100% pro-life no matter what
ExtremeRepublican
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E: 7.35, S: 5.57
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« on: April 02, 2017, 05:13:56 PM » |
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« edited: April 02, 2017, 07:50:07 PM by ExtremeRepublican »
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Fights within the conservative community over the last few weeks made me think about what is the ultimate conservative, and it occurred to me that there are actually two different groups that make a claim to being the "right-wing"- and that they will naturally oppose each other.
Right Wing #1- The Conservative Purists- Represented by (most of) the House Freedom Caucus (and some of the Republican Study Committee), the Heritage Foundation, Vice President Pence, and many religious groups: This group is most focused on the "culture wars", particularly as it relates to abortion. But, they are very traditionally conservative on all issues and don't like President Trump's rhetoric on trade, but love his judicial appointments. Abortion is probably the #1 issue that this right-wing is unwilling to compromise on, but they largely go with the traditional conservative orthodoxy and still view Reagan as their hero. They voted for Cruz or Rubio in the primary and begrudgingly supported Trump in the general to stop Hillary and get SCOTUS appointments who might overturn Roe v. Wade and protect traditional values. Despite the focus on social issues, they are also strong believers in the free market and low taxes, owing to the largely suburban and exurban nature of this type of conservatism. They are mostly happy with Trump, but feel that he sometimes spends too much capital on issues that aren't as important, rather than saving it for the big fights. Their dream president would be Jim DeMint or Matt Bevin.
Right Wing #2- The "America First" Crowd- Represented by Stephen Bannon, Ann Coulter, Breitbart, the "Alt-Light" (the not explicitly racist parts of the alt-right), and very popular on the internet: Unlike the other right-wing, these people do not see abortion and gay marriage/religious freedom as top concerns. In fact, some of them silently or publicly support abortion for population control reasons. They are more concerned with immigration and keeping the culture of America as they desire (a very different sort of culture war). Additionally, they differ from the other right on foreign and national security policy as well, being much more skeptical of surveillance (on American citizens) and much less pro-Israel. They prefer a closed-borders "we control our own destiny and don't need to worry about other countries" approach and are both more libertarian and more authoritarian at the same time, compared to the other group and also don't care about Reagan. They supported Trump from day one, but some wish that he was a bit more singularly focused so far. As a whole, though, they are extremely happy with his presidency. Their dream president would be Stephen Bannon.
The two places of pure overlap seem to be repealing Obamacare (though maybe there is some sort of difference in how to go about it) and opposing transgenderism, although it is possible that different concerns lead them both to the same position there. They are not actively at each others' throats, as long as both the traditional so-cons and the nationalists pay lip-service to being pro-life/pro-border control. But, they are fighting and will continue to fight with each other for control of the Republican Party (accusing each other of not being sufficiently conservative)- especially when it comes to which issues are prominent in the agenda. But, when something happens like Tomi Lahren's comments a couple weeks ago, it brings this fight more to the forefront.
Thoughts?
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