A very strange phenomenon has been occurring, involving Capitol Hill Politicians…on both sides of the aisle.

The people who owe their livelihoods to us are doing an about-face in their views on the core principles which got them elected to office in the first place. It doesn’t matter what political promises were made on the campaign trail to the folks back home.

However, they’re not just simply changing their minds. They’re evolving. Republicans are evolving into Democrats and Democrats are evolving into socialists.

A social/cultural evolution, if you will.

I would say, let the professional politicians make fools of themselves, and throw themselves and whatever principles they have left into the Potomac River. The only problem is…they’re taking us with them.

For example…

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is “evolving” on the issue of gay marriage, but she has stopped short of joining the other senator from Alaska, Mark Begich, D-Alaska, in endorsing it.

Following an address at the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, she said, “The term ‘evolving view’ has been perhaps overused, but I think it is an appropriate term for me to use,” Murkowski said, according to the Chugiak-Eagle River Star. “I think it’s important to acknowledge that there is a change afoot in this country in terms of how marriage is viewed.”

Murkowski said she is reviewing her stance on the issue.

“It may be that Alaska will come to revisit its position on gay marriage, and as a policy maker I am certainly reviewing that very closely,” Murkowski said, indicating that she had spoken to her two sons about the issue.

“I’ve got two young sons who, when I ask them and their friends how they feel about gay marriage, kinda give me one of those looks like, ‘Gosh mom, why are you even asking that question?’”

In an interview with Alaska Public radio she expanded even more, indicating a softening of the issue.

“I think you are seeing a change in attitude, change in tolerance, I guess, and an acceptance that what marriage should truly be about is a lasting, loving, committed relationship with respect to the individual,” Murkowski said.

If she does flip, she would joined Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, as the only other Republican senator to back same-sex marriage. Begich, the Democratic junior senator from Alaska, flipped and endorsed same-sex marriage earlier this week.

Murkowski spokesperson Matthew Felling confirmed to ABC News that Murkowski’s views are the same as what she told the Alaska media and that she does not currently support gay marriage, but that she is reviewing the issue.

In 1998, Alaska passed an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Evidently, those brilliant minds that are up there breathing the heady air of the Beltway, simply have no choice but to evolve…away from the beliefs of their constituency.

The Guardian (UK) thinks that the Republicans should go squish…when they walk. Of course, Sharia Law is taking over the United Kingdom.

The one area where moderates are increasingly willing to speak up in a consistent way is on social issues. I used to live in the region that Dent represents. It’s certainly conservative area, but, increasingly, I would hear voters say something to the effect of, “I’m fiscally conservative, but and socially liberal or libertarian.” In other words, their economic beliefs lean Republican, their social values Democratic.

The fiscal issues and desire for a “smaller government” would often win out when it came time to vote, but it was notable that there was a growing acceptance – or at least tolerance – on issues like gay marriage. As Dent says:

“I hear from a lot of younger people who identify that way. There’s certainly room in the party for people like that – or there should be.”

It might explain why Dent has been one of the more vocal House Republicans supporting the Violence Against Women Act.

Moderate congressmen and governors can have a real impact on policy right now. They hold more power than they realize, and they might actually be able to change their party for the better. It starts with speaking up.

So what is all of this “evolving”into squishy mounds of Jello getting Republicans? The eternal gratitude of the Democrats, that’s what. Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast has some advice for the GOP:

Moderate Republicans, and even mainstream conservative Republicans who want to see Washington function again, should get together to form and fund a network of organizations that will pursue four goals:

First, just make moderate Republicanism visible again. Launch a public-awareness campaign. Get a television show. Or at least get a stable of people to go on the other shows. Let Americans know that the viewpoint even exists.

Second, start an organization to recruit young people, activists of all ages, and potential candidates. Start college campus clubs and newspapers or magazines. Host big conferences in Washington and elsewhere. Give people a sense of an extant community.

Third, start running some primaries against some hard-right people in districts where victory is possible. Admittedly, there are many states and districts where there’s no chance in blazes that a moderate could beat a conservative. Many state parties have been captured lock, stock, and barrel by the Tea Party, even in liberal states (Maine). But there are some places where moderates could win. And the Tea Party may be fading.

Fourth, set up a big think tank in Washington to advance more moderate policy ideas and, just as importantly, to urge moderation in tactics as well—that is, more civility, such that every single vote isn’t a matter of warfare.

 

By moving toward Moderation and “Fiscal Conservatism only” (and, not much of that) Republicans are becoming lemmings, following the Democratic Party straight over the cliff.

I say that it’s time that the Republican Party turns back to what won them elections: Conservatism.

Back in 1979, the Iranian Hostage Crisis was all over the news. President Carter could do nothing to stop it. Americans were beaten down with insecurity and malaise. Sound familiar?

They were waiting for someone to tell them what they needed to hear.  That man was Ronald Reagan.  He told Americans that it was okay to believe in themselves again.  He proudly declared that the United States was a “shining city on a hill” whose best days were still ahead. The usual pseudo-intellectuals labelled him as too extreme and simplistic. The American people decided not to listen to them.   Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide, winning 44 million votes, or 50.7 percent, and 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 35.5 million votes, or 41 percent, and only 44 electoral votes. It put a sudden halt to the out-of-control locomotive that Franklin Roosevelt rode toward ever-bigger government and tore asunder FDR’s political coalition that had smothered the politics of America for most of the previous half-century.

Reagan never forgot who he was and where he came from. That is what endeared him to the majority of Americans.  On Election Day, when  a journalist asked Reagan what Americans saw in him, he asked:

Would you laugh if I told you that I think, maybe, they see themselves and that I’m one of them? ”I’ve never been able to detach myself or think that I, somehow, am apart from them.

Compare that statement to those of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  I dare you.

He was the oldest person ever elected president for a first term, but in the end Americans didn’t seem to mind because he was in such good health and looked much younger than his 68 years.  From the start, this humble man made his intentions very clear.  He would roll back communism where possible, strengthen national defense, cut taxes, and stop or slow the growth of government. Many disagreed with the details of his policies, but they accepted the direction he was setting and liked his positive, decisive leadership.

It was not coincidental that President Reagan’s rise in politics happened at the same time as the ascension of the religious right, the term given to millions of Christian Conservative voters who held the balance of power in many states.   Under Reagan,these people, like myself, became much more active in politics.

That is what is needed now. Strong Conservative Leadership. Reagan-esqe, three-legged stool Conservative Leadership.

Now, that would be evolution.

Americans deserve nothing less.

Until He Comes,

KJ