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(John Quincy Adams, 6th President, in office March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829.)
by: Daniel Peterson (Daniel is member of Queens Republican County Committee – Dir. of New Media and Former President and Member of the New York Young Republican Club Inc.)
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” – John Quincy Adams
The South Carolina primary is upon us and it is thought that if Mitt Romney walks away with a clear victory there (performing as well as in NH), the Republican nomination will most certainly be his.
I am a believer of still voting when your State’s primary arrives, though, even if all other candidates officially suspend theirs. Principle is what our great Forefathers wanted us to vote on. It is preferable you vote for a candidate and not against one.
So what does a conservative do if Mitt Romney receives the Republican Party nomination? Well, the best thing about our Constitutional Republic is that party nomination for president is only one part of our federated process. Your true representative in Washington – the individual that is supposed to voice you and your neighbor’s ideals, principles and opinions – is, well, your Representative. Your congressional House member is your conservative voice in Washington.
Some pundits are talking up that Romney is a capitalist, which they argue makes him a conservative. Many voters feel that being a capitalist is not good enough and that they simply do not trust Romney to represent their conservative views. The bottom line, though, is that presidents do not legislate, they administer legislation.
Presidents do promote an agenda, but at the end of the day, that agenda is written and voted on as policy by the House and the Senate. Presidents can either accept this policy or veto it. If we walk away from 2012 with a Republican controlled House and Senate, you can be sure that much of the policy being proposed will be conservative. Romney’s only job would be to use his capitalistic review of such policy to determine if it makes America stronger or weaker.
If the nomination is wrapped up after South Carolina or perhaps after Florida, it will be time to shift focus on the 2012 congressional races across the country. With newly drawn district lines, some battles will be easier and some will be harder. There will be incumbents elected by the Tea Party in 2010 that will need re-election and new candidates that will need Tea Party support. If four years of the Obama administration has done one thing, it has re-introduced the importance of who your congressional representative is.
First. The nomination won’t be settled in South Carolina or even Florida. The party changed rules that allow for proportional assigning of delegates. This will make for a much longer primary. Think 2008 when Clinton wouldn’t concede to Obama. In fact I could see as many as three people staying in the race until the end. The prevailing thought is the more that stay in the less likely it is Willard will get the 1144. Then the conservatives can block his nomination at the convention by pooling all the miscellaneous delegates together. Assuming Paul’s people go along with the plan.
Second. While I agree people should be voting on principle most in the GOP are not. The namesake of this website is a prime example. People are so obsessed with defeating Obama they are more worried about finding that candidate who has the best shot at beating him instead of finding someone whose personal platform best represents them. In New Hampshire when asked what the most important quality was for the candidate they were voting 62% of Romney’s voters stated beating Obama was the most important quality while only 14% of his supporters picked true conservative. Even more damning between a choice of what was more important issues or personal qualities Romney supporters picked personal qualities 54% of the time while voters overall picked issues 56% of the time.
We are basically about to get our own Obama… and we deserve it.
Also there is no evidence to support that if both houses are Republican that conservative policy would flow from it. Recent history in fact suggests otherwise.
By StubbornLibertarian on Jan 13, 2012