re: #641 Liberal Classic

The Republicans have lost the battle of framing the debate, and have allowed the Democrats to define them.

Part of the problem as I see it is the public perception of the Republican party. The Democrats have successfully painted the Republican party as simultaneously having two extreme wings. As it suits the needs of the Dems, they can point to either the social conservatives or the fiscal conservatives as being the boogeyman.

Actually, the Dems are attempting to co-opt the fiscal conservatism platform for themselves in some quarters, notably the newly-elected Democrat representatives. The budget isn’t reflecting it, but in politics, words speak louder than actions, at least in the short term. The Republicans need to seize this turf as their own quickly, before they lose it.

As far as the agenda of the Social Conservatives, let’s be clear: there is no such thing as a conservative who believes in such things. Social “conservatism” is an attempt to foist one particular set of fundamentalist Christian beliefs off onto all citizens, and represents a massive intrusion of government power into the private lives of those citizens. It is the polar opposite of Conservatism, which holds that the best government is the least intrusive government, and which attempts to create an environment where everyone is free to pursue their own lives as they see fit according to their own beliefs, to the greatest extent possible.