Conservative Donnybrook

In less than one year Californians will go to the polls to elect a new governor. Their two main choices will be Jerry Brown for the Democrats and one of three Republicans from the San Francisco Bay area. No matter if it is Meg Whitman, Tom Campbell or Steve Poizner that gets the nod from the GOP, Jerry Brown will win this election. Its not that Brown is a strong candidate or that California is a blue state, the problem is that all three of these bay area Republicans are pro-choice. Therefore the base that simply must turn out in droves for a Republican to win will stay home, vote for a third party candidate and otherwise hand Brown victory.

I am one of these republicans. My conscience and my morals prevent me from voting for any candidate that advocates (or at least is ambivalent to) the killing of innocent children. Whitman has an impressive business record. Poizner is a strong fiscal conservative. Campbell has tough talk for Sacramento. All three have a faulty moral compass. There will be some who argue that I should vote for one of these three republicans because Brown is also pro-choice and a huge fiscal liberal to boot. By voting for one of the three Republicans, the argument will go, we can at least elect a fiscal conservative. Besides, they will say, even a pro-life Republican will be powerless to change the culture of death in California. What this argument is so subtly saying is “toe the line, vote for the member of your party for there is no hope.” I refuse to vote for someone either so morally unaware (at best) that they are pro-choice or they are so afraid of or indoctrinated by Bay area liberals that they willfully turn away from defending the lives of the most vulnerable.

This is a re-occurring theme for the GOP: Candidates that hold positions that appeal to “moderates” ( I hate that term) but drive away the republican base. The California election will play out first but even for the 2012 presidential election we will most likely see a rather flimsy candidate that many conservative voters simply will not turn out for, one that independents will not vote for and one that liberals will salivate over to run against. But there is still hope. Indeed, there is still time for another conservative and pro-life candidate to emerge, possibly from Southern California. Darrell Issa looked like a shoe-in but then endorsed Whitman. Peter Foy of Ventura County all but announced but knew he did not have the name recognition needed to even get the nomination. Still, there maybe potential candidates out there. We need a fiscal conservative with a backbone and a good set of morals. We need someone who has name recognition and is not a life long politician. We need someone that endorses limited government, fiscal restraint, is socially libertarian on most issues and stands up for those that have no say in this world, like the unborn. Does anyone have any viable suggestions? I didn’t think so.

But alas, this is the same problem that plagued Republicans in 2008 and it’s the same issue we will see when 2012 come around. Simply put, there seems to be a dearth of good fiscal conservative Republicans that are also pro-life and want less government. It seems we are forced to consider lackluster republican candidates each and every election. The result this time will be the return of Jerry Brown, a socialist liberal that has spent a lifetime damaging our state. And Republicans are directly responsible for his all but assured victory. C’est la vie in CA.