Thanks Dr. Hovermale!

Real Conservatism Is About Principles, Not Personalities


By Christopher G. Adamo

February 11, 2010



It was an odd week for a staunch conservative to be in agreement with Barack

Obama. In the wake of Republican Scott Brown's dramatic Senate victory in

Massachusetts, Democrat leaders were stunned and shaken. But as usual, they

quickly gathered themselves and coordinated a strategy of interpreting

Brown's election in terms that they hoped would minimize damage to their

agenda. And this effort was led, of course, by Obama himself.



In keeping with this ploy, the Narcissist in Chief attempted to proffer the

absurd notion that somehow, a hard-right turn in Massachusetts was actually

a ringing endorsement of him. According to Obama, "The same thing that swept

Brown into office swept me into office." And for those who might have missed

his meaning he added, "People are angry and they are frustrated. Not because

of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over

the last eight years."



Nevertheless, the lone grain of truth in Obama's statement vastly

overshadows his transparent attempts at obfuscation and self-aggrandizement.

The towering reality of this situation is that his ascendancy did not result

in any way from those overblown speeches of the last year or two (Obama's

empty promises of "hope and change") but from a public rejection of the

general national course plotted by President Bush and those

all-too-compliant Republican "moderates" in the Senate and House.



Neither the 2006 mid-term Democrat gains nor the 2008 electoral catastrophe

represented any national shift to the left. Rather, they embodied a

widespread backlash against a Republican Party that had done too little to

combat such treacherous ideas. On one major issue after another, from

outrageous spending binges (which admittedly, now seem minuscule in

comparison to the abominable fiscal excesses of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi cabal)

to the attempts at granting amnesty and defacto citizenship to the twelve

million plus illegal aliens, to the abject abandonment of constitutional

principle in implementing campaign finance "reform," Heartland America felt

completely betrayed and forsaken by virtually the entirety of the GOP.



Republican majorities in both houses, supported by a Republican President,

simply should not have allowed such legislative atrocities to occur. Yet the

Beltway-insider mindset prevailed over traditional Republican principle, and

the sentiments of those lowly peasants in the hinterlands were cast aside.

So in November of 2006, and again in 2008, angry and disenfranchised voters

responded in kind on Election Day. But lest anyone misrepresent their

motivation, the conservative upsurge of the past year should have dispelled

every doubt as to the true sentiments of those at the grassroots.



The "Tea Party" movement, mocked and maligned by Democrat mouthpieces and

their media minions, is alive and well. Traditional America, seeing its

heritage being obliterated and the constitutional foundations of the nation

decimated, is rising up and making known its resolve to restore such things

for itself and its posterity. "Politics as usual," either from the Democrats

or the Republicans, which translates into societal breakdown and the

institution of the "nanny state" (either on the fast track or one that is

somewhat slower, depending on party) has been soundly rejected.



At this crucial time, it is imperative that the authors of this movement

remain steadfastly committed to principle, and not be swayed by prominent

personalities. And at such a time, it is not surprising that Arizona Senator

and former Presidential candidate John McCain is among the attempted

"hangers on." But what did come as an enormous shock and disappointment was

the willingness of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to aid in this

subterfuge.



Up for re-election this year, McCain suddenly found himself in a truly

contested primary race against former Republican Congressman and

conservative powerhouse J.D. Hayworth. By all rights, McCain has committed

more than enough treachery against conservatism to warrant a voter-sponsored

retirement. And it is inarguable that, on an issue-by-issue comparison,

Hayworth is much more closely aligned to Palin than McCain has ever been. So

for Palin to labor on behalf of McCain's reelection effort represents a

devastating blow against those principles.



Even more reprehensible is what this episode says of McCain's abject

disingenuousness as a politician. By calling on Palin at this time, he

proves his knowledge of what resonates with voters, and what adjustments to

his reputation would help his electoral bid. Yet that is an image that

Hayworth, not McCain, actually deserves. Were McCain to be honest with his

base and consistent with his past, he would instead have asked Joe

Liebermann, a Connecticut liberal, or Arlen Specter, the former "RINO" now

turned Democrat Senator from Pennsylvania, to visit Arizona and burnish his

image for the voters. For it is with their likes that McCain's true

sympathies lie.



Sarah Palin has received nothing but vitriol from liberal Democrats in both

parties, including many from McCain's own staff. Even members of his own

family have expressed complete contempt for the precepts that define her.

Conversely, real America has ignored such derision and consistently rallied

in support of her.



For whatever allegiance she feels towards the man who reluctantly chose her

as a vice-presidential running mate (his first preference was Liebermann),

Palin offers her loyalty at great expense to the very movement of grassroots

conservatism sweeping the nation that she so eloquently sought to advance in

her Nashville speech on February 6.



America will have lost a great opportunity, both in real substance and

symbolic significance, if Hayworth loses to McCain in the Arizona Primary.

And with so much hanging in the balance, Palin needs to be publicly asked

which of her guiding principles align more closely with McCain as opposed to

Hayworth, and therefore how a McCain re-election would benefit her vision

for the nation.



Ultimately, as the reality of that event (if it does indeed transpire), and

Palin's complicity in it, sinks in with the American people, it is her own

connection to them that will have been fatally undermined. Those fighting to

restore the freedom and goodness of this nation will have no other choice

but to move beyond this breach of trust, and remain committed to their

principles, or face a potentially insurmountable setback to their effort.



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Christopher G. Adamo has been active in Wyoming politics for many years and

is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an

e-commerce business that markets American made products including the

incomparable Abigail Adams Bedspread Set from Bates Mills. Contact

information for Chris Adamo, and his archives, can be found at

www.chrisadamo.com



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