Re: Re: Republican Caucus

You raise some excellent points Mike and I'd like to touch down a few of them for clarification from my first novel of a post.

1) "Rather, they are voting for him because they feel that GOP leadership has not done enough to fulfill their promise to stop Obama." -- That mentality is the entire problem with the current GOP! That statement alone is my entire argument. Their entire platform is to repeal Obama's work without offering ANY viable solutions. And what exactly is the GOP trying to stop? This is where I need you, my conservative friend, to explain WHAT Obama has done that is so horrific that it needs to be rectified. Because in my eyes we've had economic growth for the last eight years that EXCEEDS the Republican golden boy, Reagan, who's widely considered the best modern economic president of our time. He has implemented the Affordable Care Act, although imperfect, is up and working and has successfully decreased the uninsured rate to below 10%. The USA has not entered into any more wars during his tenure and has even removed troops from countries we had previously been occupying. Not to mention the enormous social justice strides our nation has taken under his presidency in regards to the BGLTQ community. And if nothing else, he will surely be renowned as the best historical President in regards to climate change.

2) "Anxieties of conservatives are more legitimate than you'd like to admit." -- You talked about the rise of ISIS, the Benghazi attack, and the Iran nuclear deal. First off, the fact that Obama didn't get more praise for his handling of the nuclear deal is beyond me. Here's a quick "too long, didn't read" (TL;DR) of the deal that NPR published. So should the US really be worried about the Iran nuclear deal? The short answer is no, we shouldn't be. Secondly, the threat of ISIS attacking civilians on US soil is far smaller than the chance of the US killing civilians in Iraq. Since 2003 our presence in Iraq has caused the death of over 150,00 citizens and the displacement of over 2.8 million families. So to think the damage/turmoil we have caused in the region didn't play a role in the growth of ISIS would be incredibly naive. Conversely, less than 3,000 US civilians have died from Iraqi related terrorism on US soil. So if conservatives are really worried about being attacked by terrorists on US soil, it's a good thing their representatives have protected their second amendment rights so well so that they can defend themselves. I feel far more sympathy for the Iraqi/Syrian families that have actually had to go through trauma than I do for the Republican voters that have to get a prescription for Xanax for their terrorist anxiety. That came off harsher than intended, but you understand the point.

3) "A libertarian challenger is certainly not the answer." -- Okay, you got me here, but if there was a year for a younger version of Ron Paul to run and actually have his ideas heard, it would be this year! We already had over 10 candidates in the primaries, what's one more?! 

RE: Republican Caucus

I know you set me up for a similarly inspired rant about the Democratic Caucus (and I'll get there), but there is far too many things in your previous post that need to be addressed first.

Yes, Donald Trump is the front-runner.  And yes, the math is on his side as most likely to win the nomination.  As someone who participated in the Republican Party caucuses this past Tuesday as a vocal leader of the #NotTrump coalition, I understand and share your frustration with Trump's candidacy.  However, I think you deeply and fundamentally misunderstand the conservative mind-set which has led to his front-runner status.

"This was a better idea than Trump steaks!"

If Trump supporters are voting for him because they believed the GOP failed during the era of President Obama, it is not because of a lack of ingenuity or smart policy ideas.  Rather, they are voting for him because they feel that GOP leadership has not done enough to fulfill their promise to stop Obama.  Just look at who is running just behind Trump in the delegate count.  How else can you explain Senator Ted Cruz being the closest person to ascending past Trump?  Cruz's signature achievements are his failed attempts to shutdown the entire government over Planned Parenthood funding and funding for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

During the past four years, Republicans have watched the rise of ISIS, the attacks on Paris, an attack on American consulate (Benghazi), and a nuclear deal with Iran happen.  All of these events have resurrected post 9/11 anxieties about the security of our country.  On the domestic front, people have felt threatened by illegal aliens and riots/police protests.  And economically, people's wages are still largely stagnant.  And Obama's signature achievement, while granting some people with healthcare who were shut out of the market ten years ago, has done nothing to stem the skyrocketing costs that the majority of Americans are paying for health insurance.  You may accuse the GOP of fear mongering, but the anxieties of conservatives are more legitimate than you'd like to admit.

Loyalty and trust are paramount to values voters.  And the general mood is that the majority of GOP establishment figures are now seen as liars, promise breakers, and co-conspirators for their inability to stem the tide of these trends and quell these anxieties.  In the current political paradigm, reasonable policy-positions that makes the base uncomfortable (Rubio's Gang of 8 Immigration Bill, Kaisich's Medicare Expansion, Boehner's Debt Ceiling and Shutdown Stopping Deals, Huntsman's embrace of Climate Science ect) is magnified as heresy.  In the meantime, absurd rhetoric like claims that illegal aliens are mostly rapists and murders (Trump) and that we ought to carpet-bomb the Middle East until the sand glows in the dark (Cruz) are not seen as gaffes but as resolute leadership if the base agrees with the general sentiment.  And lacking a sense of "political correctness" is seen as a positive because it is a sign of authenticity.

