Republican does not necessarily mean Conservative

It's one of those rare occasions when I point to a Conservative Columnists in a positive way. In this case it's Jonah Goldberg who writes on Arlen Spector's winning in his state's primary.

"I'm constantly astounded by the confusion about the differences between conservatives and Republicans. The silver lining of the Toomey defeat is that everyone, the White House included, has been reminded that there is a distinction.

Obviously, this is a subtle and nuanced distinction. The Republican Party is the conservative party, and the overwhelming majority of conservatives vote Republican. So lots of people rightly consider themselves to be both conservatives and Republicans. But there's a difference all the same.

Conservatives are committed to a constellation of ideas and traditions that sometimes war with each other. Yet, at the end of the day, people who identify themselves as conservatives first tend to be more dedicated to their principles than their party. Meanwhile, Republicans, even very conservative ones, are more often team players, organization-oriented as opposed to ideas-oriented. The former wants to win arguments, the latter, votes."

This is a key distinction that's worth remembering. And although Mr. Goldberg doesn't say it, it also applies in the Democratic Party as well (particularly the line about "ideas and traditions that sometimes war with each other.")

It's an interesting and ongoing debate. "How can we implement our ideas if we don't win?" "What's the point in winning if we aren't going to stand up for our ideas?"

The problem is that the more relative power the party has the more weight you can give to the ideological side of the argument. In other words, if a party controlled the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court, one might reasonably assume that it's time to stop campaigning and time to start implementing our ideas. And if that party isn't ready to start implementing the ideas you elected them to implement, well, maybe it's time to shop around for another party. We saw it in the early 90's with Ross Perot and in 2000 with Ralph Nader.

Goldberg himself hints at that possibility in his concluding paragraph. " As conservatives tend to be practical folks, they understand that the GOP brought them to the dance. But, just like the girl at the dance, they don't want to be taken for granted."