By Scott Tibbs, August 17, 2016
I keep hearing from my Republican friends that this is the most important election in American history. Of course, we hear that every four years. It was absolutely critical that we end Obama's rule in 2012, we had to stop Obama from becoming President in 2008, we had to continue the leadership of Bush in 2004, etc. This propaganda becomes easy to tune out, because it comes off as fear-mongering. But there is a real danger in this election, and must confront it for the long-term good of the nation.
Over the long run, America cannot survive the transformation of the Republican Party into a pale imitation of the Democratic Party. We cannot afford to have the Republican Party abandon the conservative principles that have protected our liberty, our security, our social order and our economic growth in order to become a populist, nativist, big government authoritarian party. The GOP cannot be the party that moves us toward totalitarianism just a little bit slower than the Democrats. If we have no opposition party then our nation is doomed.
It seems the only real principles of the populist, nativist "republicans" is a fervent opposition to immigration. They are willing to abandon the Republican Party's stand for the unborn, surrender to radical Leftist redefinitions of marriage and the elimination of all distinctions between men and woman, make our country weaker by abandoning our alliances, pursue economically devastating trade wars, and crack down on dissent and free speech by, among other things, "opening up" libel laws.
The Republican Party needs to be the party of limited government, individual liberty, states' rights, and restrained federal power. We must reject any candidate who seeks to move is away from that and we must fiercely oppose any Republican elected official who advances policy that moves us away from those guiding principles. It would be far easier to survive Democrats in power in the short term than the destruction of conservative principles over the long term.
