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I will NOT automatically vote for the guy with an “R” next to his name in 2012. Will you?

By: Griffin@griffinelection (Diary)  |  November 8th, 2011 at 07:27 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Recently, a fellow redstate.com diarist wrote an article titled, “I will vote for the Republican nominee in the 2012 Presidential Election.  Will you?”

NO, I won’t. 

My vote is not guaranteed to any idiot running for president because he has an “R” behind his name.  The reason why is because I am:

First, a Christian,

Second, an American,

Third, a conservative, &

FOURTH, a Republican. 

The Republican comes last. 

I am a Christian conservative.  Christian conservatives weren’t pulled into politics by the moral majority in the late 70′s, so that they could be exploited by whoever won the republican nomination.  They were pulled in so that they could make a difference on issues that mattered like abortion, spending and putting the country back on track.  Take those issues away and I don’t stand with you.

As an American I fear for the future of my country.  As a Christian I know that God is in control and directs the hearts of kings.  If republicans fail to nominate a candidate that reflects my values I am under no obligation to throw my support behind them.   

The republican party is a vessel that acts as the glue that holds together a coalition of people with similar values attempting to reach a common goal.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  If we nominate a big spender to lead our party, we spit in the face of our fiscal conservative brothers and sisters in the coalition.  If we nominate a pro-abort, we step on the toes of our social conservative allies.  If we nominate a candidate weak on defense we turn our back on foreign policy hawks that have joined our coalition.  We are in this together.  We as conservatives cannot seriously embrace a candidate that leaves are political allies out in the cold and just expect them to fall in line.  We owe them more than that. 

This isn’t a call not to compromise.  A political coalition requires everyone to compromise, but that coalition shouldn’t ask us to sell our souls for short term political gain.

Whether you like it or not, evangelical votes are not guaranteed in the next election and many of us will NEVER vote for Romney.  This loss of grassroots, homeschooler and evangelical support will end with him losing Pennsylvania and Ohio, giving them both to Obama.

But, this doesn’t have to happen.  Fellow republicans can respect other members of the coalition by finding a consensus candidate, not a hold-my-nose-and-vote-for-him candidate. 

But isn’t not voting for Romney just a vote for Obama?

No.  It’s not.  It wasn’t until very recently that evangelicals even voted en masse.  If republicans don’t want to nominate a conservative with values that appeal to evangelicals, then they will get their John McCain/Bob Dole candidate and they will reap the electoral benefits of that moderate. . . They will most certainly lose.  At the end of the day, republicans can only blame themselves. 

There are few things worst than Obama winning a second term.  But putting a moderate Republican in the White House that tarnishes conservatism, betrays the base, does not fight for life, doesn’t fight to the death to repeal Obamacare, sacrifices the free market to save it, continues a frivolous nation-building policy will only serve to see-saw republicans in and out of office, rather than present permanent conservative majorities that pull both parties to the right and gives republicans much needed consistency in government. 

If a moderate republican can even beat Obama (and he can’t), the long term tarnish of conservatism only leads huge congressional losses akin to 2006 and 2008.  We are better off with a tea party House and Senate holding the line against Obama for four more years, than the republican government of 2005.  We can’t sacrifice conservatism to save it.  Watching America slowly drift in the wrong direction shouldn’t be an alternative that we willingly embrace.  We should be marching forward and if I have to wait four more years, then I will dedicate my time and treasure to local candidates that deserve my help. 

But conservatives WILL win together.

We still have conservative candidates.  We have Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachamann and maybe even Jon Huntsman or Herman Cain.  These candidates could create a consensus, unite the base and set the people in the middle on fire with enthusiasm.  

Romney can’t.  In the past few years he has been ANTI second amendment rights, ANTI marriage, ANTI life, ANTI freedom in the healthcare marketplace.  As governor he created no jobs, no economy and has left Massachusetts sattled with debt. 

Let me be clear, if I don’t vote for Romney that does not make me a bad conservative, it makes me the only conservative.   I don’t care if any liberal tells me he is now conservative, I vote my values and those people’s records do not reflect that.  Likewise, a liberal Massachusetts governor does not reflect my values.   

Conservatives have to demand that a candidate have more than an “R” next to his name come November 2012.  If the “R” and the “lesser of two evils” argument is the best you can do, as a Christian, I can’t in good conscience support your nominee.

After today’s state elections, please join me in getting a conservative candidate that we can all agree on.

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  • windwaker24

    Your post is exactly why I choose to remain an Independent. You see candidates more clearly and objectively that way. My vote is EARNED, not given! Perry has earned my vote!

  • conservativecurmudgeon

    That means more than typing up diary entries on RedState, and jib-jabbering with friends. This means picking a candidate now, sending them money, working phone banks, walking precincts and, in general, grabbing a bucket to help. You must not vacillate, you must not dither– time has run out, The only reason Romney wins this thing is if grassroots conservative Christians surrender the battlefield before the war is fought.

    As a Christian, Conservative American (as you are), I will vote for Alfred E. Newman over Barack Obama, and to make the public pronouncement that you won’t indicates to me you do not understand the severity of the threat our Republic faces if this man Obama is not removed from office in twelve months.

    If Barack Obama is reelected, Obamacare is cemented into American life, and EVERY election thereafter becomes shifted automatically to the left (-which was the purpose behind the damned legislation anyway). The relationship between the citizen is forever corrupted, and fundamentally altered from a government that provides guardrails, to one that snuffs out individual sovereignty. Every presidential election thereafter will be about Helathcare– just like it is in Canada, Britain, France and every other flea-bitten Democracy that went down the road of socialized medicine. Republicanism, conservatism, and Americanism will be dead.

