Moderates v. Conservatives: Nothing new here...

Since the Republican State Convention, the media has invented a cataclysmic fight between moderates and conservatives of our party. Folks, there is nothing new here. There is and always will be the struggles within our party. And by the way, Democrats have the same struggles. Many portray this as being a bad thing when, in all actuality, it is a very healthy thing for our party and is the intent of a party system.

From our Precinct Caucuses to our National Convention, we are shaping our party platform. You would think after reading the articles moderates aren’t allowed in the debate. We all know that isn’t true. Moderates and conservatives can show up at and have some influence on the platform. Heck, if they want to they can even organize a moderate coalition and work to elect moderate individuals to our party positions and institute moderate ideals in our platform. The problem for them is, by definition, moderates don’t believe strongly in the cause. Without passion for a cause, it is very hard to organize and build coalitions. What would they organize for?

• Less but not all abortions?
• More funding for welfare programs but not complete funding?
• Civil unions but not gay marriage?
• Some gun control laws but not too many?
• English as the official language except in government and society?

The list could go on and on but as you can see, it would be really hard to build a passionate coalition. The only way moderates build a passionate coalition is when they pick a fight with conservatives. Examples would be this year’s State Convention, Woodbury County in 2006, numerous Republican primaries, most notably in recent memory would be Nussle v. Vander Plaats or Ganske v. Salier.

Anyway, this is not a post to get people stirring; this is meant to shed some light on the nature of the beast. Moderates believe strongly in little and conservatives believe strongly in a lot.