RE: Conservatives: The Republican Sir Robins

The Shoe vs. Brent Battle: Round 3

As I wrote earlier, I am planning on leaving the Republican Party:

TheOneSoleShoe doesn’t agree with me:

I understand completely Shoe’s position, although I obviously disagree.

Let me first state conclusively, why (barring any drastic changes) I am leaving the GOP after the Arizona Primary.

I am leaving the GOP, because too few leaders in the Republican party and conservative movement have stood up to the racism, nativism, and fascism of the Trump movement. For me this isn’t a hard decision and it is one that majority should have taken up loudly. There should be zero room in this party for the hatred espoused by Trump and his believers. By not immediately marginalizing this group, the GOP gave them a platform to grow. White Supremacists and the alt-right as a whole have taken this opportunity to promote themselves and grow, yet many leaders of the conservative movement and the party itself have simply went along to get along. In fact the supposed “most conservative” candidate, Sen Ted Cruz, has adopted the nativist and protectionist policies of Trumpism. All this is truly a bridge too far for me.

Now lets take on Shoe’s assumptions.

Blaming the Establishment

First, I don’t even know what the establishment is, for all Iknow I might be a part of it. Do I blame the “establishment” for the rise of Trump? No, I actually blame the voters and the media most of all. But, I do blame party leadership for is refusing to directly marginalize this dangerous movement. As Shoe states, they chose to remain “neutral” and in this case neutral is truly passive support. I myself thought all this ridiculousness would go away on its own, but it hasn’t and as of yet only a handful of party/movement leaders have confronted the evil directly. This is a problem and one that I cannot rationalize with my principles.

Burn It Down

I am not a member of the “burn it down” crowd, but at this point I believe the GOP has been tarnished for a long period of time with the hue of racism and nativism. My goal in joining the rush to leave the GOP is that either a third party will take hold and bring the ideas of economic liberty and individual freedom to new groups, or that the Republican Party will be forced to confront and marginalize the nativist/racist group in such a way as to remove the tarnish.

In the end, I get why some disagree with those of us in the “walk-away” crowd. However, to me it has become clear that a message must be sent. No longer can the Republican party stand to the side while people like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, etc. work the soil with hate and anger. Instead, they must be willing and able to win the battle of ideas based on reason, hope, and competency. If the GOP can find a way to wash the dirt off, I will come back. But this isn’t something that can be cleansed by just shaking it off, direct action must be taken and until then, I am out.