    But, at least you stood your ground, right?

    This is deadly, deadly serious, and this election is not, say, George HW Bush over Michael Dukkakis– an election in which you could blithely throw your vote away on some Quixotic third-party “conscience” vote. IF BARACK OBAMA IS RE-ELECTED AMERICA IS OVER. PERIOD.

  • dvdmsr

    Obama for 4 more years, or
    Obama-lite for possibly 8 years.

  • dvdmsr

    Obama for 4 more years, or
    Obama-lite for possibly 8 years.

  • jakeofalltrades

    But I deeply respect your position.

    Ultimately, if the GOP stops representing conservatives (by only nominating liberals for the presidency), then there won’t be any more conservatives in the GOP.

  • iidvbii

    I agree completely and have said as much loudly and often. This mentality of “team” player has to end. We are a “team” so long as we can agree on some core issues but to suggest that somehow we have an obligation to sacrifice core beliefs in support of a candidate that frankly I don’t respect anymore than Obama is the height of hypocrisy. I for one will not support a non conservative period. So all those “hold your nosers” out there had better get ready to vote for a conservative and save this election and the GOP in the mix or accept that your Romney vote is a vote for Obama. It’s up to you, perhaps you should “just hold your nose” and vote conservative after all the most important thing to you is beating Obama right?

  • jout99

    I agree with your substance and in a regular election, I agree. But we have real problems and I question the future of this country. If Obama is reelected, we are DOOMED! No second chance, no go backs. IT’S OVER! Think it’s bad now, just wait for his second term. We can say we had a nice run for 200+ years. Goodbye constitution. Goodbye America.

    It is down to that. Get him out of office any way we can. If you have to hold your nose one more time, like loser McCain, do it. Frankly we have a better set of candidates than McClown so I’m optomistic that we can do it whoever is nominated.

  • dbkohl

    And which candidate in the Republican Field falls below Obama in any of those categories? I understand that you vote for your values, but would u really vote for the antithesis of those values (BHO) or fail to vote for someone who would be an improvement over him? I’ll even hold my nose and vote for Romney in the general, but certainly not in the primaries.

  • tarnishedroses
    He is a Christian. He is an American (as American as they come). He is a conservative. And he is a Republican.

    Of all of the men running for president this year, Romney is more familiar with what the Bible actually says than any of them.

    Having lived most of my life as a Christian Latter-day Saint, I can tell you that the Bible is used daily in our home. We hear the Bible preached from the pulpit every week. We read the Bible. We pray in the name of Christ and Christ alone.

    I was never convinced of the depth of McCain’s commitment to Christ, or Bob Dole’s for that matter. I am quite convinced that Mitt Romney is a Christian to the core. Look at how he lives his life and ask yourself whether you want a man like Herman Cain, who talks a great game but doesn’t practice what he preaches, or a man like Mitt Romney who practices what he preaches.

  • gekster

    Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t, couldn’t call Mittens a conservative.
    How many conservatives force you to get healthcare, with penalties if you don’t.

  • http://the-right-stuff-blog.blogspot.com/ brentjohnson

    The only reason we get stuck with moderate candidates is because some conservatives can be guilt tripped into putting party over principles, while moderates don’t get suckered-in by calls for party loyalty. Where’s the pressure on moderates to support conservative candidates when they are nominated? I can’t find the post, but I think Michelle Malkin had a list of all the times moderate Republicans have run third party, switched parties, or supported a Democrat after losing the primary (e.g. Arlen Specter, Charlie Christ, and Lisa Murkowski in the last election).

    Even considering the ultimate outcome over principles, I would have to think long and hard before I could vote for Romney if he is nominated. Republicans in the House and Senate are much more likely to stick together as a conservative block in opposition to a Democrat than a moderate/liberal Republican in the White House. With enough willpower, a Republican Congress using the power of the purse has the power to stop Obama and undo most of the damage he has done.

    We would also lose any chance at running a conservative in the presidential race in 2016 with a moderate incumbent, and we would ruin the Republican brand for 2020 even if we hold the White House for 8 years. The current status quo is not sustainable for another 8-12+ years. This has to be weighed against the damage that Obama could do with another 4 years to this country with his Supreme Court nominees, executive orders, political appointees, and veto (to maintain the new status quo). If our country can survive 8 years of Obama and Republicans stick with conservative principles, the Republican Party can be very strong and very conservative in 2016.

    If anything, this shows how important it is for conservatives to stop fighting with each other. If we want to have a conservative nominee, we’ll have to put our swords away in the near future and get behind a single conservative candidate before we get too far into the primaries.

  • nathanalbright

    …Moderates tend to be better at controlling party machinery than conservatives had. Back in 1872 and 1912, when moderates bolted from the Republicans and refused to stay loyal to Grant and Taft, there were consequences–their electors and representatives got shoved to the back bench and lost influence and power. Now it seems that people like Crist and Murkowski and others can go as independent and still keep all of their friends in the Republican establishment if they win, while harming the conservatives otherwise. Enforcing penalties on disloyal moderates who don’t toe the loyalty line gets the point across that if you want the goodies of being part of a winning party you have to stand by its conservative base.

  • tailfins1959

    I’m tired of the beating we are taking at the hands of Obama. Even a skilled moderate is an acceptable alternative. This recession has tested what people are made of. Southern conservative Christians have FAILED the test. I challenge people to approach Fundie churches in the South for assistance. You will likely see a stone wall of indifference. While still somewhat conservative, I reject the notion of faith based assistance. It cannot be trusted.