Republicans no longer control the Republican Party and as a result, they can not advance a truly Republican candidate though the current liberal leaning primary process. By the time 99 percent of Republicans get a chance to vote in the primaries, all real Republicans have already been eliminated from the race. Lesser evil choices are all that remain by Super Tuesday…?

How it Happened

It happened by two important factors.

First, Republicans refused to unite behind any of the conservatives originally in the race. They were divided, and all of their candidates failed as a result.

Evangelicals think Pastor Huckabee is the real conservative in the race based solely upon his evangelical preaching from the stump. Fiscal conservatives think that business man Mitt Romney is the real conservative in the race. Anti-war isolationists think that Ron Paul is the real conservative in the race. Border security – national sovereignty conservatives thought that Duncan Hunter or Tom Tancredo were the real conservatives in the race. War on Terror hawks thought that Rudy Giuliani was the real conservative in the race and the base of the Republican Party, those who are fully conservative on all the above, thought Fred Thompson was the real conservative in the race.

As a direct result of these divisions, the one candidate that is by no means a real conservative in the race, John McCain, is currently leading the race for the Republican nomination. Failing to unite early behind one of the conservatives, left the door wide open for the worst possible result, John McCain.

The second factor is a broken primary process. McCain is not being nominated by conservatives or for the most part, even by Republicans. He is being nominated by liberal voters from liberal leaning states who hold the earliest primaries and vote to eliminate all conservatives from the race before “fly-over” Republicans get a chance to cast a single vote.

A Broken Party

Like it or not, the BIG TENT is collapsing. You can’t invite liberals to your table without inviting their ideologies along. Try this at home with your liberal neighbors if you think I’m wrong on this. They will be happy to eat your food and drink your wine, while they tell you all about the progressive benefits of socialism. They won’t shut up until you stop inviting them for dinner.

Yet this is what the Republican Party leadership decided to do years ago. Invite liberals across the aisle into the fold under the BIG TENT open society philosophy whereby all ideas are welcome if not equal, even when they aren’t.

Today, the base of the party is trying to figure out if or how it can wrestle back control of their party from the dinner guest they invited to the table years ago. The problem is this. RINOs now think it’s their party. They have exercised squatter’s rights. They are using the “possession is nine tenths of the law” defense to claim ownership of the Republican Party now and demanding that “right-wing extremists” (the foundation of the party) leave. The guests are tossing out the hosts.

A Broken Process

How do you expect to advance a Republican candidate via a process designed to net a liberal candidate, voted upon by liberals in Democrat strongholds? The answer is - you can’t. Yet this is what we do.

It is not possible to advance a conservative candidate using liberal RINO, Independent and Democrat voters in liberal strongholds. The Republican primary process MUST change.

The Long-Term Fix

Only registered Republicans should be voting in Republican primaries and Republican primaries must begin in Republican strongholds, not Democrat strongholds up east. There should be no such thing as “open primaries.” Even in many “closed primaries” in Democrat stronghold states, where Republicans seldom have even a chance of carrying the state, many Democrats and Independents register as Republicans for the sole purpose of skewing the Republican nomination. This can not be allowed to continue.

Further, if the Republican nomination process expects to ever advance a conservative Republican candidate, it must start its nomination process in Republican strongholds across the country, not the Democrat strongholds they start in today.

The ten most Republican states in 2004 (a Republican year) were Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Alabama, Kansas, Alaska and Texas, in that order. Yet only one of these states has held a primary thus far, Wyoming. Before the rest will get a chance to vote, all Republicans are out of the race.

Other traditionally Republican strongholds are Indiana, South Dakota, Mississippi, Kentucky, Montana, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Pick the five most populated states from these two groups and start the nomination process there, if you want to see what real Republicans want for party leadership.

Three of the worst states in which to hold an early Republican primary are Michigan, New Hampshire and Iowa. Yet this is where we begin our nomination process?

Both of these things must change looking forward and they will have to be changed at the state level by simply getting Republican stronghold states to move their primaries up to the front of the line. Don’t count on any help from the Republican National Committee which has long since determined that Republicans must join liberals in order to compete with them.

The ONLY Short-Term Fix

These two changes in the nomination process will allow Republican stronghold states and real Republican voters to advance a real Republican candidate in the future. But it’s too late for 2008.

So a short-term answer for the immediate problem is also in order and only one option is available now…

That option is the subject of my last column, Time for Some REAL Straight Talk

Take a moment to read it quickly. Super Tuesday will set the next four years in stone. What we do between now and then makes a difference….

Republicans simply passed on all opportunities to do something smart and unite behind one of the conservatives in the race over the last several months. Now, doing something half-smart is the only immediate option available. Find a way to be part of the solution, not just an angry part of the problem acting out in childish temper tantrums and protest votes.

Half-smart is better than blindly foolish and all wrong any day…

Long term, things must change. But short term, our options are now limited to living to fight another day. Think about it!

Copyright by JB Williams , www.jb-williams.com