The Republican establishment, just does not get it . . .

The news is astir of Governor Romney's big win in Iowa this week.  According to establishment Republican's inside the Beltway with this big win in Iowa, Romney is a shoe in for the Republican nomination!

Even Senator, can't we all just get along and reach across the aisle, John McCain has now endorsed Romney and suggested that the primary process should be over.  McCain contends that Romney is the exact kind of guy America needs, and is the only guy who can possibly beat Obama!

But let's point out a couple of important facts before we just skip to the convention and anoint Governor Romney as our candidate.  First, Romney only beat Santorum by 8 votes and garnered only 25% of the Iowa voters, which means 75% of conservatives in Iowa voted AGAINST Governor Romney;  second, while I respect and admire Senator McCain's military service, isn't he the guy who got his ass kicked by Obama in 2008?  One has to wonder just how effective McCain's endorsement is, or if it was really something Romney wanted.  I know if I were running for office, I would not be happy to receive the endorsement of the Senior RINO in the Senate.  But I suppose if you are, as Governor Romney has been described, a Massachusetts Moderate (which I suspect must be somewhere left of even John McCain), then perhaps McCain's endorsement may give your conservative persona some credibility!

Seriously the conservative's goal, not necessarily the Republican's goal, is to defeat Obama in 2012 and I am going to vote for whoever the Republicans run, but if we do run our leftist (Romney) against their communist/socialist (Obama) then my vote will be, as it was in 2008, a vote against Obama, not for Romney.

Ok, I get that defeating horrible politicians like Barack Obama is, or should be our top goal for 2012, but that doesn't justify redefining conservatism entirely by thinking or expecting a Massachusetts moderate to be a straight talking conservative.  The fact is that Mitt Romney is not a conservative. If you want to support him, go right ahead. But don't lie about your rationale. It undermines the conservative standard.

When the standards are undermined, the behavior that such standards were originally intended to stop or reduce increase dramatically. Take, for example, the case of unwed motherhood.  When society ceases to consider such behavior morally wrong, the behavior increases exponentially.

The same holds true in politics. When we deliberately broaden conservatism to encompass government-forced purchase of health insurance or raising taxes or appointing liberal judges or enforcing same-sex marriage or using taxpayer money to bail out business or pushing trade barriers,we destroy conservatism from within. If we do that, why would our politicians even bother to pay lip service to the standard?

They wouldn't. And we'd end up with ever more liberal nominees. Which is precisely what has happened since the halcyon days of Reagan.

Standards matter. If you want to support Mitt Romney, that's your prerogative. But don't sell out conservative principles in the process.

Walter Scott