Party Over Principles

Its been quite ironic this week to hear prominent Democrats, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, laud Sen. Specter for switching parties, claiming that it is because he puts principle over party. Furthermore, The liberal media has flooded the news with statements by various liberals claiming that this defection is a sign that the Republican party has become too conservative rather than Specter becoming too liberal.

First, off the idea that the Republican Party has taken too steep a turn to the right is ridiculous. The public dissatisfaction with Republicans is because they abandoned the conservatism that got them elected in the first place. The Republican party did shift to the right, but it was back when Ronald Reagan won the parties nomination to run for President and then it drifted back to the left and then self-corrected again when Newt Gingrich led the Republican Revolution in 1994. In other words, the Republican party has been the most successful and found its greatest public support, when they were the most conservative.

Since 1994 the party has gone so far to the left that it allowed a massive increase in the Department of education by letting Ted "the Liberal Lion" Kennedy write the No Child Left Behind Act, and President Bush spirit Ralph Nader and Joe Biden, claiming "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." Compare that to Ronald Reagan who wanted to completely eliminate the Department of Education and thought Government was the problem rather than the solution to economic problems. Such a comparison makes it clear that the Republican Party has only drifted in one direction and that is far to the left.


Second, the idea that Specter is somehow choosing principle over party is ridiculous. He is choosing his personal career over principle. Just a week or two ago he said that he would never switch parties because allowing the Dems to get a supermajority would devestate our country. Yeah that principle only lasted until polls showed he was going to lose in the Republican primary.

Lastly, the idea that the Democrat party is committed to principle is laughable. If Dems are so principled than why were they going to run a Dem candidate against Specter in the general election before he switched parties? If he is such a great asset to the Senate why have they been trying to defeat him in elections for years. Either he caved on his principles, they are caving on their principles, or it has nothing to do with principles and everything to do with party. One must look no further than the disparate treatment Dems have shown to Specter and Sen. Olympia Snowe this week. Both Snowe and Specter are about as liberal as it gets in the Republican party. Yet Dems have spent the weak dishonestly smearing Snowe, while simultaneous praising Specter. The only difference between the two is that Specter just switched parties.

The bottom line is that I am thrilled he switched parties. Why? because I don't care about the Republican party at all. I care about conservatism. Specter was no conservative then and he won't be now, so his party affiliation will not change a thing. The only difference will be that the media will have a tougher time portraying his votes and opinions as representative of conservatives. The Republicans in Congress that are sad to see Specter go need to wake up before they find themselves gone as well. The reason Republicans are struggling is because partisan hacks like them have been more concerned with keeping Republicans in office than keeping principled Conservatives in office.