Is the GOP really the “big tent” party?

Yes, the GOP is a big tent party -- the Republicans need big tents to get their Cadillacs in out of the rain.

I suppose the modern version of "Divide et impera" (Divide and conquer) would be "Diversify and conquer."

As long as the many constituencies of the Democratic party are kept separate, none can take over the party and that is the key "Keeping the constituencies separtae by feeding the distrust of each other will keep the liberals in power for 100 years.

The constituencies occupy the New Communism Zoo; animals in wide, roomy cages, easily dominated by and submissive to the hand that feeds them. The mindless menagerie, breeding, brooding and eating, believe they owe their very survival to the government. And like all animals, as long as they are fed regularly they will not attack or resist the zoo keeper.

But the blacks will never accept the hispanics as equals and vice versa. The gays and lesbians, the flag ship humans of the New Communist world, carry within them the seeds of their own destruction and are essentially 'throw-away humans." They neither reap, no do they sow.

Union organizers, the world second oldest profession, will forever intimidate and dominate the weak and homeless.The scholars, safe and protected on their campuses with their own police forces and autonomy have nothing to fear as the enter the Priesthood of the New Communism.

And New Communism's new female, her plumbing needs financed by pilfering the wages of dull workers, the State exploits her ego and sexuality to cow and anesthetize overweight, overstimulated and over-hormoned males, who at the same time have been liberated from the need to parent their own off spring.

We cannot break the coalitions through appeal to reason. We cannot break the coalition through modeling, accepting, partnering or cajoling. We have no wealth left so we cannot bribe them with cell phones or food stamps so essentially we are at a cross roads. Conservatism is the dinosaur and Obamunism is the asteroid.

So what do he have to bargain with? I think we need to look at the basis of the New Communism and focus our attention there. The regime proposes to provide the basic necessities of life. But those necessities come from systems developed by the dominant culture in this nation, the organizations, the production systems, the scientific insight, thoughtful engineering and, most critically, maintenance. I propose that allow the regime to maintain it's own production. We must refuse to participate. We must withdraw both physically and mentally from participation in the systems which deliver food, clean water and transportation. We do this through massive and sudden migration.

When the zoo keeper no longer shows up with a half of a shovelful, the animals begin to get panicky and like all wild animals they will turn on their keepers in a heartbeat.

It would not be the first time the resistance attacked the occupying force's infrastructure.

Unlike the Democrats we don't mind criticizing those in our party. Many of these RINOs are part of the problem. I mean, if we are going to criticize the left for their spending and support for amnesty, it's not okay when our side does it either.

Besides that though, I think some of these small, even odd issues that don't matter should be looked over. But we can't compromise our principles.

Besides the RINOs that have so much power I like our tent.

Sadly, most of the comments have unwittingly proved the author's point for her.

If you want ideological purity, you'll keep losing the big elections and the big policy decisions to the left...again, and again, and again.

Stop promoting freedom while using government to interefere in people's private lives. Stop building huge security bureacracies (DHS and TSA, among others) while promoting freedom and liberty. Stop promoting balanced budgets, when you spend like drunken sailors when you're in power.

Conservatives and Republicans are absolutely duplicitous on these and many other issues...and somehow thinks that the rest of America isn't hearing or understanding your message...or that we are too stupid to understand it.

" God help us if we don't" Well, therein lies the fundamental problem. If we are not faithful to godly precepts, moral collapse will inevitably be followed by fiscal and societal collapse. Don't believe in God, you say? Well. Don't expect a happy future. Just look at Europe- the once great Christian nations are now ripe to fall. And we are close on their heels.

Sorry but I disagree with some, not all, but some of what is written. Yes I have my principles, and yes I know what I am willing to compromise on...PROVIDED YOU PROVE TO ME THAT YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY I STAND WHERE I DO.

The way I see it is many, especially the young, want to toss out the social issues and go on the fiscal issues. I have as yet to see where someone says that with full understanding how the social issues are fully connected to the fiscal issues, most especially in a country where most of the budget is consumed by entitlements. Entitlements are a direct result of social issues.

Furthermore some social issues are totally weighted in foundational civilization issues. Gay marriage will not make us more fiscally responsible. It will have a direct impact on society and civilization that will require more money to 'cure the ills of society' as a result of total and complete dysfunction.