(Cruz's Foreign Policy Platform)

I wish there was a simple solution, but there is not.  As much as Trump might embarrass the GOP establishment, they are not quick to criticize him.  His core positions (deep tax cuts, border security, a slowdown of immigration, and a strong military response to ISIS) are consistent with the rest of the conservative movement.

A libertarian challenger is certainly not the answer.  While I greatly admire Representative Amash, I think Ron Paul proved the absolute ceiling of libertarian support in the GOP is around 20%.  His son Rand, who had the most libertarian-ish convictions this time around, was resoundingly defeated in the primaries.  While many people hold libertarian views, not many people self-identify as libertarian.  A classic libertarian position of being skeptical of foreign interventions in the Middle East and a desire to reign in wasteful military spending are non-starters in today's GOP.  Senator Lindsey Graham even ran for president specifically to thwart a possible Rand Paul bid saying his presidency would be a threat to national security.  Furthermore, libertarians as a whole are not an ideologically consistent faction.  Most people who supported a mix of Ron Paul or Gary Johnson  in 2012 elections defected early to supporting Trump, Cruz, or Sanders rather than supporting Rand.  That's because the so-called "libertarian coalition" was made up of a rag-tag bunch of social liberals skeptical of big government, Ayn Rand readers, anti-government crusaders, Koch Brother anti-regulation businessmen, and pro-gun/anti-drug war misfits.

I know that's not a very hopeful place to end but the disappointment is not done, yet.  Next up... the Democratic Caucus!

Republican Caucus

I'm sure if one were to go back through my Facebook postings, previous blog writings, talk to my friends, or even spend 5 minutes discussing politics with me it would become very obvious what side of the aisle I tend to lean towards. Thus, it is of complete objectivity that I would like to comment on the Republican Caucus and my esteemed colleague Mike Skunes can comment on the Democratic Caucus so our party bias can hopefully be removed.

What is now common knowledge is this: Donald Trump is the front runner. Not only that, but he is crushing his opposition. He has almost 100 more delegates than Cruz and over 200 more than Rubio after Super Tuesday. He has won 10 of 15 states and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Which begs the question: how? How is an independent businessman that has histrionic personality disorder tendencies and is drawing consistent comparisons to Hitler continuing to win the GOP primary?

Here's my opinion, he's winning not because he's a great candidate, but because the GOP has failed during the Obama presidency. Obama was a shoe-in during the 2008 election because of the disaster we call the GWB presidency, so it wasn't a surprise that McCain lost, even though I admire him and think he would have been a fine president. The GOP's real mistake was their reaction to this loss. The GOP split with the dawn of the tea party in 2009 which had basically one mission: stop Obama. This was the beginning of the decline for a party that previously had roots in fiscal responsibility and conservative values/rights. So eventually they put forth a Romney/Ryan campaign four years later trying to bridge the two sides of the party. It failed and they haven't recovered since.

Since that time the party has become less about ingenuity and improving what we have and more about repealing what's already in place. The most prominent idea the party has put forward in the last eight years is the Keystone pipeline. An issue that really resonates with millennials because of the consequences and implications it will have on climate change. Other than that the only thing we get from the GOP lately is rhetoric, fear mongering, and sound bites. Yes, individual republican minded people can be very smart and have great ideas, but the party leaders and the face of the GOP has not shown that. Thus, this leadership has caused one undeniable fact: their loyal voters aren't putting up with the candidates that have put them in this situation over the last eight years.

Cue Trump.


In all reality Trump isn't saying anything different than the other candidates. More fear mongering about refugees, more rhetoric about fixing the country with no actual plans, and the premise of kicking people out of our nation and surrounding us with an impenetrable wall. Oh yeah, and we can keep our guns...ya know, the things that the democrats haven't really ever waged war against, but republicans pretend there's a war on our second amendment rights to get votes in the south. So why is he winning? Because he's not associated with the system. It's as simple as that. The long time republicans (and to a large extent Americans in general) are sick of what's happening in Washington, so they're THIRSTING for anything different. It's a perfect storm and Trump is capitalizing.

If the GOP really wanted to fix this "Trump problem" the solution is simple: throw a libertarian into the mix *paging Justin Amash* - Libertarians present solutions for the future that have roots in history and statistics, they respect and understand science, and they're basically the conservative equivalent of Bernie Sanders and look how much he's stirred up the Democratic Caucus...oh wait, that's not for me to talk about it...okay Mike, I guess that's your cue.