I’m No Republican…

I wrote a blog a while ago talking about “Republicanism.”  To basically sum it up very shortly I asked what republicans stand for in their beliefs.  I still have no idea.  However, the fight seems to continue.  I’m voting for John McCain, but I’m also being intellectually honest about how I feel regarding his candidacy for President of the United States in the party that I most identify with in my beliefs.  However, some “republicans” take issue with the fact that I still don’t line up with their thinking in completely getting behind McCain rather than just being terrified of an Obama Presidency.  I mean that basically is why I am voting for McCain in the first place is because the other option is just something I don’t even want to think about in the short term. 

So I’ve been questioned about my loyalty to the Republican Party.  I’ve been asked “aren’t you a Republican?” and “Aren’t you loyal to the party?”  I went on to think about it for a while and I came to the conclusion that no I’m not.  I’m not just blindly loyal to the Republican Party.  I have my set of beliefs and principles and as I said earlier right now the Republicans are the ones I most identify with, but if we are moving towards the center I decided I have two options.  I can either sit back and just leave the party(and I have thought about that believe me) or I can get involved and give conservatism another voice.  After careful deliberation I decided the latter of the two was the best option because I refuse to sit by and watch moderates decide my choices for me or at least decide my choices without me getting a word in the conversation.

So I went and joined the republican party here in Florida.  I don’t mean I registered to vote I mean I actually joined the party and am attending committee meetings.  I have to say it was at that point I came to the realization that these people don’t understand how to fight socialism, but  I won’t stray into the details of that until later blogs because I don’t want to get off point.  I am only a Republican as long as they keep to conservative values.  However I have to say that if the democrat platform drastically changes to:

• Limited Federal Government
• States Rights
• Individual Liberty
• Less Government Programs
• Lower Taxes or Tax Reform in general
• Pro Growth Economics
• Free Market Solutions
• Defense of the sanctity of Marriage and Life
• Originalists Justices
• Strong National Defense

Along with some other things then guess what?  I’m re-registering as a Democrat so how can I rightfully call myself a Republican or be beholden to the party in general?  I mean John McCain is one thing, but imagine if the candidate were Olympia Snowe or Arlen Specter?  Would these Republicans be saying the same thing?  Just support the Republican Party?  It’s thoughts like these that make me believe that these Republican followers simply have no values at all.  So my values have led me to believe that no I’m no Republican, but I fight for conservative values within the party that gives us the best chance.

 I know this may seem such a bland conclusion to come to, but just to get a little personal here let me just say that I used to have a very liberal mindset before I was at all educated.  I’m 24 years old and only about 4-5 years ago I had no idea about politics or political philosophy.  I used to really be behind everything republicans did as I started on my venture into right-leaning politics and now as I know more and more republican people I feel like I’m passing a lot of them as they still just sit back and do whatever the republicans say and will defend their actions to the end.  They now scold people like me for having values that I believe in with all of my heart and mind.  I love to talk with many of the people I’ve met here on myspace that I feel are true conservatives because we care about real issues not walking party lines.  I guess that’s why more and more I realize I try to be a conservative voice within the party rather than a Republican myself.