The Republican Primaries and the Elections
It has been claimed that this race is uninspiring to Republicans because none of the current contenders are "true Conservatives." Some Evangelical Christians such as James Dobson are unhappy with the current front runners -- Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. Romney is a Mormon who until recently held rather liberal positions on various issues and has now apparently been convinced they were wrong and switched to positions more in line with those of the Christian Right, for example, he is now opposed to abortion as well as stem-cell research. Giuliani remains pro-choice and has a personal life that does not exactly suggest "family values." The less said about the other candidates, the better.
However, I see this race as an opportunity. For first time in about 30 years we can move beyond the agenda of the Christian Right in the Republican party. Rudy Giuliani represents such an opportunity. If Giuliani wins the Republican primaries he will finally open up the Republican party to secular candidates. The key is that he has to then win the election. If he wins both the primaries and the election, he will have dealt a severe blow to the presence of the Religious Right in the Republican Party. If, on the other hand, he loses the election, it will be claimed that secular forces are too weak on the Right and we will not see a secular candidate like Giuliani lead the Republicans for quite some time. The Religious Right will claim that the secular right has had its chance and the next Republican nominee will be as religious as the current occupant or perhaps even more. And furthermore, he will very likely win, given that Hillary Clinton will have been President and implemented some of her policies. As I have stated elsewhere I intend to vote for Giuliani when the primaries are held in California, and if he wins the nomination, I think I will vote for him in the general election as well.
3 comments:
"If, on the other hand, he loses the election, it will be claimed that secular forces are too weak on the Right and we will not see a secular candidate like Giuliani lead the Republicans for quite some time."
I agree. It may be like what happened it '64. Goldwater lost and the Republican party completely moved away from any free market candidates. And they have never embraced an economic conservative since (I don't think Reagan counts). If that happened we would be stuck with religious Republicans from here on out. And I actually think Bush is a liberal Christian and by that I mean he is not a hellfire and brimstone Augustinian Christian. If we should get one of those, watch out...
John Kim
I will vote for Giuliani in the California primary. I'm reading a lot of hatred for Giuliani from the social conservatives. John Hawkins of Right Wing News, who supports the protectionist Duncan Hunter, wrote an unfair attack comparing Rudy to Bill Clinton. As I recall, he actually argued that Rudy would have sex with interns in the White House.
Without entirely backing away from what I say in the above post, I am worried about what will happen if Giuliani gets elected and and turns out to be a disaster. Still, at this point in the game he looks less worse than the other candidates but I remember GWB looking less worse and we can see what we got with him. Most of the issues which cause people to attack him would be reasons for me to support him and I still think it's important for Republicans to elect a secular candidate.
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