Please, do, Senator:
Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent.
The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans to vote for the Democratic-led stimulus package last month…
…Specter said he is open to the possibility of running as an Independent with the understanding that he would caucus with Republicans, just as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) did with Democrats in 2006.
Though he left that option on the table, he suggested it would be a last resort.
Senator Specter is a fine man and from what I understand a very nice guy – but he’s not a Republican. Not even close. He’s a Democrat who did a bit of political calculus and figured that he’d have a better chance winning election way back when as a Republican. But we of the GOP just don’t need him in our party – much better to have him as an Independent we can work with from time to time. And, of course, there is just that chance that a more solid GOP could slip through with the Democrat and Specter splitting the mush-minded semi-liberal vote, especially in 2010 when things are likely to be very favorable to the GOP, unless Obama’s plan to spend us into prosperity works.
A bit of a lesson here, boys and girls: the reason we have political parties is so that on some basic, crucial issues there is a clear choice for the American people. While a GOPer and a Democrat can both be in favor of, say, increasing funding to the National Park Service, when it comes down to whether or not we should increase spending, per se, it is good for the GOP to be known as the watchdog of the Treasury and the taxpayer as opposed to the Democrats being tagged as the party of taxing and spending. But we’re not going to get anywhere on this if people like Specter, wearing the GOP label, continually cut us off at the knees when the chips are down. In the long run, it will be better for the GOP even if it gets a little smaller if by so doing it becomes a more cohesive entity able to battle for clearly defined ideals. Winning isn’t worth it if all we’re doing is getting into office – we want office for a purpose.
Our purpose, as GOPers, is to reform America – to restore those constitutional provisions which have been eroded by decades of liberal usurpation; to put America on a sound financial footing where we live within our means and only tax as necessary for the basic functions of government; to ensure that the American military is second to none; to stand firm with all people who are free or who aspire to be so; to work for a public square which is decent and home to all Americans, not the plaything of the most depraved. There is in this much room for difference – a pro-choice and a pro-life Republican will both agree that Roe is a legal abomination, while they will differ in whether or not a law should be passed to make abortion legal or illegal. A libertarian GOPer and a social conservative GOPer will disagree on what level of regulation should be placed on the availability of pornography, but both will agree that local standards must dictate such availability in each particular community. On and on it goes – room in the tent for a diversity of opinion, but agreement on core principles. And fighting for such will remain impossible if there remain in senior GOP ranks people who agree with the liberal worldview of Statism, licentiousness and group rights over individual liberties.
I hope that Specter does decide to go Independent – he’ll be in his proper element, and we’ll have a better chance of advancing our cause.
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