I have a lot of conservative friends and relatives. I have lots of liberal friends as well, but this is for my conservative friends.
I don’t have a huge audience on this blog, and I probably won’t say this as well as the concept deserves, but I’m going to give it try because I think it is important. I wondered after 2000 and 2004 if I could have done more, if there were people I could have reached out to but didn’t. So this election season I have been trying to talk to everybody I can. So here goes.
Real conservatives should not be very happy with the Republican Party and its leadership right now. The Republican leadership is decidedly pro-corporate and pro-Wall Street. They use traditional conservative language to carry conservative voters but their actions are all about big finance and big business. They are only socially conservative at election time. Just look at the recent Wall Street “bailout” to see how real this split is.
Democrats have the same problem. The Democratic leadership is very pro-corporate and pro-Wall Street. And they only are socially liberal during elections. The “bailout” reveals this split as well.
So how can traditional conservatives save the Republican Party? Vote for Barack Obama!
This is where I need you to stifle your knee-jerk reactions and actually think about this a little. The Republican leadership does not respect traditional conservatives. They have abused their power, let Wall Street and the huge corporations run wild. And then they offer up John McCain as their new party leader? Conservatives have never trusted McCain. He has only started to “talk” conservative after he lost the 2000 election and bowed to the Rove-Cheney pro-corporate machine that put George W. Bush into office. McCain has done everything he can to become the heir apparent of a pretty questionable group of big business interests. He doesn’t represent traditional conservatives. Yes, he brought on Sarah Palin to try and bring in the conservative voters at the last minute. But the administration John McCain will put into place will be the same pro-corporate administration that we have had for the last eight years. It will not be a conservative administration. And most importantly, the leadership of the Republican Party will have be reassured by a McCain victory that traditional conservative voters will keep on checking any name with an “R” next to it as long as they pretend to speak conservatively at election time.
“I don’t like John McCain, but how can I bring myself to vote for a Democrat?” Good question. Remember, the Democrats have the same split as the Republicans: pro-corporate leadership versus true ideological voters. The Democratic leadership did not want Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate. They wanted Hillary Clinton, an inside member of the pro-corporate Democratic leadership which has been ruining the Democratic Party for decades. But Obama got enough new voters involved that he was able to squeak out a victory over the Democratic establishment. Obama is a Constitutional law expert who knows how to build an old fashioned political campaign based on voter support instead of corporate support.
Is Obama the perfect candidate? No. But he is the best one we have in the race right now. And I am sure that his administration will not look like the same old Bush era or Clinton era pro-corporate administrations we have been suffering under for the last twenty years because his campaign has not been a typical campaign. He is more likely to put a team in place that will respect the Constitution and clean up some of the mess. Those are the reasons I am voting for Obama. And I genuinely believe that the best thing that could happen to the Republican Party would be for them to lose the White House this time. This would give traditional conservatives a chance to reassert themselves and throw out the current leadership. I believe a healthier and more conservative Republican Party will emerge after an Obama victory. But if McCain wins, the same failed leadership will stay in charge behind the scenes and in every administration appointment. McCain owes the current leadership too much to really get in and make the changes America needs right now.
Obama on the other hand will not have won the White House because of big business or the traditional party leadership. A lot has been said about the unusual amounts of money Obama has raised in his campaign. Keep in mind that he raised that money from lots of ordinary people not lobbyists for big companies. So while Obama is putting Washington agencies back on a constitutional footing, Republicans can clean their house as well.
I believe this will result in two stronger parties that are more responsive and representative of the actual ideologies of more voters, conservative and progressive. And that is more democratic and more American than what we have now, where a few rich corporations and their owners have too much influence over the leadership of both parties.
So think about it. And I encourage anyone who wants the values of actual voters to be better represented in Washington to vote for Barack Obama. It might just save the Republican and the Democratic Parties.
---Your friend, Jay Larsen
I don’t have a huge audience on this blog, and I probably won’t say this as well as the concept deserves, but I’m going to give it try because I think it is important. I wondered after 2000 and 2004 if I could have done more, if there were people I could have reached out to but didn’t. So this election season I have been trying to talk to everybody I can. So here goes.
Real conservatives should not be very happy with the Republican Party and its leadership right now. The Republican leadership is decidedly pro-corporate and pro-Wall Street. They use traditional conservative language to carry conservative voters but their actions are all about big finance and big business. They are only socially conservative at election time. Just look at the recent Wall Street “bailout” to see how real this split is.
Democrats have the same problem. The Democratic leadership is very pro-corporate and pro-Wall Street. And they only are socially liberal during elections. The “bailout” reveals this split as well.
So how can traditional conservatives save the Republican Party? Vote for Barack Obama!
This is where I need you to stifle your knee-jerk reactions and actually think about this a little. The Republican leadership does not respect traditional conservatives. They have abused their power, let Wall Street and the huge corporations run wild. And then they offer up John McCain as their new party leader? Conservatives have never trusted McCain. He has only started to “talk” conservative after he lost the 2000 election and bowed to the Rove-Cheney pro-corporate machine that put George W. Bush into office. McCain has done everything he can to become the heir apparent of a pretty questionable group of big business interests. He doesn’t represent traditional conservatives. Yes, he brought on Sarah Palin to try and bring in the conservative voters at the last minute. But the administration John McCain will put into place will be the same pro-corporate administration that we have had for the last eight years. It will not be a conservative administration. And most importantly, the leadership of the Republican Party will have be reassured by a McCain victory that traditional conservative voters will keep on checking any name with an “R” next to it as long as they pretend to speak conservatively at election time.
“I don’t like John McCain, but how can I bring myself to vote for a Democrat?” Good question. Remember, the Democrats have the same split as the Republicans: pro-corporate leadership versus true ideological voters. The Democratic leadership did not want Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate. They wanted Hillary Clinton, an inside member of the pro-corporate Democratic leadership which has been ruining the Democratic Party for decades. But Obama got enough new voters involved that he was able to squeak out a victory over the Democratic establishment. Obama is a Constitutional law expert who knows how to build an old fashioned political campaign based on voter support instead of corporate support.
Is Obama the perfect candidate? No. But he is the best one we have in the race right now. And I am sure that his administration will not look like the same old Bush era or Clinton era pro-corporate administrations we have been suffering under for the last twenty years because his campaign has not been a typical campaign. He is more likely to put a team in place that will respect the Constitution and clean up some of the mess. Those are the reasons I am voting for Obama. And I genuinely believe that the best thing that could happen to the Republican Party would be for them to lose the White House this time. This would give traditional conservatives a chance to reassert themselves and throw out the current leadership. I believe a healthier and more conservative Republican Party will emerge after an Obama victory. But if McCain wins, the same failed leadership will stay in charge behind the scenes and in every administration appointment. McCain owes the current leadership too much to really get in and make the changes America needs right now.
Obama on the other hand will not have won the White House because of big business or the traditional party leadership. A lot has been said about the unusual amounts of money Obama has raised in his campaign. Keep in mind that he raised that money from lots of ordinary people not lobbyists for big companies. So while Obama is putting Washington agencies back on a constitutional footing, Republicans can clean their house as well.
I believe this will result in two stronger parties that are more responsive and representative of the actual ideologies of more voters, conservative and progressive. And that is more democratic and more American than what we have now, where a few rich corporations and their owners have too much influence over the leadership of both parties.
So think about it. And I encourage anyone who wants the values of actual voters to be better represented in Washington to vote for Barack Obama. It might just save the Republican and the Democratic Parties.
---Your friend, Jay Larsen
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