For those of you who are not one Facebook...

[Guard Dad]

...this is a copy of my "speech" today.




Ken's Thoughts - Stardate 3-21-16

Warning - I am specifically addressing my Conservative and / or Christian friends here. This will not be a liberal vs conservative thread, and it will remain civil. I will delete any comments that are ugly or non-productive.

This might be the ugliest election cycle I remember. Not only are the Republicans and Democrats going for the jugular (and that will get worse); both parties are fighting with themselves, and it's nasty.

I was a loyal Republican for many years, but they lost my allegiance some years ago when they became almost as bad as the Democrats. Philosophically, I refer to myself as a Constitutional Conservative with a Libertarian streak. But one who no longer has any use for either party.

I find myself still voting for Republicans most of the time because they are usually the lessor of evils, but I usually have to hold my nose while doing so. And to prevent the Democrats from winning the White House back; I must vote for a Republican as president this time. We can make brave noises about voting 3rd party; but the reality of it is that until we get a 3rd party candidate who is viable, the next president will be either a Republican or Democrat.

I want to specifically address the ugliness within the Republican field and the supporters of the various candidates.

The ugliness I am seeing sickens me! Most of us have our favorite (of the bunch, anyway) candidate, and we each have the right to support who we want. But the hatefulness I see between the various camps is disgusting!

I am not a Trump fan, but if the man gets enough delegates, the GOP needs to let him be the nominee. It's partly the GOP's own fault that Trump has resonated with the people; we are sick of the big government policies and namby pamby attitude of the GOP establishment.

To my friends who are Trump supporters...I see tremendous animosity and some downright ugliness from many of you toward the other candidates. I see many outright lies and character attacks being spread. This is not productive in the big picture.

Ronald Reagan believed in what he called the 11th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican"

And as a true leader, Reagan reached out to others and said "Join Me" instead of driving them away.

Lest we remember the real mission here for Conservatives; to retake our government from the control of Liberalism and to change the course of our beloved country because it's too late. And "too late" is almost upon us, my friends. If we don't turn things around very soon, I fear that we never will. Our massive debt and growing dependence on the government is already at critical levels.

Meaning...we must prevent the Democrats from winning the White House or making any gains in congress. To do that, we must all pull together at some point and unit behind the nominee. Short of a brokered convention, it appears that Donald Trump is on his way to being the Republican nominee. Yes, there are threats of a brokered convention; but I think when it gets down to it the GOP leadership knows that most of us will not stand for it.

I think we all know who will likely be the Democratic nominee. Even if your favorite candidate doesn't win (mine will probably not); we should remember that the real goal is to defeat her, and we must be united to do so. In my opinion; even the worst of the Republican candidates is preferable to either of the Democrats that have a shot at the nomination.

So please; remember when posting things on Facebook that very soon, we must all be on the same team. We should be careful about burning bridges and dividing the conservative movement. It will take us all, together, to right this ship we call the United States of America.

I will leave you with one last thing to consider: There are a lot of "news" sites on the internet, and some of them are publishing exaggerations and outright lies. Some of the sites are nothing more than propaganda outlets for various candidates or parties. EX: On the same day last week, I saw two articles about Trump and Cruz. One claimed that Cruz was preparing to oust Trump at the GOP convention, the other claimed that the two had reached an agreement for Cruz to be Trump's VP pick. Well, one of them is lying. Please, be careful what you believe.

As the old adage goes: "United we stand, divided we fall'. Those words are as true today as they have ever been.

 

[J-man]

While I agree with your post the sad reality is that the conservative movement not only faces the expected battle with the entire Democratic Party but also within our own party. Personally it's difficult for me to bend ANY on my conservative and traditional views but I find myself more and more in the minority. Soon, if not now, the only chance we have to beat the democratic nominee in the general election is to have one with more moderate leanings. It does us no good to have a conservative nominee then to only lose in the general election (you have no idea how difficult that was to type). It's hard to gain voters when one party promises free stuff for all while our nominee stands firm on conservative views. Sadly, most people vote with their purse strings and checkbook...country be damned. While I don't agree with that though process it seems to be the reality.

 

[Guard Dad]

Soon, if not now, the only chance we have to beat the democratic nominee in the general election is to have one with more moderate leanings.

I disagree. It's not the Conservative ideology that hurts so many Republican candidates, it's their beating the drum on social issues that gets them. While I am staunchly pro-life, pro- traditional marriage, etc; I know that it's not likely well change any of those things since they are Supreme Court rulings, and certainly not through traditional legislation. So the Republicans need to hush up on that stuff, and talk about the things people need to hear. How to create real job growth, how to restore fiscal responsibility, how to keep our homeland safe, how to avoid some of the foreign military action we've been involved in, how to deal with the immigration issue, how to deal with the trade issue, how to get REAL healthcare reform.

If they would stick to those things and keep their noses out of the social issues that they can't do anything about anyways; a real conservative could easily win.

 

[ShoeDiva]

I disagree. It's not the Conservative ideology that hurts so many Republican candidates, it's their beating the drum on social issues that gets them. While I am staunchly pro-life, pro- traditional marriage, etc; I know that it's not likely well change any of those things since they are Supreme Court rulings, and certainly not through traditional legislation. So the Republicans need to hush up on that stuff, and talk about the things people need to hear. How to create real job growth, how to restore fiscal responsibility, how to keep our homeland safe, how to avoid some of the foreign military action we've been involved in, how to deal with the immigration issue, how to deal with the trade issue, how to get REAL healthcare reform.

If they would stick to those things and keep their noses out of the social issues that they can't do anything about anyways; a real conservative could easily win.

Exactly. Some of us care about those things out of a President.
The social issues are just hot button topics that people vastly vary on where they stand. When candidates start speaking/preaching on their preferences they do wind up losing votes or alienating people more people than getting them. Voters have reasons and personal experiences on why they believe certain things and a candidate will not change their mind, but can lose their vote.

 

[Grey Colson]

I disagree. It's not the Conservative ideology that hurts so many Republican candidates, it's their beating the drum on social issues that gets them. While I am staunchly pro-life, pro- traditional marriage, etc; I know that it's not likely well change any of those things since they are Supreme Court rulings, and certainly not through traditional legislation. So the Republicans need to hush up on that stuff, and talk about the things people need to hear. How to create real job growth, how to restore fiscal responsibility, how to keep our homeland safe, how to avoid some of the foreign military action we've been involved in, how to deal with the immigration issue, how to deal with the trade issue, how to get REAL healthcare reform.

If they would stick to those things and keep their noses out of the social issues that they can't do anything about anyways; a real conservative could easily win.

Then they need to stop answering questions from the liberal media. They are the ones who constantly bring up the social issues in hopes that the candidate will fall for the bait and answer a question about their personally held beliefs. Hasn't anyone figured out yet that only liberals are permitted to hold and espouse personal beliefs?

The liberals have this figured out. When was the last time you saw Hillary agree to an interview on Hannity's show?

 

[Madea]

Then they need to stop answering questions from the liberal media. They are the ones who constantly bring up the social issues in hopes that the candidate will fall for the bait and answer a question about their personally held beliefs. Hasn't anyone figured out yet that only liberals are permitted to hold and espouse personal beliefs?

The liberals have this figured out. When was the last time you saw Hillary agree to an interview on Hannity's show?

THIS!

 

[LisaC]

I will simply say that the Republicans have brought this on themselves - I'm tired of the "if I don't get my way, I will take my vote and stay home" mentality.