On my lack of support for fake Republicans.

When I was a little less than 17 years and 5 months old, I was getting off an aircraft at Frankfurt International Airport, across the field from Rhein Main Air Base, heading to my first duty assignment as an Armored Reconnaissance Scout… which included time on the Iron Curtain.

It was in a country that had something of a history, having started, effectively, two major wars in Europe within 25 years of each other.

I ultimately did a total of 6 years and 3 months serving my country over there… saw a great deal, had many discussions, and went to a great many locations… and all the time I was there, I wondered: how did these kind, decent, humane people allow a monster like a Hitler to take over and bring them to destruction?

I’m reminded of our current election here in Washington. There are a great many in the Republican Party herd that see principle as being completely outmoded and obsolete. They justify their positions by saying, among other things, that they view themselves repositories of the current, anything goes as long as it has the label “Republican” orthodoxy and will ignore one or two Republican bedrock principles that help define Republicanism, or conservatism… to shill for the establishment standard-bearers.

In the case of some, they simply ignore the indisputable, unpleasant realities of the history of governance. For example, when one has had the opportunity to govern, when such a person governed like their last name was Gregoire. Or, for when another suddenly discovers they’re a conservative when they’ve been, for several years, involved up to their eyeballs with the so-called Mainstreamers, even holding the position of Clark County chair within that organization. Or, when one suddenly determines that an election-year conversion into a big fan of gay marriage is called for, or when another calls the absolutely necessary steps taken by another governor to rein in out of control spending by getting rid of the curse of collective bargaining by public employee unions; something desperately needed in this state; “terrorism.”

I ultimately concluded that Hitler rose to power because those who should have known better compromised on principles. Those who should have known better actually believed that they could violate Franklin’s tenet concerning safety. Those who should have known better turned a blind eye towards honor so their guy, who they were convinced beyond redemption they could control, would “win.”

So. They won.

Failing to keep these intangibles in mind when committing to political support is a serious miscalculation on the part of the establishment who never really miss an opportunity to ignore or belittle those of us who cling to our obviously, in their mind’s eye, outmoded concepts of truth and honor. They seem to think that because of a label, and because of words, they can ignore the factual history of those who would govern us like it never existed.

I can not.

You see, what they fail to understand, either deliberately or through ignorance, is that my position has nothing, really, to do with “conservatism” per se’. I happen to be a conservative, I admit.

But even before I am that, I happen to believe in honor. And I happen to abhor election year gymnastics as a method to get elected, like the sudden assumed label of conservative or the sudden, recent change to support of gay marriage to get the support of the Puget Sound region.

What one calls “one or two issues” makes no difference, they tell us.

One or two lies, one or twenty thousand.

None of that is acceptable to me.

So, in that regard, where these people MIGHT have received my support is if they had told the truth as to what THEY are.

When one lies about, for example, being a conservative. That’s a disqualifier for me. It obviously isn’t for some. In this instance, the lie about being a conservative extends within it literally to dozens of different areas: taxes, social issues, government spending… dozens. But those blinded by their peculiar view of pragmatism in the name of victory refuse to see that, or they see that and don’t care.

And history, as we all know, is doomed to repeat itself if we don’t learn from it.

Life has no guarantees. An Obama win won’t give us ANY justices if the senate doesn’t allow it. So, the question becomes do we cave?

Justice Kennedy was nominated by Reagan. How’s that worked out for us?

And I do share the view that this Nation is likely to survive another Obama term, much like it will likely survive a Romney term. Since the differences between Obama and Romney, given the latter’s record of governance, the ONLY indisputable fact of his governance philosophy (Talk is, after all, quite cheap) are so limited, I doubt we would notice any real difference.

Further, had Romney not purchased his candidacy like I buy a car… well, we’d have never heard of this guy.

Playing the political version of the ostrich as so many “moderates” do just gives us varying degrees of democrat. And really, is there any point in voting for the fake democrat when you can have the real thing?

And it’s unfortunate indeed that the so-called “right of center” Republicans, or what those not in that group refer to as RINO’s don’t know that.