The Problem with the Constitution Party

I agree with the Constitution Parties stance on just about everything.

However, I feel that the CP misses the essence of the constitution. They forget how it was formed in the first place – through compromise. The CP is unwilling to reach out to large percentage of the population because they refuse to build any sort of broad based consensus.  They say, “support all our views or find a different party.” 

If every single true conservative joined the CP it would only have maybe 20% of the total population… not enough to win any major elections. And I think that is a generous figure. We can’t even get 20% of the population to go to church every week much less be active politically on the right side of the issues.

Right now the CP primarily consists two groups:

• Conservative Home Schooled Families
• Conspiracy Theorists

What has made the Republican Party so strong is its ability to build a consensus between three primary population groups.

• Country Clubers (the wealthy)
• The Religious Right (Think Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority)
• Moderates (They are too conservative to be a democrat but are easily swayed by good rhetoric. Vote for the “coolest” candidate.)

When these three groups come together they are able to put conservative candidates into office. But it is only through a system of compromise. For example the Religious right supports the country clubber’s tax cuts in order to limit abortion.

President Reagan is a perfect example of a candidate that was able to get all three of these groups behind him.

• His pro business views won over the Country Clubber’s
• His pro life-views won over the Religious Right and
• His eloquence won over the Moderates.

He did all this without having to compromise with the left.

If you read the Republican Party Platform or the Texas GOP Platform it is right on with just about every issue. Instead of abandoning the party we should focus on supporting Republican candidates that actually support the platform.

The Democrat Party has an alliance between three primary groups as well:

• Labor Unions
• The Religious Left (Feminists, Environmentalists & Homosexuals)
• Minorities

These groups don’t have much in common (in fact the labor unions and environmentalists are often at odds) but they know they are much more powerful together than they are separately.

I admire the motivation behind the Constitution Party but I am concerned that they will siphon off conservatives away from the GOP causing it to slant more to the right thus causing even bigger problems as we are faced with two liberal parties (a shift that is already happening).

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