The Founders' Vision, Not One Of Purism

     I am a devotee to the constitution, and to the republic which James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, et al established almost 240 years ago. Additionally I am of the belief that the United States in the year of our Lord 2015 has drifted far from the currents of that republican form of government our Founders envisioned for this nation. But I am also a pragmatist, and as such I realize that our society has become pluralistic. And those who believe as I do no longer constitute a majority of the population, but perhaps only twenty percent.
     As an observer of this culture in which we live I have resolved that we are a society of fifths. One fifth believe as I do, in the original republican government of the Founders. Another fifth believes in some form of fiscally conservative, but socially progressive form of government. A third fifth has no opinion on government. The fourth fifth of the population believes in a robust and generous federal authority. And the final fifth believes in the Utopian society of Karl Marx.
     I have proffered the proceeding as a prelude to a discussion on the upcoming presidential election and the purists who wish to have it "their way or no way." I am going to support in the Republican primaries the most conservative candidate that is running. But with a reasoned eye on the improbable nature of such a candidate winning the nomination, I will support the inevitable Republican candidate, whoever he or she is.
     Which lands me on the doorstep of the conservatives' least favorite presidential candidate, Jeb Bush. I heard an interview with Governor Bush yesterday and found him to be not as much of a Lefty as some have tried to make him out to be, and more conservative than those same people are willing to admit. I am in no way saying I would support Mr. Bush in the primaries, however I would not let my vote be wasted by sitting out the election or voting for a third Party candidate that has a snow ball's chance in hell of winning.
     I think conservative principles and values are the best path to Liberty, prosperity, and freedom. But the absolutism of those principles in the face of a culture that has drifted as far from them as ours has, is foolhardy and illogical. We are not going to right the Ship of State in one fell swoop, it being so far off course due to 100 years of progressivism. The Left has not veered off the course set for this nation by its Founders in one election cycle or even in one generation, neither are we going to put it right in the same amount of time.
     I implore my brethren on the Right to support the most conservative candidate in the Republican primaries, but cast your vote for the eventual nominee, whomever it is. For to do any less in the name of purist values would be voter malpractice and an insult to the Founding Fathers. Men like Madison and Jefferson accepted political realities and built and operated the best republican government they could for the time, knowing that they would not always be able to implement the purity of their values, for that in itself is a form of tyranny. Let us not as conservatives have the hubris to think that we can accomplish that which the Founders did not with their actions, nor support with their words.