Say Anything Blog

Michael Shutze at Save the GOP

As we slowly approach election day there is a heated debate going on within the conservative camp regarding “what is to be done”. Do we stay home? Do we cross the aisle and vote for a fairly conservative guy like Harold Ford Jr.? Do we hold our nose and vote Republican anyway?

I hear the party guys whispering in my ear. “Nancy Pelosi will impeach Bush.” “The Democrats will grind the war effort to a halt with hearings and redtape.” “They will raise taxes, increase anti-growth legislation and cripple the economy.” “Do you really want to be responsible for the collapse of Western Civilization itself!”

Maybe that last one is rhetoric, but that seems to be closest to the tenor of the warnings I am being given daily from the blogosphere and talk radio. You know what? They are right. All of the awful things they are warning us about could very well happen. The war effort could be hampered or even worse, ended. Taxes will certainly go up if the Democrats take the House since all that is required for them to do so would be inaction. Sunset clauses in the current taxcuts, included to get the Senate on board, will ensure that pre-2003 tax levels will return. If Bush is impeached, what does that mean for the national political dialogue? He would be the second president in a row to be impeached, unheard of in our nation’s history. What little confidence is left in the Republic would collapse and who knows where we go from there.

So yeah, things could ugly; with the war ended or drastically curtailed in Iraq and possibly even Afghanistan Al-Qaeda could get its feet under itself again and attack. Is a nuke attack on New York City out of the realm of possibility? With Speak Pelosi calling the shots would China feel emboldened and make a play for Taiwan as the Olympics approach knowing that the Bush administration would never get the go ahead from the House to honor our treaty obligations?

Serious stuff to think about huh? Now shift gears and think about this little tale. There is a guy, a good guy and he is dating a pretty good girl, in fact she is fantastic. She is gorgeous, smart, funny and really likes this guy. Sounds perfect, but there is one little problem, every few months she gets drunk at a party and cheats on him with some random guy.

If you can’t guess by now, conservatives are the guy and the GOP is that hot girl who seems so perfect for him but for this one minor flaw. Dump her you say? Could this guy even get a girlfriend like this ever again if he dumped her? She is so right, maybe he can fix this one little problem and make everything alright. So he forgives her and she professes her love for him and promises never to make a mistake like that ever again. Of course she doesn’t keep her promise and cheats on him again and it hurts all the worse this time, but he has never needed her more. Guys are so envious of him when they see him with her, she claims she doesn’t want any other guy for a boyfriend and their sex life is freaking awesome. Is this really all that bad? The guy looks around at all his single friends and they would kill to have a girl like he has. So what would you do?

I can tell you what I would do. If I truly loved her I would forgive her . . . the first time. The second time I would dump her ass and never speak to her again. As conservatives we exist in a sort of abusive relationship with the GOP. They promise to love us and be faithful, but they cheat on us with abandon because they know we could never get a deal as sweet as we have now. And besides would the guy rather be single and alone? Yes. At least he would have his dignity and you tell me what matters more in this life than that.

So don’t tell me about all of the horrible shit that will go down if the GOP loses. You are probably right. Don’t I even care about my country though? Of course I care, that is why I write on this blog! That is why I give my hard earned money to candidates, that is why I spend so much time trying to understand the myriad of issues that confront us as a Republic!

The question isn’t do I care, it’s do the Republicans care? If all of this is so damned important why did this congress increase non-discretionary spending by 9%, the highest increase since 1992? If it was so damned vital that the wheeling dealing Democrats didn’t get their hands on the public treasury then why the hell didn’t the Republicans pass major legislation ending earmarks? If national security is such a chief concern of theirs then why is the border so damned open Raj can march two elephants and a mariachi band across the Rio Grande for an hour and half and no boarder patrol shows up?

The answer is simply that they don’t care and that earmarks, pork and power are more important to them than reform and good governance. So what the hell does it matter if the Democrats get into power, how much worse can it really get? My message to my fellow conservatives is just this: be a man. Stand up and stop letting your girlfriend cheat on you. She is either with you or not. I have no problems dumping the hottest girl in the world. (I know, I have dumped a few hotties in my time for a lot less than cheating on me.)

You want real change? You want to believe in your government again? You don’t want to be lied to anymore? It’s simple, stop letting the GOP walk all over you. Let them go. Dump them, they will never respect you until you do. After you dump them they will beg to get back with you just like the girl in the story. Without a respectable boyfriend she is just another slut without anybody who truly cares for her. The truth is, without her boyfriend her life looks pretty grim, who else but someone equally twisted and cruel would put up with her behavior? She needs a nice guy. The nice guy may think he needs her, but that is because he isn’t ready to stand up for himself. When he is, the relationship is over. The GOP and conservatives are over as well; they just don’t know it yet. The only way this relationship can be saved is if the GOP is rebuilt and purged from top to bottom but keeps the same name.

You wouldn’t let a girl treat you like a fool. Why do you let a bunch of worthless politicians play you for a fool? In the first case all that is at stake is your personal honor, in the second case what is at stake is your country that is sinking down the tubes because you don’t have the stones to do the hard thing and stand up to the abuse.

It is not the Democrats fault that we are in this position, they may be despicable traitors but they always were and are simply being true to their nature. It is not the RINOs fault, they are hypocritical deceivers but again, they are being true to their nature. Mike DeWine has never been a conservative after all. It is not even the GOP party tools’ fault, they are greedy cowards without an ideological bone in their body but we knew that at the beginning of the deal, especially those of us who have met any of them in person. Is it the system, is it our political system that is at fault for this sad state of affairs? The system needs reform, no doubt about it, but look at a man like Senator Coburn. He seems to defy the system what stops others from doing the same? The fault seems to be then with society, why can’t our society produce more leaders like Tom Coburn? Sure our educational system is broken and maybe our amoral society doesn’t bring out the best qualities in a man these days but that doesn’t mean we are bereft of leadership. Herman Cain wanted to represent the state of Georgia in the United States Senate but was denied that chance. It would seem then that something else is keeping leaders like Cain from the roles in our society they have earned by the merit of their numerous qualities.

What’s the problem then? Who is at fault? Look in the mirror, it’s you. You and me. We may have every card in the deck stacked against us but that doesn’t relieve us of our ultimate responsibility as citizens. The buck doesn’t stop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it stops with us. We get the government we elect. We elected every single problem in this country today. We put up with taxes today that our Founding Fathers would have started a bloody revolution over. We put up with abuses of Constitutional liberty that our Founders rebelled against even though they didn’t have a powerful, respected document to legally justify it.

If we were half the men our Founding Fathers were we would cast our fortune to the wind and live our lives the way our God-given liberty allowed us to. Instead we are debating about whether or not to vote for Bob Corker to the Senate.