Conservatives Need Political Backbone In 2014 & Beyond

Conservatives Need Political Backbone In 2014 & Beyond

Kevin Bryant 

Mid-term elections are 21 out. Why should I be thinking about them now? I don’t even know who is going to be running for office. What I do know is this: I know the type of person I would like to in office. It could be a republican, it could be a democrat, what party doesn’t matter to me as much as my ideas of what is best for this country and who best represents those ideas. 

My district here in Missouri is represented by the good reverend “Obama is more popular that Jesus” Emanuel Cleaver II. I knew of this person’s reputation long before I moved here. His beliefs and mine do not match at all. I think we are about as opposite as we can be. Since I moved here in 2005, the republicans have ran the same guy against him (Jacob Turk) and he has never received over 44% of the vote. Jacob Turk is a nice guy with good ideas and will likely be Cleaver’s challenger in 2014, so what is the problem?  

Turk suffers from the same problem as most conservative/libertarians/republican politicians. They are afraid to go into democrat strongholds and face those that you know are going to reject you. They are afraid to fight to convince them your ideas are right for them, for their community, their city and their state. Most people that vote democrat all the time do it because they have been conditioned to do it since they first knew what politics were.  

I was wrong in a statement I made a few years back. My parents did not vote for John McCain in 2008. I made an assumption they would based on multiple comments. Once I found this out I also realized that was the first time I can recall they didn’t vote. In 2012, again they didn’t vote. So at least their track record of only voting for “the democrat” is still intact.  

Here is the point of why I brought up my parents: Using Jacob Turk as an example. If he were to go into a democrat strong hold and not convince them he is the better candidate, he may succeed in planting the idea that perhaps Cleaver is not the right man for the job and “like my parents”, it’s just not worth the effort to go vote at all since neither is what they are looking for.  

If you want something badly enough (Jacob Turk), you can’t just stay within your comfort zone. You have to be willing to do what seeming appears to be the impossible, if not end the idea in the minds of many that “the democrat” is always the right choice.  

It’s a fact, conservative politicians, no matter what state or city, are afraid to go into urban areas that are predominately populated by minorities and those that live below the poverty line. Most democrats don’t have a comfort zone when it comes to campaigns. They go everywhere, they speak at every opportunity and they come into predominately conservative areas and fight the political fights that are necessary to win. They face fear and they face rejection.  

I didn’t vote for Turk in the 2012 primaries. He has shown me that he has what it takes to represent me and the district…..everything except the willingness to fight for his beliefs.