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| Republican Litmus Test |
You will never hear me use the word "Conservative" to describe myself. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you I cringe at the sound of the word.
As a political scientist, I believe the word "Conservative" is both overused and misused based on the question - Who determines who is conservative enough? What test is there to determine one’s level of conservatism?
There are no hard standards, rules or measures to determine an individual’s level of conservatism. While many individuals are of the opinion that some party members are “too Conservative” or “not conservative enough”. That is quite simply just their opinion and is not a fact.
To further prove my point, I took several polls on the internet which supposedly determined political ideology. The first quiz was: http://www.people-press.org/typology/quiz/ .
Based on my responses, I was labeled a Staunch Conservative. According to the survey results Staunch Conservatives are defined as: Extremely critical of the federal government; In-favor an assertive foreign policy; Pro-business; against stricter environmental laws and regulations; strongly opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage; Convinced the 2010 health care law will be bad for the country; View immigrants as a threat to traditional American customs and values; Nearly half believe President Obama born outside the United States.
Who are Staunch Conservatives: 84% are Republicans; 72% agree with the Tea Party; More than nine-in-ten are non-Hispanic white; The oldest typology group (61% are age 50 and older); 56% are male; most are married and financially comfortable; 57% own guns; 57% attend church every week; 54% regularly watch Fox News; More watch Glenn Beck and listen to Rush Limbaugh than any other group.
Let me just say, I do not watch Glenn Beck or Limbaugh at all, I rarely watch Fox News, I personally don’t own a gun, I am not what I would call financially comfortable, I don’t agree with the Tea Party about anything, I could care less where Obama (or anyone else) was born, and I really don’t have a major issue with immigrants or immigration reform. Thus, the attempt to determine my level of conservatism is laughable. I am quite simply a Republican and that is a measurable fact.
If you are an Elected official the story is a little different. CPAC is about the only group that scientifically rates politicians based on their level of conservatism. They do this using a binary scoring method. I encourage you to go look at the scores of any elected official you are questioning. http://conservative.org/cpac/. The level of conservatism is much easier to measure for a legislator that votes yes or no on legislation than a governor who sets policy and executes it. The Cato institute, a libertarian group, makes an attempt to measure governors based on their conservatism. As a side note, they gave Chris Christie the same grade as Nikki Haley, Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal http://www.cato.org/ .
The point is, make certain you know your facts before you call someone a name or accuse them of not being conservative enough to be a Republican.
A good way to determine if you or someone else is a Republican is to see if you or they can answer yes to the majority of the questions below:
1) Does your Voter Registration card identify you as a registered Republican?
2) Have you voted in every Republican primary since you became eligible to vote?
3) Have you always supported Republican candidates?
4) Have you given money to Republican Candidates?
5) Have you walked doors and made phone calls for Republican candidates?
6) Have you worked on a campaign for a Republican Candidate?
7) Do you know that real Republicans always capitalize the R in the word Republican and use lower case letters to write other party names?
8) Have you served the Republican party on the local, state or national level as an elected officer or committee member?
9) Do you believe in and follow what the party platform, state and national Party rules say...nothing more and nothing less?
10) Do you attend regular party meetings at the local, state and national level?
11) Do you regularly attend events at the local state and national level for Republicans?
12) Do you know what Ronald Regan’s 11th Commandment was and strive to keep it?
13) Are you a guest writer/ commentator for any political groups, media groups and blogs that identify you as a Republican?
14) Have you been elected as a Republican candidate and become a Republican elected official?
Do I think I am conservative? Yes, on some issues I am conservative and some maybe not. Just because I believe I am these things on various issues doesn't mean you, or anyone else, will agree with me on my position or it’s level of conservatism. Honestly, I can't prove I am a conservative and you can't prove I'm not. What I can prove is that I am a Republican because it is a measurable fact.
Therefore, when someone claims someone is not good enough to be a Republican they need to look at the measurable facts....not their opinions based on someone else’s opinions. The facts are there to measure if a person is a Republican, if you care enough to look for them it, is up to you. There are absolutely no facts to determine if someone is conservative enough because it is just an OPINION....not a FACT.
Supporting Republican candidates and elected officials is the right thing to do because anything else is supporting the democrats. True Republicans do not take part in the eating of our own. This is one of the behaviors that contributed to Mitt Romney being defeated in 2012. Media personalities like Rush, Beck, Levin, Palin and Hannity all contributed to the eating of our own mindset, and they can't deny what they did and are still doing. Once a commentator crosses that line, eats one of our own, they lose all credibility. These individuals are not Republicans, they are simply wealthy entertainers.
Article submitted by a Dyed in the Wool Republican reader.
A contributor of ours recently finished reading the 512 page book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann called