Most conservatives are Republicans but not all Republicans are conservatives.
Conservatives who’ve been in the game long enough recognize the accuracy of the above statement, yet the establishment media still uses the terms interchangeably, as though a Republican who voted to fund big government the way nearly a score of them did last week signaled a sea change in liberty-grounded governing philosophy, and senators like Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins are indicative of the party mainstream.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s never been clearer that a lot of Republicans aren’t conservatives. They hide behind the ideological label every two, four or six years when running for office or hoping to get reelected, but too many of them don’t pay any mind to conservatism once the media’s bright camera lights go on and they’re tasked with voting on legislation or commenting on party dynamics. You might as well attach a dog whistle to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, because whenever he blows it, the “bipartisan” “get things done” coalition comes running like ravenous pooches at feeding time.
It's not the same for Democrats; nearly all liberals are Democrats and nearly all (with a token few exceptions) Democrats are liberals. Occasionally you might run across a self-identified Democrat who’s fiscally conservative yet socially liberal or a big government favoring voter who claims to hold socially conservative views. But in these scenarios, they still usually vote the party line because it’s closer to their core beliefs.
Wishy-washy establishment Republicans played conservatives for the fool again last week when they allowed the phony “infrastructure” bill to pass. Apparently, the ringleaders got congratulatory phone calls from none other than senile president Joe Biden himself. You can’t make this stuff up.
“It’s the kind of presidential shoutout that could make its way into a conservative primary challenger’s ad.
“’For the Republicans who supported this bill, you showed a lot of courage,’ President Joe Biden said as he celebrated the Senate passing a bipartisan infrastructure package. ‘And I want to personally thank you for that, and I’ve called most of you on the phone to do just that.’
“But the only Republican senator Biden publicly named was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who beat a conservative primary challenger at the height of the Tea Party era. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill could join the 2008 bank bailout and the 1990 George H. W. Bush tax increase as a major dividing line among Republicans that separates the conservatives from the party establishment.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the Democrat president’s crowing about how he called most of the Republican turncoats to thank them for committing political hara-kiri by not only giving Democrats a huge victory, but also putting the future of the republic at risk due to the mounting piles of debt the treasury is accumulating right under their noses.
Here’s a hypothetical snapshot of how Biden’s chat with retiring North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr likely went:
Joe Biden: (Hearing “hello” on the other end of the line) “Hey, Rich, Joe Biden here. I was going to call you Dick Burr but that sounded a little painful.
“My staff handed me a list of Republicans to call and thank for helping to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and, I gotta admit, I skipped a bunch of names to get to yours. I was looking forward to chattin’ with ya, my man, because it’s been more than a dozen years since we were in the senate together, and, I’ve been kinda busy with Barry and the boys in the interim. There’s Hunter, too.
“But I never forget a comrade in arms who shows courage. You must not be afraid of the devil (laughs out loud) because you’re in Republican hades now, my friend!”
Richard Burr: (sounding flattered) “Thanks a ton, Joe! As you know, I voted to impeach that jackass Donald Trump a few months back but he squeaked through on another acquittal. Since I’m retiring after this term, voting for a bunch of your stuff is the least I could do for an old upper chamber chum. Remember those late night paper football games we played waiting for the cafeteria to close? Those idiot conservatives can’t get to me now, right? They can go pound sand for all I care. Me n’ Mitch had a good laugh over the lot of ‘em making a fuss about spending and debt and future generations and all that ‘responsibility’ crap.”
Joe Biden: “You speak the truth, man. I wasn’t there on January 6 but I’ve seen video of you guys sprinting for safety from those racist Trump scum. They have tons of cameras in the capitol but I’m told they won’t release the bulk of the images. Might give some of the insurrectionists a ‘Get out of jail free’ pass. Who needs that? Besides, if they had one of those Olympic timer thingys on Mitt Romney that day, I bet his 100 meter time would’ve beaten the gold medalist’s in Tokyo. I’m saving Rom’s call for last, since it’ll be the most fun.
“Me n’ Barack, we made Mitt and Paul Ryan dance, didn’t we? What a couple of patsies.”
Richard Burr: “You bet, Joe. I myself was first elected to Congress in 1994 as part of Gingrich’s ‘Contract with America’ movement. We made a lot of promises back then, including a push to get a balanced budget amendment. Nobody talks about it anymore. No more contracts. Just a lot of big bills. I need a legacy, bud, and the only one that matters to me now is being linked to your administration and cooperating with Democrats. It didn’t matter at all that the infrastructure farce didn’t have much to do with roads and bridges. Times have changed, and so have I.”
Joe Biden: “Definitely, bub. It’s great to see that so many have come over to the dark side. The Tea Party is history. We’ve won. We’ll get the Green New Deal and amnesty and citizenship for every illegal alien and you helped me become the greatest president ever with one fell swoop. (Buzzing noise in the background.) Uh, this buzzer tells me my time is up with you, Rich. Again, just wanted to thank you for selling out the Republican Party. You’ll have a special section dedicated to you in my presidential library someday!”
Richard Burr: (Hearing a click, the senator mumbles to himself.) “I can’t believe I’ve spent over twenty-five years in this putrid DC swamp. That ’94 ‘Revolution’ is a distant memory now. We were true believers then. Now I’m a creature who gets a call from that blowhard Biden who thanks me for having the ‘courage’ to get suckered and betray my own people. The establishment won again.”
--What else would Biden and Burr have said? Or what else did Joe say to any of the Republicans he called? Former President Trump didn’t get the chance to contact Democrats to thank them for their “bipartisan courage” during his four years because Democrats hardly ever broke ranks -- and certainly not nineteen of them at once like Republicans did last week.
It's hard to believe that Burr was once considered a pretty reliable conservative, but as the fictional conversation indicated, he’s changed. It appears that he got caught up in anti-Trump fever and it’s led to his joining with other RINOs to give Democrats the power to do pretty much whatever they want with the budget now.
A principled conservative wouldn’t do such a thing, but a Republican would. It used to be that GOP representatives and senators were considered the fiscally minded ones who wouldn’t fall for the hoopla and agree to trillion-dollar spending packages. This comes on top of all the trillions already devoted to battling the fruitless COVID lockdowns and scuttled businesses since March of last year.
If/when the $3.5 trillion budget resolution passes, it will put an end to the fallacy that all Republicans are mindful of Uncle Sam’s purse strings. Donald Trump was not considered a conservative but he advanced conservative policies. The media says Mitch McConnell is a conservative, yet the “leader” allowed his senators to pow-wow with and then vote with the Democrats.
Democrats aren’t conservatives, and chances are, if they’re happy about something and expressing thanks to Republicans for helping them, it’s a bad deal for America. It doesn’t take a political science professor to recognize the difference between a RINO and an authentic conservative. At least Democrats admit that they’re “progressive.” It’s a sham and we’re the chumps.
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