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.
Among conservatives, fundraising is often a product of having deep support from the conservative community. It is important to be considered a real conservative, and to avoid the dreaded "RINO, " or "Republican In Name Only" label. The difficulty in avoiding that label is that conservatism is divided into several camps, and the fights between factions of the same family are often more intense than fights between strangers.
The paleoconservative or "paleocon" faction is old, but small in number. This faction, influential through "The American Conservative" and other online venues, emphasizes old-fashioned, traditional virtues perceived as threatened by everything from liberalism to modern life in general. This isn't just a small faction, but a faction that includes many people with racist views poisonous to a wider campaign even when they don't reflect those of the candidate.
Racist views, whether in the candidate or those associated in any way with the campaign, are political suicide for good reason, making "paleocons" generally unelectable. The Tea Party, to give a prominent example, was highly successful during the 2010 elections as its candidates ran on Libertarian values, but it has faltered since drifting more toward a social conservative focus.
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.
The mainstream's international emphasis is distasteful to both Libertarians and paleo-conservatives. Anyone on the Right looking to build a base needs to juggle these camps. When it comes to fundraising, though, the mainstream is where the money is most readily available.
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.
Among conservatives, fundraising is often a product of having deep support from the conservative community. It is important to be considered a real conservative, and to avoid the dreaded "RINO, " or "Republican In Name Only" label. The difficulty in avoiding that label is that conservatism is divided into several camps, and the fights between factions of the same family are often more intense than fights between strangers.
The paleoconservative or "paleocon" faction is old, but small in number. This faction, influential through "The American Conservative" and other online venues, emphasizes old-fashioned, traditional virtues perceived as threatened by everything from liberalism to modern life in general. This isn't just a small faction, but a faction that includes many people with racist views poisonous to a wider campaign even when they don't reflect those of the candidate.
Racist views, whether in the candidate or those associated in any way with the campaign, are political suicide for good reason, making "paleocons" generally unelectable. The Tea Party, to give a prominent example, was highly successful during the 2010 elections as its candidates ran on Libertarian values, but it has faltered since drifting more toward a social conservative focus.
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.
The mainstream's international emphasis is distasteful to both Libertarians and paleo-conservatives. Anyone on the Right looking to build a base needs to juggle these camps. When it comes to fundraising, though, the mainstream is where the money is most readily available.
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