Revelation 3:16 "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth"

That passage came to me as I was looking over the results of the latest election last night.  It is actually one of my favorites and it occurs to me that it explains a lot about not only this election, but the last several going all the way back to 1980.

I'm an old retired Army officer, so I tend to see things in black and white (well not 100% true, I do see the 16 basic colors all guys see).  I think that Republicans do well to realize that most of the electorate is the same way, and we appreciate that in our politicians.

Take a look at the list of folks who were defeated during the last election cycle.  How many of the Republicans that lost their jobs were "far right wing ideologues".  I may be mistaken, but I can't think of any.  Lincoln Chafee?  Mike DeWine?  Nope...these were folks who tried to "triangulate".  They worked hard at "bipartisanship".  Meanwhile, while the liberals were praising them and saying "nice doggie" they were looking for the rock that they bashed them with. 

In a word, they were lukewarm, and the voters spit them out.   Look at Ronald Reagan.  Everyone knew where he stood.  Even those folks who didn't appreciate his views understood them and respected him for standing by them.  When George Bush was popular, people said the same thing about him.  When the Republicans put a clear position out in front of the people, the people respond.  The Democratic victories in the past 25 years have not been because the Democrats articulated a better plan.  The Democrats won because the Republicans put forth lukewarm candidates (i.e. George Bush I, Bob Dole).

In that vein, putative Republican front runner for 2008, John McCain is another loser.  If we give the people a clear choice between conservatives and liberals, they will ALWAYS come down on the side of conservatives.  If we try to split the difference, we lose.

So....let's suck it up and show some courage.  Let conservatives be conservatives, let's quit pussyfooting around issues and stand up for what we believe.  We may still lose (although I seriously doubt it) but at least we will have our dignity and will have lost honestly.