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07.27.2011 0

The Fight That Will Define Republicans

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The following post from Erick Erickson is a must read, and is a great way to think about the fight that confronts Conservatives and Republicans right now:

This morning took an interesting turn of events. First the Wall Street Journal called us hobbits. Then Bill Kristol proclaimed us “pro-Obama.” Then John Boehner told his members to get their “asses in line.”

And then a handful of Republican members of congress started attacking me, this site, conservative members of congress, conservative staffers in congress, and conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and the list goes on and on.

Friends, this is why the fight is so important — the legacy of the Republican Party.

During the Bush Administration, many conservatives got co-opted. It became more important to be on the team than fight on principle. Consequently, we got No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, TARP, the GM bailout, etc.

We almost got stuck with Harriet Miers and immigration reform.

When the GOP was finally tossed for its “culture of corruption,” there were very few Republicans standing in Washington that the GOP felt it could trust. Mike Pence was one. Jeff Flake another. Jim DeMint for sure.

So conservatives rallied to send them reinforcements — Tom Graves, Dave Schwiekert, Tim Huelskamp, Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, etc.

The GOP told us they had turned from their big spending ways. John Boehner went so far last year to say he appreciated outside conservative groups holding their feet to the fire.

And then today —The GOP would not fight for smaller government when it was in the majority and now it seems it intends to cave abjectly in the minority hiding behind its minority status instead of fighting.

If the GOP won’t fight in the majority and it won’t fight in the minority, what good is it? Even now, guys like Jeff Flake and Mike Pence seem to be going wobbly.

Like TARP, No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, Harriet Miers — these are the fights that define a conservative’s legacy in Congress. The new guys might not realize that. But ultimately, we conservatives remember.

And we also remember the outside groups and pundits who are urging compromise and urging Boehner’s plan. Many of these same people urged on the bad plans of the past only to then claim they got duped.

We sent to Washington a group of men and women to repeal Obamacare and cut Washington spending. Now we’re confronted with the fact that they want to pass off their obligations to another deficit commission, give Barack Obama a too clever by half pass at rising the debt ceiling, and claim they did all they could. But they haven’t.

These are not easy times or easy decisions. But we sure as heck should expect more from these guys. This isn’t about being on John Boehner’s team. It’s about doing what is right. And it is not right to punt obligations and make ephemeral cuts.

If we’re real honest — the GOP helped get us into this mess. John Boehner’s plan does nothing to redeem the GOP’s legacy. But along the way, attacking conservative heroes, hiding how his plan will lead to tax increases, and not fighting both hurts the GOP’s relationship with its base and will seemingly cause a few long time heroes of the conservative movement to pollute their legacy with what amounts to a political cop out.

But hey — they’re in the minority.

The real conservatives will hold the line.

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