clinic in case of medical error than sue a hospital.

That started me wondering why my (Democrat) party wanted to protect the clinic more than the health of the woman.

I guess you could say from this doubt I started down the road towards conservatism.

PS. Step 2 was reading “Radical Son” by David Horowitz

PSS. Step 3 was watching the Contract with America happen.

Frum has always been the type of pundit who reminds me of the smug little sycophantic leech, giving his version of the ‘popular’ opinion, just to be accepted.

Sadly, the Church let excommunication fall out of favor (sigh).

Mac wasn’t a conservative favorite, and should have learned where the butter lay on his bread, when Palin entered the ticket to thunderous ovations from massive crowds. This is only further proof that he’s too hard-headed to be Pres.

I thought, with the emergence of Palin and her amazing family, with all of the CHOICES they made to protect life, that Abortion and family values might finally become an issue.

Heck she was even tailor made for the second amendment issue.

McCain either didn’t see it, or more likely decided it wasn’t the direction he wanted to go.

Obama’s people sure saw her potential though, and they treated her as the greater threat.

Easier Access = More Abortions is horribly flawed. It overlooks the fact that the most primal drive of a woman is to produce offspring. You think women have been populating the planet for the past 250,000 years because they couldn’t get access to abortions?

Ignorance and Taboo = More Abortions because of more unwanted pregnancy.

ANYWAY. I call a truce. I really didn’t mean to get into an abortion discussion. I was just suggesting, as a social moderate, that there might be less divisive approaches that are still consistent with conservative moral beliefs.