(sigh) And the song remains the same...

Mark Sanford was becoming a lot of people’s dark horse candidate to run for the highest office in the land in 2012 and that was including myself (save Ron Paul of course). He was young; he was articulate, steadfast on his principals and just had the look of a president. He was the most fiscal conservative in any executive office in the country and he was also a guy with a proven track record and it was one that would be a good elixir for what not only plagues Washington, but government at every level in today’s world of easy credit and pay later (much later) climate. With all that said, last week’s revelation of his secret getaway has pretty much put the saber to the throat of his anticipated entrance into the 2012 election.

Now, if he was a Democrat, the result would be about the same, especially considering the unusual circumstances of his disappearing act. But it always stings a little more if you’re a Republican in this type of scandal, because they happen to be the party who wants to keep things as is, as opposed to how they are becoming. They are the ones who have a strict guideline on whom should and who should not be married.

It’s the Republicans that want to hold their ground on an issue that only pertains to less then 2% of the populous (U.S. Census Bureau 2000). The same can be said about abortion and may other medical and social issues that have no place in the debate at the federal level.

The real problem here lies in this incessant urge for bureaucrats and politicians on either side of the isle to be involved with social engineering at the federal level. It is this behavior, more so then any other is what is responsible for the division that exists in the country today. You have the PC crowd on the left who attempts to strip down the individual thus concentrating more on the unit as a whole, as opposed to the right with their fire and brimstone and close-mindedness on behaviors and issues they simply cannot win on nor stop. This is a key reason why the politics of today and yesterday have ultimately buried the ideas we will need to mine for tomorrow.

Isn’t it about time the Conservatives take a good look at themselves as a whole and become a party of ideas rather then a party of hypocrisy and pettiness? Because when you’re the party that is supposed to represent the “moral majority” and be the one party with a “focus on the family” you better also be walking a tight rope when it comes to the very moral issues you so vehemently speak out against. This is clearly not the case for not only Mark Sanford but for many other Republicans with egg on their face.

Recent history has shown that being one party affiliation or another doesn't shield you away form the enemy that lies in all of us… and that is: to err is human.

This is not the party of Barry Goldwater, therefore something evolved and in doing so something naturally devolved. What has evolved is the social conservatives with their self appointed monopoly on morality. Its no coincidence with the forming of the Focus on the Family (1977) and the Christian Coalition (1987) things began to rapidly change as far as what pillars were worth building and which were worth letting crumble. As these voter driven organizations grew they became heavily intertwined into Republican politics often graying what republicanism actually was.

What had devolved was the commitment to limit spending/ cut taxes and keeping the states off the federal tit and allowing them to govern themselves. Look at NCLB, the Prescription health care plan, and the overall massive increases in spending over the last 30 years. These are hardly ideas that will limit spending.

Oh sure, Republicans still cut taxes, but when you spend as they have, all your really doing is pushing those savings from tax cuts onto future generations who will be required to pay the bills. This is done with all the borrowing which in turn created debt (and subsequent interest) needed to close the gaps on all the budget deficits they ran (I should also mention inflation, which is also taxation). Not Reagan nor Bush 1 or W can claim to be a fiscal conservative and outside of the Congress of ’94, neither can Congress during this time span.

And that is why Republicans find themselves in the mess they are in today. Sure, we could cherry pick names of Republicans involved in scandal over the last twenty years and they might have more cases the Democrats, but that isn’t what really the problem is. The problem lies in the rhetoric.

The Democrats aren’t using the badge of morality as a vehicle to garner votes. They are socially more progressive then their counterparts, and with that stark contrast, they don’t garner the headlines like Republicans when they do have scandal, because after all, they are supposed to be immoral, they are supposed to be the reason for the social decay on the country. They are also not cutting taxes and thus they are expanding government. Thus they are who they say they are. The Republicans, have a serious case of personality disorder, and its no easy fix.

If Republicans are the party of ideas and are really interested in freedom then they must rebuild the pillars of a small government. That means limiting spending and not when it politically convenient to do so (ie when a democrat holds the White House). This also means that freedom also comes with its warts. People are going to make mistakes and people are also not going to want to live exactly how you do or how you expect them to do.

Thus gay marriage or abortion or school prayer can’t be the cornerstone of your voting preference or the platform for election. It does nobody any good for someone to tell them what the sanctity of marriage is and who is allowed to play when they cant follow nor understand sanctity themselves. It also does nobody any good to abort a marriage 2 or 3 times then tell someone else they cant abort a fetus from their own body. Its not only hypocritical it’s also unwinnable. You can’t win votes with these types of debates. It’s a losing battle everytime. Now, if the goal is to NOT win and become a dated relic ala the wigs… then keep the continue.