Where Are the "First Tier" Candidates?

On September 17^th, 2007, a Values Voter Presidential Debate will be held in Ft. Lauderdale. This debate declares itself to be one in which "soft" questions will not be asked, and questions will concern those issues which are of most importance to the "values" voters who are largely conservative, Christian, or concerned about the moral path of our country. So far, only the so-called "second" and "third" tier of Republican candidates have stated they will attend.

So where are the "first" tier candidates? Why do they seem so reluctant to declare attendance at this debate? They all are advertising themselves as conservative or moderate these days. Yet, they seem to fear the questions that will be asked at this debate.

We remember that none of the Democratic candidates were shy about attending a recent Gay "values" debate. They couldn't wait to declare their attendance. They were more than happy to attend a debate representing at best perhaps 1 or 2 percent of the population's "values" and lifestyle. Why, then, are the so-called "top tier" of Republican candidates so reluctant to attend a debate representing at the least 25-35% of the population's lifestyle and convictions?

It was the "values voters" who put Bush in office his first term. It was the "values voters" who felt let down and betrayed and stayed home, resulting in the Democratic takeover of Congress. It is the moderates and conservatives who determine the majority party in Congress, the Senate, and the White House. It is they who can determine an outcome. This statement is not arrogance but simple fact. The left wing and liberal moderates always vote only one way. They can be counted on by the Democratic Party to (mindlessly in my view) vote the liberal agenda and for whatever candidate the Democratic machine presents them with. Not so with Republicans and Independent moderates. Especially not so with the conservative and "values" base of the Republican Party. They vote their conscience, or stay home. They don't vote necessarily for a Party hack presented them by a Republican machine.

Their disenchantment with the apparent lack of difference between both "mainstream" party agendas resulted in their conscience requiring them to refuse their vote for any candidate rather than accept the "lesser" of evils. They recognize that evil, whether less or greater, is still evil. They refuse to compromise on their beliefs and values. They know that compromise on morality is to have none at all, ultimately, and their belief is reinforced as full of merit given the path our country has gone down. Nobody can say this is a more moral or cohesive society today than it was fifty years ago.

So why then are the media-declared "top tier" of Republican candidates taking so long in deciding to attend this conference or refusing to attend? Could it be that these four favorites are just more of the same Party loyalists, willing to compromise on faith, willing to continue the path of moral degeneration, willing to continue down the path of globalism and dilution of the American character our fathers and grandfathers held? It would seem that these four horsemen touted by the media as the "top tier" choose to not attend debates which aren't "soft" or which are viewed as "extreme" by the media which proclaimed and celebrated a Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender "Debate" as important, while ignoring altogether the Republican candidates which are truly conservative and values-driven. That makes, in my mind, the four horsemen suspect and very likely to be in tune with the D.C. machine. That's not encouraging. And if one of them is elected, not likely to change a thing which has displeased the majority of Americans - those Americans which still hold to the values and character of the America of our fathers and grandfathers.