While this piece was well written by Kemberlee Kaye it fails to show a depth or understanding of the roots of conservatism. The 'can't we all just get along' message falls far short without depth or understanding as to how we got here to begin with. Also why is it after every election the social conservatives get the most pounding? Is it because it is easier to be loose with morals and easier to be bad than good perhaps?

BTW...we did kumbaya with our differences under Reagan. Since then the kumbaya has resulted in things like Obamacare. Remember it was a RINO Senator that could of stopped it from going to the floor of the Senate to begin with...AND SHE DIDN'T. How do I kumbaya with that? Simply put: I won't.

While I understand that there was a significant squabble within our conservative group, having such a diverse mix did not have a whole lot to do with it. I do not believe that losing had anything to do with uncompromising supporters. It has everything to do with party selection of candidates. If I had to bet, I would say that the next candidate that the GOP will run has already been selected. Done deal. The tea party and the conservative movement did not pick Romney. The GOP committee did.

Think for just a minute. What would be the best way to keep the masses from rebelling? To give them hope that their candidate will win! It is a pageant that is fixed from day -1,000 and there is no way to bring it down.

Some thoughts from a Canadian Conservative: We here in the great white North have been labelled as conservative, always assuming that we are a member of the Conservative party du jour. Wrong on all counts. I am a small-c fiscal and social conservative and I don't hesitate to educate people on the differences, including politicians. BTW, I did that to this country's present Attorney-General, a good friend, when I dog sat for he and his wife. He was somewhat taken abakc, and since he has the ear of our Prime Minister, I did tell him to pass o my thoughts-this came up when I told the AG that my party membership lapsed for the reasons I specified. I don't want to be classified as a member of a "big tent" party, to compromise my values and beliefs all in the name of inclusiveness. That did NOT work in this election, nor has it worked in Canada, or any other country for that matter, where the mushy middle is brought out in order to appeal to "everyone." one thing you have to give to President Barky Boy-he did NOT compromise on anything and look what it got him-a victory. What the true Conservatives have to do is stop the infighting between the fiscals and socials and unite together. When this RS poster talks about Liberal groupthink, this is what has to emerge-a united front of people who are like minded enough not to compromise what they believe in and willing to stand up to critics who label us "extremist." To hell with big tents, and RINOS and welcoming all, standing up for principles and beliefs is what it's all about - if people don't like them, there's always the Democratic office down the street. The time do do it is now. Forget being "numb" or in shock about what happened. Forget navel gazing as to why the we lost. We all know what happened, but it is what it is and it's time to move on. Forget "soul searching", it's time for action. Do you seriously think the Dems are sitting on their laurels, savouring victory? Nope. They're planning their ground game for 2014, for 2016, anticipating that the Conservative movement is still fighting amongst itself, still trying to shake off the yoke of the RINO image, that Rove is still directing the game there. If it is going to happen, if decent, strong, Conservatives are going to be run and elected, time to start looking now, not when the election is upon us again.

Late to the party here (we do have a bit of a scandal over here, involving the BBC ...!), but let me say this is a great piece!

I'd like to add just one little footnote:

it would be great, and extremely useful, that all who fulminate against other conservatives and especially against certain candidates, do run a critical check on where their opinions about socons/libertarians etcetc are coming from.

It couldn't, by any chance, have come from the corrupt MSM, could it?

Or could it?

I ask because the 'principled' stand of so many conservatives against Sarah Palin consistently goes back to the smears and vilifications produced by the corrupt MSM since she was nominated as VP.

I believe this applies to all the other 'principled' stands we've been reading about.

The one group which is exempt from this check are the RINOs - we all know who they are and how they operate.

In fact, we can say that, until the opposite is proven, all who are praised by the corrupt MSM can be regarded as RINOs.

Great piece!

Oh, I said that already! Never mind - bears repeating!

:-)

Typical DIRTY Chicago politics stole the election. Voter fraud was rampant, and the voters don't seem to care. Despite the myriad dissections of the reasons the election went the way it did, the cause and effect is simple. Chicago politics, voter apathy, and the descent of Americans into the Federal Feeding Trough. The future is indeed dim and gloomy. I fear the US will never be able to recover. We reap what we sow.

