Victory over ideology? Or are there shared principles?

John Mecurio writing in National Journal about Illinois,

Putting a higher priority on victory than ideology, GOP primary voters chose Topinka, a polka-dancing, cigarette-smoking, foul-mouthed moderate with ties to disgraced former Gov. George Ryan (R), over two buttoned-down conservatives vying to challenge Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), in what has become perhaps the GOP's biggest pick-up opportunity this year. That fact alone is shocking. Remember, it's been just two years since the Alan Keyes fiasco.

Further down Mecurio goes into the strategy differences in suburban districts like the 6th and the 8th voiced by Sarah Chamberlain Resnick and Pat Toomey, quoting Resnick saying,

...the issue is not necessarily demographic shifts, but the GOP's shifting focus onto wedge issues like same-sex marriage and abortion rights, which alienate swing voters.

I've been going over this moderate vs conservative split in my head for days now. I don't know how real it is. Much of it doesn't make sense to me as an outsider.

I thought Brady bridged it. I heard him on WBBM radio with Craig Dellamore, and Brady handled the differences well. He was clear and principled on abortion and same-sex marriage yet realistic about what the GA would give him to work with as Governor.

So lacking time to write anything big, allow me to periodically toss some bullets on how some of these issues could be bridged. There are principles most conservatives, and I think most Illinois voters, share.

Let me start with this quote from Mark Rhoades over at Illinois Review,

To be conservative does not merely mean to check off boxes from a list of "conservative" positions dictated by the media or liberal political scientists and academics. It means first of all to passionately believe be in political and economic freedom for all, to respect the rule of law, promote prosperity through free markets, and place necessary limitations on government which is by definition a legal monopoly on the use of force and coercion.

Add this quote from Justice Scalia,

Scalia decried the practice by judges to dictatorially reinvent the constitution to suit their ideals. "You want the death penalty? Persuade your fellow citizens" to enact changes in the law, he said. "You don't want abortion? Persuade them the other way. ... Judges have no more capacity than the rest of us to determine what is moral."

Standing on these two good sets of conservative principles, my Radical Republican platfrom running for Governor or Congress would include:

---Make the Conservative case for same sex marriage

Forget the Democrats compromise for civil unions. Allow marriage. It's not an inalienable right. It's not something that should be constitutionalized one way or the other. Judges shouldn't decide it. But there is a conservative case to be made for it. Voters and legislatures should decide it. Our culture is moving to accept it. But in turn, advocates of gay marriage should recognize the problems facing families and our kids and the dangers of our hyper-sexualized media.

---Say Roe v Wade should be overturned
Tell voters it was a very bad decision. A horrible over reach by Judges and Justice Scalia exactly right when he said Judges no better able to judge morality of abortion then any other citizen. Illinois should prepare for it. The debate should start. I don't know where to draw lines. I'd agree on far more restrictions. I admire the pro-live advocates and distressed by the pro-choice people I read. But the common principle every conservative should advocate is Roe v Wade should be overturned.

And that's what I would suggest for Resnick's two wedge issues. I wouldn't use them as wedges. I'd make a principled stand because I think that's what voters want. (Check Authenicity Matters Most).

Let me add a third, which Brady mentioned on his WBBM interview: Intelligent Design. It's up to local school boards to decide what's science and what should be taught and how.

I'd add school prayer here too. I heard Pat Moynihan respond once he had never heard of a kid hurt by saying a prayer in school. Someone should be able to stand up in the cafeteria and say grace. Non believing kids can thank midwest farmers if they feel God is an issue. There is common ground here and Brady was right saying School Boards should make the call.

Sorry for rambling on here... it just seems there is much common ground here and its senseless to fight so bitterly about much of it.