A faction of the Republican Party seems to have unseat the Religious Right as the De Facto leader of the Republican party. by calvtob14
(conservative)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
For years, I have heard Libertarians and like-minded conservatives complain about the dominance of the Religious Right. The Moral Majority and James Dobson’s Focus on The Family have practically run the Republican Party. They have influenced primaries, changed elections, and blocked appointments. Yet it was clear after the 2008 elections that their influencing was waning. And it is clear now that a new movement is ready to take its places De Facto leader of the Republican Party.
The Tea Party, the movement of libertarians and small government conservatives such as myself, has been exercising it's might as a political force. The Tea Party Express and the National Tea Party Federation have catapulted unknown candidates into viable candidacies. For example, Sharron Angle, trailing behind at 9% to winning the Republican primary by near enough 15%. Also, in Kentucky, the Tea Party Express endorsed Rand Paul which proved even more important than all of the establishment endorsements of Trey Grayson.
On the other hand, the Religious Right failed to get their candidate of the 2008 election, Mike Huckabee, elected, which 4 years earlier would have been easy for James Dobson and his fellow evangelicals. In this midterm year, more and more small government conservatives win primaries over establishment evangelical conservatives.
The entire electorate has been through a serious transformation over the past year to year and a half. The Republican Party is no exception. The evangelical Christians who ran the party for the 20 years following Ronald Reagan have finally been unseated. While their legacy remains, and I hope many of the core values of their message remain in the parties mind for a long time. However, the Republican Party has now tapped a new part of the electorate, which hopefully will put it back on top of its game and remove the GOP from the shadow of the Bush years.
- Your Friend and Fellow Conservative in the Fight,
Toby CL
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