What about those RINO's

to a political junkie a RINO is a republican in name only. I have used the term myself. I no longer do. Here is why.

Conservatives have long been fond of saying I am a conservative not necessarily a Republican. The truth is we live in a two party system. There are Democrats and there are Republicans. Other parties sinply bleed off support from the party that comes closest to their views. Greens hurt Democrats. Libertarians hurt republicans more than Democrats, but also bleed some Democrats. In the near term Democrats are not going to embrace any conservative values so until that changes yes Virginia we are Republicans no matter how mad they make us.

There are about 25-35% of the electorate that call themselves liberals or progressives and likewise conservatives. This varies from time to time but over time seems to be in that area. That leaves about 50-65% of the electorate that are independents. They may be slightly right leaning and they may be slightly left leaning or they may not lean either way. I truly believe there are no true moderates. There are people who lean left on one issue but right on another issue to the point that they don't fit into either left of right. When we excoriate RINO's we run the risk of pushing away 50% of the electorate because they are not conservative enough for our vaunted perceptions. I heard someone today saying we are going in the right direction because Senate and Congressional Republicans are more conservative and a lot of RINO's have been pushed to retire. I'm not sure why that is a good thing. While I wish we could be a majority party with all conservatives, I can't think of a time that this has ever happened for either party. In case we haven't noticed that party purity has lead to a minority status with very little hope of that changing in November.

Poltical parties are coalitions of dispirate views. Telling groups that you can't come play in our sandbox doesn't win elections. I also don't believe this view sells out my very conservative views. I can guarentee that the Democrats, the liberal party will happily accept conservative union workers and other middle of the road groups if it means a liberal Speaker of the House and a liberal Senate Majority leader. The Republicans understood that in the nineties. We seem to have forgotten it today.

I can't say it loud enough. Liberals in charge of the House and Senate and if they win the White House in charge of the cabinet positions and selecting activist judges will not further conservative values. My advice, hold your nose and vote Republican, but once and for all, demand that our conservative leaders, lead and not play along to get along. Demand that they teach people about what it means to be a conservative. When a liberal TV host spouts the usual litany of insults about conservatives, take them on don't stick to your talking points. Again I say LEAD, or get out of the way!!