conservativeBrand

New Trier Township, located on Chicago’s North Shore, might be characterized as a microcosm of the political realm that is reasonable, careful, moderate - and about two decades out of date. The township’s regular Republican organization met today (1.14.12) to endorse candidates in contested elections for the March 21st primary; about 24 people (out of six-plus villages) showed up to vote - and then to acclaim their support for no-show candidates like Bob Dold and Mitt Romney. The talk was all about who is the most moderate and electable, what with all the community-organized, well-funded Obamastatists on the left side of the ticket come November.

Interesting that there was, after all, a breath of fresh air through the room when three candidates in contested primary elections stood up to speak. State Senate candidates Arie Friedman and Marc Levine, as well as incumbent Cook County Board of Assessors candidate Dan Patlak, broke the model of safety-in-politics by engaging tough issues head-on. Fortunately, Friedman (Highland Park) and Patlak (Wheeling) have good histories of running conservative campaigns in the past.

But most interesting in this post-Tea Party political era (that would be after the 2010 Democrat shellacking in everywhere-but-Illinois) is Marc Levine (Wilmette), a private equity success story who is more than willing, and very able, to holler truth to power; Levine aims to topple the corrupt state pension pyramid scheme that means insolvency or death for Illinois. The question is whether Levine can engage the moderate, so-called Republicans and vague independents, or whether his meat will prove a bit too red for their delicate palates.

But questions like whether or not Illinois becomes the first sovereign state to declare itself bankrupt may be moot if the 2012 fulcrum election provides time for native son Barack Obama to executive-order a final transformation of the Land of the Free into milquetoast Europe. The Republican Party is in the midst of a pathetic dilemma: an entire generation of young gun conservatives (Daniels, Ryan, Christie, Rubio, Jindal et al) took a pass on greatness. The Republican establishment has embraced hand-wringing indecision, with a parade of failed primary races that turned out to be way too flawed to succeed. Obama offers the gifts of unemployment, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, a quadrupled national debt, and endless foreign policy defeats. Meanwhile the Republican debates are still arguing the merits of vintage candidate biographies and more recent oratorical stumbles.

It’s come to this: ConservativeBrand protests playing by the rules of long-dead leaders; it’s more than likely that talking up “the most conservative candidate we can get elected” will end with the last RINO of any flavor we will have the opportunity to consider. Pay attention to the sad conservatives in Great Britain’s Parliamentary debates to see what perpetual tinkering around the edges of an un-free political system will look like. Not comfortable with squish for president? Maybe accept Paul, Gingrich, Santorum or Perry, and let’s work with the result. Leadership is about engaging tough ideas and believing in yourself. Ask Marc Levine. He’s a natural leader with a pretty loud voice.