Thanks for the thought-provoking article, Kemberlee!

Having seen these calls to be more temperate regarding so-called "social" issues many times in the last five decades, I must respectfully offer a different opinion.

I get that we need to do a better job of selling inclusion. Winning does involve marketing, after all. But one thing about the exit polls is that they do not show that we lost this election because of social conservatives. At least they turned out to vote, even though Romney was clearly not their guy. That disconnect is all you need to know to show that something other than so-cons played a larger factor in this loss. Several things, in fact.

We lost because it's perfectly legal to require union membership in several industries, where they extract union dues from the workers, and funnel them exclusively into the Democrat party. This is a practice that should be highly illegal, with punishments just below those for treason and murder. Because of this institutionalized corruption, we are playing at a tremendous disadvantage that no amount of outreach to specific groups of voters could possibly fix. Until this practice is halted, we must fight ten times as hard as any Democrat for each vote.

We lost because we are fighting a nasty, persistent stereotype that the Democrat/Media complex is fully vested in selling as hard as possible. Every aspiring tyranny needs a scapegoat class upon which to heap blame for their failures. The left's scapegoating of conservatives is this era's call to Judenrein. Anyone who thinks that is too extreme is simply not paying attention. Breitbart saw it. He fought back.

 [And in an ominous parallel to this fact, is the rise of de-facto "cleansing" of Jews from many countries around the world, including such leftist-dominated cultures as Norway. Evangelicals and Jews will be destroyed if the left has it's way. So we must protect our evangelicals, just as we would the Jews.]

The Democrat/Media complex hangs the nastiest labels on conservatives they can find, and they make sure everyone feels comfortable saying so in public. In countless man-on-the-street interviews with the average Democrat protester, we see that they know the right is racist and hates women, but they can never give a single reason why. In reality, the only party concerned with race in America is the Democrat party. They care more about skin color than any human alive in 1860. And yet somehow they continue to tar conservatives as racist.

We lost because only one or two of our best candidates seems to be aware of this problem. We lost because Republican party leaders in congress have remained silent in the face of overwhelming slander aimed at the right. Trey Gowdy and Rand Paul cannot do it alone.

We lost because voter fraud is rampant, and we do nothing about it.

We lost because the media loves a provable lie if it comes from Obama, but will spin up a mere disagreement on policy by a Republican as a calumny of the highest order.

We lost because too many on the right still believe only a moderate can win, despite a long history that proves otherwise.

Read that last sentence again.

And we lost because too many on the right allowed this moderate concept to be employed yet again, despite the fact that Reagan showed exactly how to win an election without running as a moderate.

We did not lose because of a lack of outreach to Hispanics or any other group. In fact, as many intelligent pundits on the right have pointed out from historical example, Republicans NEVER gain ground from outreach to special interest groups.

Republicans. Never. Gain. Ground from pandering to special interests.

But this is about the tent. Clearly we have the broadest tent because the most important voting bloc to a conservative is the individual. It has to be that way, because that's the way Liberty works. Anyone who wants to live their life for their own sake is welcome in our tent.

Try that over on the left, where they have litmus tests for everything.

Those are the reasons we lost, and here is what we must do about it:

First, we must fully embrace the long, hard battle to reclaim our institutions from the left. The schools, the media, and the workers are all controlled by the left. Their tyrannical grip upon those "estates" is at an all time high in the West, in general, and is worsening by the moment, even while the old media have lost their market share and are failing as businesses. I do not advocate fixing the public schools. I advocate ignoring them Do not send your children there. Do not vote for school millages of any kind.

Next, deal with the playing field. From the earliest days of the abolitionist movement, conservatives have always had the deck stacked against them. This was to be expected in every election, and usually it is rational to claim that a rigged game is just the playing field we have to fight upon. But not since the days of Lincoln has the playing field been so fully rigged against the proponents of liberty. We have to change the dialogue, and the rules concerning the elections. We must refuse to be thrown out of polling places when they count votes. We must show up in large numbers to observe the elections. One or two "poll watchers" is not going to cut it any more.

We speak out. We need men like Allen West who know how to speak out and take major risks to their political careers, not backroom dealers who are trying to simply keep the game alive.

