Even in a favorable campaign season, there are plenty of obstacles for office seekers on the right. A few of these are the kind of obstacles facing anybody who enters political life, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology. A few, though, are unique to conservative candidates Illinois 2014.
Political life is tough for anybody seeking to campaign for elected office. For instance, one needs to gather enough names to qualify. On top of everything else is fundraising, as seeking office is costly whether the office sought is statewide or local. There is no lack of campaigns, even in the strongest years, that sputter and fail due to weak fundraising.
For Republicans, getting the money to run comes from good relations with conservatives, both big donors and small. One must be thought of as a true conservative, avoiding the brand Republican In Name Only or "RINO." The challenge in doing this is that conservatives have broken up into squabbling camps, and they generally fight each other with more venom than one finds being traded between parties or ideologies.
Paleoconservatism is deeply established but few in number. Its most prominent leader is Patrick J. Buchanan, and its focus is on traditionalism as seen by white Christians, seen as endangered by modernity and leftism. Long outside the mainstream political life, it tends to foster many whose ideas about minorities repel most Americans.
Controversial, racist views, even those held by a campaigner's friends and associates, damage campaigns. These candidates become difficult to elect. For example, the Tea Party made great headway in the 2010 mid-term elections campaigning on Constitutional and budgetary issues, but became less successful once more Religious Right influence made it focus on social issues.
The Religious Right is a much larger group, and in many parts of Illinois such an identification is to one's advantage, though it is deeply unpopular in big cities such as Chicago. This group focuses on social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage. Its foreign policy ideas often begin and end with support for Israel.
Libertarians are usually seen as the most Left of the Right, but they typically vote GOP in tight races. They stress free-market capitalism, smaller government, and a restoration of the letter of the Constitution. Among factions, they are particularly focused on government nonintervention in private life, including business, a view which wins them few friends on the Religious Right.
Today's Republican mainstream is the heir to the "movement conservatism" of William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater. This is the broad center of the GOP that has produced all Republican Presidents since Ronald Reagan, and which controls the most influential media outlets whether conservative talk radio or Fox News. They were the faction associated with the Cold War, and to this day remain the political support for American power, both military and economic, across the world.
Both paleoconservatives and Libertarians generally loathe the mainstream Republican commitment to international dominance, but they loathe each other just as much. Together, they present a challenge to candidates looking to build a winning coalition. It is best to remember, through it all, that the mainstream includes both the biggest and the most numerous funding sources.
Political life is tough for anybody seeking to campaign for elected office. For instance, one needs to gather enough names to qualify. On top of everything else is fundraising, as seeking office is costly whether the office sought is statewide or local. There is no lack of campaigns, even in the strongest years, that sputter and fail due to weak fundraising.
For Republicans, getting the money to run comes from good relations with conservatives, both big donors and small. One must be thought of as a true conservative, avoiding the brand Republican In Name Only or "RINO." The challenge in doing this is that conservatives have broken up into squabbling camps, and they generally fight each other with more venom than one finds being traded between parties or ideologies.
Paleoconservatism is deeply established but few in number. Its most prominent leader is Patrick J. Buchanan, and its focus is on traditionalism as seen by white Christians, seen as endangered by modernity and leftism. Long outside the mainstream political life, it tends to foster many whose ideas about minorities repel most Americans.
Controversial, racist views, even those held by a campaigner's friends and associates, damage campaigns. These candidates become difficult to elect. For example, the Tea Party made great headway in the 2010 mid-term elections campaigning on Constitutional and budgetary issues, but became less successful once more Religious Right influence made it focus on social issues.
The Religious Right is a much larger group, and in many parts of Illinois such an identification is to one's advantage, though it is deeply unpopular in big cities such as Chicago. This group focuses on social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage. Its foreign policy ideas often begin and end with support for Israel.
Libertarians are usually seen as the most Left of the Right, but they typically vote GOP in tight races. They stress free-market capitalism, smaller government, and a restoration of the letter of the Constitution. Among factions, they are particularly focused on government nonintervention in private life, including business, a view which wins them few friends on the Religious Right.
Today's Republican mainstream is the heir to the "movement conservatism" of William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater. This is the broad center of the GOP that has produced all Republican Presidents since Ronald Reagan, and which controls the most influential media outlets whether conservative talk radio or Fox News. They were the faction associated with the Cold War, and to this day remain the political support for American power, both military and economic, across the world.
Both paleoconservatives and Libertarians generally loathe the mainstream Republican commitment to international dominance, but they loathe each other just as much. Together, they present a challenge to candidates looking to build a winning coalition. It is best to remember, through it all, that the mainstream includes both the biggest and the most numerous funding sources.
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