Redstate Republicans
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 01:39PM Redstate Republicans are a faction of the GOP which doesn't possess the knowledge to fully understand what they are against or for. The Republican Party will either transition to classical liberal principles, or it will become irrelevant. The type of "conservativism" represented at Redstate has no philosophical foundation, so its attacks on "liberals" lack historical perspective. The participants know they dislike Democrats, Obama and liberals, but they lack the intellectual capacity and knowledge of political philosophy to make a good case for true opposition to modern liberalism.
Because Ron Paul has ideas which don't conform with their simplistic version of "conservativism" they smear him as a kook, racist (that's rich), and traitor who defends terrorists. The Redstate Republicans are basically tools for the Republican establishment, although they pretend to be independent rebels who possess the true "conservative" spirit. Despite their grumbling, they will be led by the nose in 2012. The special type of ignorance possessd by the Redstate crowd has driven independents to the Democrat Party, although these Democrat leaning independents are just as misguided if they think Democrats will ever renounce their form of statism that's destroying our economy. Obama promised to be a new kind of Democrat, and the independents believed him -- now these independents would like to vote Republican, but they are finding problems with the Redstate type Republican.
The Redstate faction is loud, so they appear to be representative. They'll eventually follow the establishment choice for the Presidential race, and then justify their capitulation by saying winning counts, and anything is better than Obama, but they won't be able to explain why. Anything is not better than Obama. True classical liberal opposition to Obama is better than Obama. The Redstate crowd will follow anyone who promises to cut spending, keep marriage sacred, fight abortion, loves Jesus, is repulsed by certain unapproved behavior, kick some union ass, fight illegal immigration and keep the war machine alive. These are the issues important to the Redstate Republicans, right or wrong, and it doesn't matter how powerful a rightwing government becomes as long as it represents these concerns. They never have well-reasoned explanations why they support what they support, they just do, by God. Higher principles of individual rights, equal opportunity, non-interventionism in private behavior and foreign, sovereign countries are not important. Obviously, these higher principles are too complex for the Redstate Republican to bother with.
The Redstate Republicans have no idea how their unexamined value-judgements affect the evolution of State power -- they just want their little worlds protected from what they don't understand. Perhaps if they would put a little effort into learning the history of domination and freedom and what the Constitution actually represents, they wouldn't be so bitter when someone like Paul, who does understand, supports things that don't fit their stunted worldview. Then, if they disagee, they'll have the tools to intelligently explain why, rather than call names and dreg up old newsletters from 1990 -- and even if Paul turns out to be morally unfit to be President, they'll realize that the ideas were what was really important all along. The Republican Party needs a philosophical foundation based on classical liberal principles, not delusional, pseudo-conservative, social warriors striking out blindly in fear, unable to indentify the enemy.
