I’m An Embarrassment

At different times in my life, I’ve been an embarrassment to my family, my sports teams, my wife, everyone near me on the dance floor, and definitely my children. I’m pretty used to it. But it’s just starting to dawn on me that I’m a source of constant embarrassment to the Republican party.

The Republican Party doesn’t like me. Maybe they never did.

The elites of the party, which is to say, those pulling the levers of power, don’t like Christian conservatives who talk about abortion, who are adamantly pro-traditional marriage, and “fear” Barack Obama as President.

John McCain said this week there’s nothing to fear from an Obama Presidency. Well, no matter what John McCain says, I fear an Obama Presidency. I fear it very much. Obama has promised to sign the “Freedom of Choice” Act which wipes away all restrictions on abortion. He’s promised to cut government funding to crisis pregnancy centers. Those two things alone will practically guarantee a spike in the number of babies aborted.

I, like many others, are Republican for one main reason: Life. That’s it. After abortions stop being sanctioned and funded by the government I’ll start debating tax policy and immigration but until then, life is the issue.

But you see, the Republican Party doesn’t want abortion to be the central tenet of the party so they put forth a candidate who they thought was a transformational political figure who would remake the Republican Party as a party of “moderation.” In their view, McCain could win without those crazy conservatives -you know, the ones that talk about God in public and worry about babies. And without those nutjobs they were free to entice independents and the Hispanic vote. Well, that doesn’t seem to be working out, does it?

In fact, polling was looking so bad leading into the conventions that John McCain rejected his backers and picked Sarah Palin as his Vice President. And the elites didn’t like that very much. You can see it now in the way that the elite Republicans are taking out the long knives and savaging Sarah Palin because she didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school, she’s pro-life, and she was backward enough to give birth to a Down Syndrome child. Christopher Buckley, David Brooks, and Kathleen Parker are just a few recent examples.

You see, they expect us pro-life pro-traditional marriage nutjobs to understand our place. And it’s on the sideline, not up on the podium.

But here’s the thing. The base wins elections. Conservatives Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both won two terms. Bob Dole and Gerald Ford didn’t get one. When the elites of our party win, we all lose. This tug of war will continue in this election and coming elections.

I still think McCain has a chance to turn this election around but he needs to speak to the issues that people like me care about.

Like I said, I’m used to being an embarrassment. If we don’t win this time there’s Palin-Jindal 2012.