Christian conservatives are up in arms, yet divided against themselves, over the prospect of Rudolph Giuliani becoming the next Republican nominee for office of President. To them, Giuliani is the man that could well threaten their power base within the party, and many of them are threatening to sit the next election out, or to bolt from the GOP outright. Others are willing to “hold their noses” and pull the lever if they have to, while yet others are convinced that Rudy might well be the only hope to defeat almost certain Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Finally, there are those who feel Giuliani could well destroy not only the Republican Party, but could ruin the country.
They point to his allegedly liberal positions on such matters as abortion, gay rights, gun control, and illegal immigration. A former pledge he made to appoint only those judges who are strict constructionists of the Constitution seems to impress them not one whit.
Fact-Rudy, as mayor of New York, supported Draconian gun control measures.
Fact-Rudy, as mayor of New York, ran New York City as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.
Fact-Rudy, as mayor of New York, supported a woman’s right to choose.
Fact-Rudy, as mayor of New York, supported gay rights, and even the idea of gay civil unions.
The most important thing, however, for some of them at least, may be their deep fear that Rudy Giuliani might well permanently change the character of the Republican Party by attracting moderates and liberals from the ranks of independents and from Democrats who would forever reverse the conservative gains made by Ronald Reagan. The country, as a result, will suddenly lurch to “the left”.
I do not believe it. Few Presidents changed the characters of their party and the nation. You do not need a full set of fingers to count them all.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan are the only six, out of forty-three Presidents, who have accomplished this feat, and Lincoln was the only one of them who presided over a divided nation. Regarding most of them, their presidencies brought with them mainly mixed results, with the exception of Washington, the only one whose presidency resulted in generally positive with very little if any negative consequences.
What is more, for the most part, these men did not change anything. Circumstances changed things, and these nine men simply rode twin tidal waves of discontent and hope, much like a master horseman reins two horses of a chariot.
Now, however, the twin tidal waves are solely those of discontent, with little if any hope involved. Far from these twin waves acting in unison, they are in mutual conflict with each other. It is more like a low-pressure area in conflict with a high-pressure system. It is causing a storm of epic proportions. No one can easily ride it and the most any chief executive can do at this point is hold in the reins of two horses pulling in two opposite directions. Whoever does it, if anyone can at this stage, must be more a person of Lincolnesque proportions than like Reagan or Roosevelt. Remember, even Lincoln could not prevent a civil war, and its effects are yet with us.
Well, the civil war is already here, and whoever wins the presidency has to deal with it. Make no mistake-it is a war, though not a shooting war like in the War Between The States, but more like a Cold War. It is even now being fought out on the battle lines of the court of public opinion, where candidates for public office are not ferreted out and put forward by party bosses in smoke filled rooms, but by corporate elites, union bosses, other special interest groups, and by the media. It is a Cold War, and the participants are engaged in a fight to the death.
If the Christians and other social conservatives of the Republican Party are not careful, they might well find themselves the first casualties of that cold war. Nevertheless, it seems they are determined to throw away what influence they have gained over the years. If they do that, they might find out the hard way that it might not be so easy to get it back. The Republican Party, after all, will survive-with them or without them.
In fact, they might soon find themselves face to face with the uncomfortable fact that a good many others in the Republican Party might give them a send-off they might not care to receive-“don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”
After all, the Republican Party leadership cares mainly about one thing-where is the money coming from. Who will support the party financially? Once they work that out-and believe me, they will work that out-the rest will follow. If the social conservatives leave the party, then certainly there will be those independents and moderate Democrats currently sick of the Democratic Party-like myself, for example-that will happily take their place.
That is not a threat. It is more along the lines of something that they, as religious, Bible believing Christians, should be able to relate to-it is a prophecy.
In the long run, however, I will say this. It is never good for any members of any self-identified group of citizens to cement themselves firmly within the ranks of one political party or another. There is a very good reason the Democratic Party is derided by many, after all, as the one who enslaved blacks to begin with, and now seek to keep them firmly entrenched within a "welfare plantation". The horrible truth is, there is in fact a great deal of truth to that. Ask any black conservative for public office.
If the nomination of Rudy Giuliani causes Republicans to rethink their party affiliation to the point that they actually become, as a group, thoughtful independents willing to look honestly at what both parties have to offer, and to likewise consider the negatives of both, it might in the long run be a good thing, for the Republican party, the Democratic Party, and for the country.
For the time being, however, they might well turn to the Bible, that to them sacred book which they place so much stock in, for guidance. They might well find words of wisdom therein that might be reminiscent of a Jagger-Richards song.
You can't always get what you want.
