The influential Politico Playbook reported, “OVERHEARD: Bob Dole, the nation’s senior Republican, tells friends he is unhappy that Mike Bloomberg might run. Dole thinks that would just elect Ted Cruz. Dole thinks a Bloomberg candidacy would divide moderate voters with the Democratic nominee—providing a clear path for Cruz, assuming he’s the nominee.”
Am I to deduce from this that establishment Republicans would rather have Hillary Clinton than Ted Cruz?
Dole has some nerve. During his 1996 failed bid for the White House as the Republican presidential nominee, he championed the GOP “Big Tent” approach. Apparently, Dole’s “Big Tent” applies only if it is moderates who (1) define Republican values and (2) maintain custody and control of the tent.
One fact has become increasingly clear. Moderate Republicans would rather lose elections to Democrats than elect principled conservative leaders to office. The real battle within the GOP lies in control over ideological supremacy, not Republicans versus Democrats. It’s no surprise that Republicans have won the White House only eight of the last 24 years.
Evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians are fed-up with the double talk from establishment Republicans who run as conservatives in order to be elected, only to then govern more like Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi liberals. Saying one thing to be elected, but doing the opposite once in power—such actions are rightly named a “betrayal.”
As an example, these GOP generals and lieutenants effectively eliminated Todd Akin from being Missouri’s U.S. Senator in 2012. But in doing so, they also killed GOP voter turnout in that election, wiping out Missouri’s Republican Farm Team for a decade: county commissioners, city councilmen, school board and State Representatives alike.
The establishment’s attack on Todd Akin by Mitt Romney, Roy Blunt, John Danforth, Kit Bond, John McCain and Karl Rove caught the nation’s attention.
In reference to the McCaskill ad, J. C. Watts said: “This was the most damaging ad in the country against any Republican candidate. When the enemy positions the general to be killed using his own soldiers…”
Mike Huckabee wrote: “I had not seen that spot before today when you sent it… Good grief! No wonder the race wasn’t close! The GOP big boys truly were more interested in killing Akin than McCaskill. Hope they enjoy more years of Harry Reid. They deserve it, but the country doesn’t. But no problem—their crony consultants will all be millionaires and get their huge profits from the millions they pocketed by extorting rich donors who believed that the snake oil would save them.”
Rich Bott said, “The Republican establishment ‘leadership’ gave Claire McCaskill her best ammunition. It’s outrageous!”
One year later in 2013, these same “establishment leaders” were the first to host fundraisers and gather endorsements for Senator Rob Portman after he embraced same-sex marriage and violated his long-stated commitment to traditional marriage.
What principle am I missing between Akin and Portman?
In the Art of War, Sun Tzu observed that weapons change over generations—we’ve gone from bow-and-arrows to nuclear missiles—but the battle remains the same: (1) struggle for ideological supremacy and (2) control of resources. The battle for the soul of the Republican Party entails both of these—the struggle for ideological supremacy and control of resources.
Let’s flesh this out. Establishment Republicans have been largely in charge of the Republican Party apparatus—RNC, NRSC and NRCC—since 1988. They frittered away the Reagan legacy of limited government, lower taxes, deregulation of business and the attitude of “the-one-thing-government-can-do-for-me-is-leave-me-alone.” It’s worth noting that Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984 by campaigning on principle and moral absolutes; he won 49 states in his re-election.
To compound the problem, these establishment moderates have generally been the financial beneficiaries of the lucrative 15 percent agency fees, their take of the money the GOP has spent on radio, TV, direct mail and polling since 1988. “Earning” 15 percent off the top of two to three billion dollars has meant they’ve made a pretty good living. They fly around the country in private planes and park their yachts at Key Largo for the winter.
Evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians must get involved in the Republican Party because of what is at stake in America: freedom and liberty—both of which require virtue. The undeniable clash in the GOP is over ideological supremacy and who controls the resources: Christianity vs. secularism.
Those with intellectual clarity and moral discernment must bring Biblical values to the public square.
We must find a Gideon or Rahab to make a stand.
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