The Republican Divide and a Time for Choosing

Republicans have chosen sides in recent days.

One side is with the Tea Party, and one of it's most distinguished champions, Mark Levin. This wing includes Sarah Palin and even, dare I say, Ronald Reagan (or, at least, the Reagan vision.). I'm part of this group. We sense imminent danger and seek a radical change of direction for our country. We see an unholy coalition between crony-capitalists, elite leaders, unions, the media, educational institutions, and a runaway judiciary, all hellbent on capturing and controlling every segment of society. We want to take the power from this coalition and return it to the people.

The other group sides with the Republican political establishment, and an abstract notion of "our best chance" to win the election against Barack Obama, capturing the middle and, by extension, tailoring our positions to appeal to the middle. They do not believe that it is possible to persuade this "middle" to join us, it is we who must join the ranks of the moderate. The "big tent" is not opened to welcome moderates, it is torn asunder and rebuilt to encompass them. This group is embarrassed, if not outright offended to have the Tea Party and Sarah Palin in its ranks. This group consists of faux conservatives, whose main objective is to maintain or capture political power. This group will never seek an actual reduction in the scope, power, or size of government -- it only cares about who gets to wield it. I will call them "Republican power brokers" because that is all that they are. Last election cycle, these power broker Republicans saddled us with John McCain. This election cycle, it has prematurely coronated Mitt Romney and it seeks to destroy any threat to his princehood by any means.

I am saddened to discover who is choosing second group. Saddened because they are unprincipled, and not devoted to what I had thought was our common cause. Now I know who are my real friends, and who has become my enemy.

Mark Levin said of the second group, "If this is what the conservative movement has become, I want no part of it."

I feel exactly the same way.