Ace Goes 3rd Party (and I might, too)

Ace of my favorite blog, The Ace of Spades (Language warning always), yesterday announced that he’s done with the GOP:

. . . There are only so many times one can say "I'm quitting this party and will henceforth only support third party candidates."

Well, I have said it. Many of us have. We mean it. And it's over.

Go ahead and do what you like, GOP. The divorce is final.

Republican No More; done with the party http://t.co/qMnXnCMNb3
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) August 8, 2013

My response:

@AceofSpadesHQ I'm not quite 3rd party yet. But I understand & am getting closer to that point. Intend to fight for @SenRandPaul 1st.
— WannabeAnglican (@WannabeAnglican) August 8, 2013

Going third party is not a decision to be taken lightly.  For it helps short-term the major party you most dislike.  (Do I really have to tell readers which one that is for me?)  Yes, lightning could strike as it looked like it might for a brief time in 1992 and as it did in New York State in 1970.  But my going third party would likely help the Democrats short term.

But there may come a point when supporting the Republican Party is unacceptable as well.  Ronald Reagan is the last Republican President who got this country going in a good direction.  Under the Bushes, we headed toward Gehenna, just a bit slower than a Democrat would have pushed us.  And we would surely head toward Gehenna under a Jeb Bush or a Chris Christie.  Yes, a Bush or Christie would slow the process.

But when the country is on the precipice of Hell, is going over it more slowly acceptable?  Thanks to past Republican enabling and to the Obama regime, we are on the edge of the Hell of a not-so-soft totalitarian tyranny.  Going over that edge slowly is not acceptable.  And a party who is not committed to pulling back and going in the other direction towards freedom, the rule of Constitutional law, and putting the Feds in their proper place is not a party I can support.

I do think the Republican Party can still be a constructive force for freedom as it was under Reagan.  Rand Paul gives me hope for that.

But if yet another establishment Republican gets the nomination for president, that may be my last straw.  At that point, I may go third party.

Some may say that is self-defeating.  Heck, I would have said that until recently.  But 2012 showed establishment Republicans do not have enough support to win long term anyway.  The low turn-out for Romney illustrated that too well.  And look at the comments to Ace’s announcement.  These are people who Republicans should have fighting for them.  Instead the Republican Party has already alienated them.

The U. S. is divided roughly between those who think government should provide stuff and those who think government should protect Constitutional freedom.  Those who think government should provide stuff are going to vote Democrat anyway.  If the Republican Party will not protect freedom, if it will not fight for those who want freedom, then it deserves the doom it will then surely get.

And Republican leaders again and again seem intent on alienating their freedom-minded base and on self-destruction.  Their push for amnesty for illegals is but one example.  Again and again, they enable Democrat big government tyranny instead of working to bring it down.

So the Republicans are heading to the Whig party anyway unless Constitutionalist conservatives are able soon to take it over.  And I am staying in the GOP for now to do my part.  And there are many good Republicans like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee.  And I will always support them in some fashion even if I go third party.

But one can only wait so long when one sees one’s country on the edge of the darkness of a permanent tyranny.   If the Republican Party continues to enable tyranny, then I cannot continue to support it.

I was going to write about what I think is a good model for a third party, but that will have to wait.  I’ve rambled enough already.