Obamacare is Obamatax, and fighting amongst ourselves won’t change it.

I was stunned and must admit had an adverse reaction to the Supreme Courts ruling, and I was especially appalled at Chief Justice Roberts whose stunning ruling that Obamacare could remain intact as a tax was quite unexpected... He's a Bush appointee. I did not respond well to that news. I have always tried to be civil, I failed in my response calling a few choice names for which I must apologize. I am also angry with the tepid response some of the leaders of our party have given when we rely upon them to shield us from this nonsense. So I will apologize for any hurt feelings I may have caused, ask for your forgiveness where appropriate and strive to do better going forward. Outbursts from me are few and far between, I am usually much better than that and for those who follow me on Facebook you all deserve better, but my appeal to all the factions is this; at the end of the day trying to purge one another from the party will yield nothing.

Let’s review some partisan trends for the last few years. The reason is because we need to demonstrate why we need each other, in an issue of Time Magazine just after the 2008 election Time declared the GOP was going to become marginalized, regional and this was based on the fact that partisan registration had dropped to about 23%, Democrats were at about 35%. Lost in the article of course was the massive increase in the Independent vote, both parties were losing their members. But then the Tea Party came along and since then as the GOP has been the recipient of a groundswell of activist support Partisan Trends look much better. Fact is that, depending on the poll (I usually reference Rasmussen) we’ve shot up from that paltry 25% or so to about 35-38% or so, but the Democrats meanwhile still hover at around 35% give or take a few points. For us to build a winning coalition minus the grass roots activists means having to come up with those missing 10 (or so) percentage points just to replace them, in addition to 16% of the remaining votes out there just to build a simple majority. The numbers without the moderate establishment are perhaps even more bleak. One would think this would be easier given that similar polls reveal 44 + % of Americans self-identify as Conservative and only about 22 as Liberal, sadly it is not. Whereas Democrats function as a cohesive unit that take their orders and march, operating inside the GOP can be like putting a bunch of cats together in that don't know each other in the same room... Not pretty. We eat each other alive. This has been something that has bothered me a very long time and if you read this blog you will see I have complained about it endlessly.

We need to work together because in reality whether you are establishment or activist there’s simply not enough of us to beat the Democrats. Certainly there’s room for civil debate over the direction of the party, one that liberal newspapers such as the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune should stay out of, but certainly we should be the big tent party that Reagan hoped we would be. We all, self-included at times, need to get better at honoring the 11th commandment.

Things, however, seem to only be getting worse. There are, admittedly, a number of Ron Paul supporters who have been rather quite rude in their zeal, but there’ve been an equal number of other factions whose behavior has been equally appalling. It's hard to get in a sensible word in edgewise at times over the cats hissing at each other. And lucky me, in my attempts to try to be friendly with all factions have become a pariah in all factions. The long term effect of this is that we have a party that is growing more and more divided, and as such we have a situation that over the long haul does not bode well for the health of the party. If either faction, establishment or grass roots activist, splinters off we drop to partisan registry numbers too low to win elections and in reality there is no third party who could fill that gap, so naturally Democrats would get elected.

As we look at the reality ahead of us we have one shot at ending the nightmare of Obamatax, just one, Romney must get elected, Republicans must retain the House and regain the Senate, and then they have to keep their word and repeal it immediately. If we fail in any of those tasks Obamatax is a reality that will never end. We will be Europe and Europe’s problems will follow suit.

How then do we seriously consider not supporting Hatch when he has said he will vote to repeal Obamacare? Do I always agree with him? No, but more often than not yes. Have I been attacked ruthlessly by Hatch supporters who don’t seem to understand that when I say he has a 91% approval rating from the Heritage Foundation it is a compliment to the man? Yes. But regardless Scott Howell makes it clear on his web page he supports the measure; ergo dare we risk an action that will end in a vote against repeal? I wouldn’t. I am endorsing and supporting Orrin Hatch for re-election. He can count on my full support. And if his supporters would read my writings hey would find my criticism of Hatch has been very minor and never personal. I have always been friendly toward the good senator despite areas of philosophical disagreement.

Romney was my third choice. I am backing him in spite of Romney care because he is now the only chance we have at seeing this atrocity repealed. Something he promised he would do, and not only that but he apparently assured Rand Paul that he is interested in Audit the Fed (for the record so is Hatch). I believe him. I believe Romney is the right man for the job at present because I do not think that at this time he's just saying what he thinks we need to hear. Do I always agree with Romney? No, but have I been a jerk about it? Well if I have please direct me to it… I have always kept any disagreement I have with fellow Republicans philosophical and not personal.

And yet despite the fact that most of the grass roots activists feel this way it seems like the actions of a small minority of jerks have cause the establishment to go to war against all of us. Everybody is trying to purge everybody else, but in reality the numbers, historically (again reference Time polls and Rasmussen) show us that one cannot survive without the other. 2006 and 2008 showed us what the party looks like without the Conservatives. Fact is the way we are trending right now we may be in danger of alienating one critical group or another, and either way the end result of all this infighting means Obama re-elected, and Howell elected as senator and no end to Obamatax... Now stop and think about that. Surely there are ways I can improve my dialogue, I will try to do better, but I think we all, Conservative, Moderate, Libertarian alike, we all owe Utah a much more civil discourse. We owe Utah a party not at war with itself.