We must employ every tool at our disposal to dislodge the racism pushed upon us by the left. We must also be vigilant to make sure they do not get away with false flag racism in our midst. We must have zero tolerance for this despicable slander, and every person on the right must learn to fight against it with every fiber and every resource we can muster. Only a Democrat cares about race. Make this known.

We need to do our own organizing. And we need to show up. We need to become independent from the economy, and we need to be prosperous. If the left doesn't want to follow us, we should at least be able to keep them from harming us while we continue the long march through the institutions that is required to preserve this nation.

Returning finally to the social conservatives: The social cons are the heart and soul of the political right. We do need statesmen from among them who can learn by Reagan's example how to avoid being bogged down in discussions of abortion, homosexuality, and the second amendment. We should take our positions on these things as a given, and assume all questions about them are an attempt at slander, not an attempt at dialog. Learn to Reaganize the response, and get back to selling individual liberty. That's the best way to preserve religious freedom in this country.

But we must embrace and cherish the evangelicals and other Christian groups on the right, even though it's not "cool" (see Complex, Media/Democrat). They may stumble in their articulation of conservatism, but that is no reason to let them go the way of Copts in Egypt.

Let me just put it this way: you can have our social conservatives when you pry them from our cold dead hands.

Nothing wrong with the tent. Until we start treating all the minorities like the Democrats and give them things, then we continue to be declared non-inclusive to minorities. That is what they want. Personally, not being of sound monetary value and having worked hard to where I am today, it just amazes me that we let those who want to make the situation worse continue the narrative and the leadership in the GOP keeps agreeing with them.

My money will continue to go to candidates not the party. Not a party man and have never been, but if no one steps up and challenges Boehner for the Speaker of the House we will continue seeing the stupidity. Stop the stupidity and stop letting the Democrats control the narrative. If not, then I do believe people will not support the Republican in 2014 and beyond.

We have got now what we have so dreaded, in part because we did not clearly define the issues and not standing on sound conservative principles. The pundits that sound like they are speaking as conservatives are only speaking for the themselves and the Democrats and continue to wring their hands and bemoan how we are not inclusive. What we are not inclusive with is the Democrat ideas. Our tent is big enough and getting bigger. We just need the right people to convey those ideals and principles. Unfortunately the candidate this election done a poor job of doing this.

Good article, but many of us weren't lost trying to figure out what went wrong. I think most of us hoped for the best, but were prepared for the worse. I think the only folks in shock were the ones who drank the Romney kool-aid.

Our party is fractured for many reasons, but one of the biggest problems is with the current leadership and they need to be replaced.

The author wants people to do what's expedient, rather than what's right. The author wants consistent and principled people to compromise with inconsistent and unprincipled people. The author wants purists (uncorrupted by liberalism) to "get along with" with impure (corrupted by liberalism) people.

No, never again.

The Republican party "big tent" has been "kumbaya" like that for a very long time. The results have been a hop, skip and a bounce along the road to serfdom - Statism increases when the Democrats are elected, and statism increases when the Republicans are elected. Nothing changes. That's what "getting along" with RINOs and other people who are impure (ie. corrupted by liberalism) does.

What's needed is to create a 3rd party that truly offers an opponent to statism, to take us in the other direction, rather than a statist-lite companion along the road to serfdom.

I voted for Romney last time, even against me better judgement, but because Obama got elected to a second term, the Republican party is dead to me now.

Well we could do what the Democrats did before we ended slavery.That being we could abduct innocent villagers, force them to work our lands, or face torture and death.

just sayin..............thats how they got a big tent.

The fact is we play fair and they produce votes by voting 40 times for one vote. How do you get 148% turnout in Florida districts, how do you get 99% in Philadelphia after the Republican poll watchers removed. Black Panthers outside the polling places. Shredded Republican registrations and ballots. Poll workers telling people to vote democrat all down ballot, no voter i.d., the republican get out the vote computer was sabotaged. The Republicans are like Romney/Ryan decent, honest and tell the truth and are embarrassed when mistakes are made. Democrats like Obama want to destroy their opponent not just win. they stuff ballot boxes, promote illegal votes, take foreign money. No wonder Republicans lose. Fair and Square they lose.