EckerNet.Com

With the departure of Fred Thompson from the quest for the Republican nomination for President, the race has changed more than simply marginally thinning a crowded field. Basically at this point the rest of the nomination process, at least for the Republicans, becomes largely academic. Regardless of who the candidate ends up being, there will be at least one large mainstream faction of the conservative movement that will regard that candidate with heartfelt disgust.

Never before has the fallacy of the GOP being a echo-chamber of Rove-talking-point following zombies been more clear. The big-tent of the GOP has many different factions with, while not contradictory, at least very diverse interests. The remaining candidates each hold views, or whose past actions, will alienate at least one very important part of the conservative movement.

Typically in a nomination race, the field thins out by dropping the least desirable, and most problematic candidates first, and you\’re left with multiple candidates who would be able to carry all sides. So far in this presidential campaign the exact opposite has happened.

Gingrich, Tancredo, Hunter, and now Thompson, all candidates around which the entire conservative movement could have rallied. Now gone. Instead we McCain, Giuliani, Huckabee and Romney, all guaranteed to alienate one major part of the conservative movement, and instill general apathy in many more.

Can conservatives put aside their putrid disgust with whomever is their candidate in \’08?? Looking at both historical evidence and recent events, the likely answer is not encouraging.

Starting in 2003, many conservatives were becoming extremely disgusted with the Republican party. We had the Presidency and we had Congress, yet none of the conservative agenda was being accomplished. Instead we had the same inept leadership and massive spending. While conservatives did bite their tongue in 2004, they decided to express their disgust in 2006. Many didn\’t show up, others made protest votes, the result being horrible losses across the spectrum for the GOP.

Have we moved beyond that? It doesn\’t look encouraging. Since Fred has dropped out of the race, we\’ve had a virtual flood of conservatives declaring their intentions to either sit out 08 or vote Democrat. Glenn Reynolds. Bill Quick. Stephen Bainbridge. Even Rush Limbaugh. Plus already it\’s become evident that conservatives aren\’t exactly chomping at the bit to be involved.

It\’s become fairly clear that many conservatives are broadcasting their intentions to tell the GOP to shove off at the national level. As we saw in \’06, this has an effect at all levels of the political office. And unless something changes we\’re looking at massive losses for the GOP at both the state and national level once again. This would have catastrophic effect on our nation and simply cannot happen.

So while the presidential race is over, at least for me, the \’08 elections are not. While I\’ll probably vote for whomever the GOP presidential candidate is, I\’m not going to contribute to the further destruction of the conservative movement by assisting one of the buffoons still battling for the nomination. Our presidential candidate can do it without me. Senator Coleman gets the same treatment, but that\’s for personal reasons as much as, or more than, political ones.

Instead, I intend to focus instead on local politics. Both my House districts have to be fought for, and my Representative is defending his seat. That\’s where my focus moves to. Mitch Berg pens an excellent post with even more suggestions for conservatives. And by far the most important first step is to attend your precinct caucuses, from there do what you can to contribute where you feel comfortable, and what your finances/time allows.

Just because your presidential candidates disgust you, it\’s not time to write off the whole herd. Instead it\’s a good sign that this movement needs to be rebuilt, redefined and refocused. And that can only happen at the bottom. Candidates for higher offices usually come from politicians holding lower offices. It\’s time to rebuild our farm team, and made sure those lower offices are filled with the type of candidates we desire.

It\’s easy to complain about these presidential candidates, but what are you doing to make sure it doesn\’t happen again??

[Crossposted at True North]