Chaos Reigns in GOP Primaries due to Lack of Conservative Leadership
The Florida primary is over and the pendulum has swung again to Romney.
And conservatives are going crazy!
Romney clearly has the upper hand, in-spite of the fact that he's been made to repeatedly defend his conservative credentials.
Sure, there is a liberal wing of the GOP but, the debate this year has been largely about conservative principals. Each candidate positioning themselves as the one to unseat Obama and bring fiscal sanity back to government.
Newt has made his surge largely due to his rebuke of biased questions during debates and the enthusiasm created by those emotional moments.
It's clear after the primary season has moved through four states that Republican voters are looking for a conservative that can beat Obama.
The problem is that each candidate is attempting to define "conservatism" to fit themselves.
Yes, there are voters that can articulate conservative principals but, they are the minority. The majority of Republican voters are those that are not strongly ideological but, have more general feelings about the issues and are more easily swayed by personality, style and negative campaign tactics.
What is missing is a widely recognized definition of either what a conservative is or at least, the most crucial applications of conservatism to the current state of the nation.
Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin's recent endorsement of Rick Santorum is the closest thing this campaign season to a "manifesto" for conservatism.
Malkin points out how Santorum opposed TARP and the bailout, stimulus histeria that swept the nation in '08 and '09, as well as maintaining opposition to health care mandates and Cap and Trade eco-economies.
So, there are four tenants of the 2012 Conservative Manifesto. Thanks Michelle!
1) No bailouts and no institution is too big to fail.
2) Stimulus doesn't work - government can't put money into the economy without first taking it away from private individuals and out of the economy.
3) No on Health Care mandates and maybe no on government being involved in Health Care at all.
4) If the earth is warming, creating a new game where the rich and powerful and make money by trading credits won't fix it.
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