THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 3, January 5, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE REAL IOWA CAUCUS WINNER: "NOT ROMNEY!"
By Christopher G. Adamo
MITT ROMNEY AS THE "CENTRIST" CONTENDER FOR NOMINATION AS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN THE ELECTION OF 2012:
"CENTRISM" AS THE CORE OF THE THE REPUBLICAN EFFORT TO DEFEAT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, LIBERAL LEFTIST DEMOCRAT & INCUMBENT RUNNING TO
SUCCEED HIMSELF AS U.S. PRESIDENT -- WILL ROMNEY REALLY BE ABLE TO ESTABLISH FOR HIMSELF A NEARLY UNIVERSAL APPEAL SPANNING THE POLITICAL
SPECTRUM, WHICH NO OTHER CANDIDATE COULD POSSIBLY CHALLENGE? IS THIS A VIABLE ELECTORAL STRATEGY FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? WHAT DO
THE RESULTS OF THE RECENT REPUBLICAN CAUCUSES IN IOWA TELL US?
FULL STORY:
In a fitting epilogue to Mitt Romney’s eight-vote “victory” over Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucus, the former Massachusetts Governor has received an endorsement
from Senator John McCain (Republican -Arizona), who some might remember as the 2008 “Republican” presidential nominee. Such a ringing affirmation from a
politician who epitomizes every negative aspect of the Republican “Establishment” will eventually do Romney more harm than good. Yet, he is not likely to perceive it
that way.
Nor was that the only accolade Romney received from the Republican Party “inner circle.” On the following day, Karl Rove, former George W. Bush strategist and
consummate political pragmatist, applauded Romney, while offering a cursory tip of his hat to Santorum. In Rove’s world, Romney’s likely win in the New Hampshire
primary on January 10 would render him virtually unstoppable, while Santorum faces a long and difficult uphill battle in coming weeks with little hope of actually
prevailing.
Rove contends that, for Romney to triumph in the Conservative heartland, as well as among the northeastern Republican “blue bloods” of New Hampshire, he must
have established a nearly universal appeal spanning the political spectrum, which no other candidate could possibly challenge. Thereafter, such “centrism” must be
the core of the Republican effort. And, in mindless devotion to this flawed reasoning, GOP party insiders get their way, the nation will go into next November’s
elections facing a choice between a ravenous Liberal Democrat and a “business as usual” Republican. This is a historically disastrous course for the Republicans, but
it is one that these politically inbred “experts” continue to trumpet as the best game plan.
However, since the early days of the Obama administration (which, in a strong sense, was itself the abhorrent byproduct of brilliant “strategizing” by Establishment
Republicans), grassroots America has awakened and recognized the critical need to assert real Conservatism as the proper alternative to the Washington status quo.
In a very real sense, the two-party system has since been transformed and realigned, with the Beltway insiders and their dwindling cadre of supporters populating one
party and Heartland America comprising the other.
Understanding the magnitude of the threat that this realignment represents, the Republican Establishment is going all out to reassert its primacy, and now loudly
proclaims that the results in Iowa prove its uncontested dominance. However, a breakdown of the actual tally in Iowa indicates a starkly different trend, which is likely
to become increasingly obvious as the primary season progresses.
While Mitt Romney, after vastly outspending Santorum, did indeed receive the greatest number of votes, it was by the razor-thin margin. With each of them receiving
slightly over thirty thousand votes, this is hardly a decisive win. Yet even these numbers, on which Romney and his Establishment cronies base their claims of
supremacy in the Hawkeye State, deceptively cloak the real picture.
For starters, Santorum received his strong showing in a field split four ways by fellow Conservatives. Having to share the Conservative support with Newt Gingrich,
Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, Santorum, nevertheless, ended up in an essential tie with Romney. Had the Conservative base been able to coalesce around a
single contender as did the Party Republicans around Romney, he would have remained at twenty-five percent, while “Generic Conservative” could have climbed as
high as fifty-five percent.
In contrast, no alternative scenario of shifting loyalties or departing candidates would yield any bounce for Romney. The overwhelming remainder of Iowa votes went
to Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who garnered a noteworthy twenty-two percent. With a well-organized and fiercely dogmatic following, Paul has indeed established
a prominent position in the field. Yet, his base of support is made up of a mix of Libertarians who, for the moment, claim to be the real soul of the GOP, abetted by
significant numbers of Liberal Leftist interlopers seeking to nominate the least electable Republican contender, in hopes of bolstering Obama’s chances for a second
term. As such, they will do little to benefit any remaining candidates in the extremely likely event that Paul eventually drops out of the race.
In the immediate aftermath of the Iowa caucuses, Michele Bachmann ended her bid for the nomination. Were she to have done so barely twenty four hours previously,
Santorum would most surely have gained the lion’s share of her six percent showing, and thereby prevailed over Romney by a substantial margin. Going forward, the
departure of any one of the three remaining candidates presently splitting the Conservative vote will likewise amass heightened support for each remaining
Conservative.
It is extremely telling that Romney’s strategy has been to prevail by ascending above a divided field of Conservatives. In many ways, it is reflective of the games
played against him four years ago by his new benefactor John McCain. And in the long run, this manner of politicking is liable to generate the same degree of
disconnect with the American people that ultimately doomed McCain’s White House ambitions in 2008.
Yet, even as cataclysmic as was the victory of Barack Obama in the last election cycle, a second Obama stint could increase the devastation to America by exponential
terms. The national debt is soaring, expenditures are ballooning, the jobs on Main Street needed to sustain the nation (and feed the federal leviathan in perpetuity)
simply do not exist, and every wise restraint placed on that government by the thoughtfulness and wisdom of the Founders and the Constitution they established is
being violated. Consequently, most Americans regard the possibility of another four years of such outrage as unthinkable.
Americans abhor the damage done to their nation by the Obama regime. But they have little affinity for the fecklessness of Republican “moderation” that would only
serve to keep the nation in its dismal condition. In overwhelming numbers, the Conservative people of Iowa rejected the prospect of leaving the government in the
hands of a slightly diluted, but fundamentally equivalent overbearing nanny state that would only differ by way of calling itself “Republican.” On the day of the Iowa
caucuses, Rick Santorum’s most defining virtue was that he represented an opportunity to rise from the present morass in which America finds itself.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo is a resident of southeastern Wyoming. He has been involved in politics at the local and state levels for many years. His archives and contact
information can be found at www.chrisadamo.com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity