The Cultural Conservative Vote

There are conservatives and then there are conservatives. There are fiscal conservatives who believe in balanced budgets or tax cuts (you can't believe in both, I believe in the former). There are libertarian conservatives who believe in less government regulations and taxes (for me, it depends, as I believe in minimizing regulations unless they function to prevent bad behavior - such as racial or sex discrimination or producing unsafe products or waste). There are religious conservatives who believe in traditional moral teachings and rituals. (I am a no on the first and yes on the second - so I believe in Tridentine Gay Weddings). Then there are the "cultural conservatives." These believe in authoritarianism, very traditional morality and may in fact yearn for the days when certain people knew (or still know) their place. These are the folks that would not have their child marry certain people, mostly with darker skin. They believe in the right to not rent an apartment or sell a home to someone whose morality they do not approve of or won't hire certain people because they might file a discrimination complaint (for the likely reason that the conservatives feel they have a right to denigrate those who they feel are below them - in other words their parents didn't teach them civilized matters because there parents didn't HAVE civilized manners). These are the folks who favored Pat Buchanan in the Reform Party until he nominated an African American woman to be his running mate. These are the folks who carry the signs that say "God Hates F@gs." Quite a few cultural conservatives hide behind the illegality of immigration are cultural conservatives (although not all anti-immigrant folks are in that category to be sure). There were enough of them in the GOP, however, to have me be very comfortable leaving in the 1990s. For now, I am back and supporting Mike Huckabee. When he was the leader of the Southern Baptists in Arkansas, he did not support the more culturally conservative types, which earned him the criticism of being one of my people - a Christian leftist. I don't think that the Governor will pander to these folks to win the nomination - at least I hope not. I know people who no longer support Ron Paul because he has, in the past, not disassociated himself from certain neoconfederate supporters of this stripe. I also hope that John McCain will likewise resist the urge to pander. I believe that either McCain or Huckabee has a chance of winning in November without pandering to these folks. It is a pity Romney seemed to, since he is largely better than that. There are more than a few listeners of a certain rotund talk radio host from Kansas City who are of that cultural stripe, and that same host seems to have no problem with their association with him. For Rush and for all those cultural cultural conservatives whose attitudes I have identified above, I have a message: We don't need you to win in November. Don't let the door hit you in the @$$ on the way out.