Have Conservatives "Grown Up"?

Cal Thomas says so. As proof, he cites the major Republican candidates who all have divorced (save Romney) a couple times, a few having affairs. Bah. Ronald Reagan was married and divorced and remarried, Mr. Thomas. The "see conservatives are open-minded and maturing" canard is just buying the Leftist narrative again. I have never believed that the Republicans were going all Christian extremist.

While "character issues" can overlap with other concerns when considering for whom to vote, conservative evangelicals are beginning to see them as less important than who can meet the multiple challenges faced by the nation. Put it this way: if you are about to have major surgery and your only choice was a church-going doctor with a high mortality rate, or an agnostic with a high success record, which would it be? I'd choose the agnostic.

Who believes that character issues are "less important"? Character does inform decisions. Loyalty and fidelity do matter. Citizens need to weigh the whole of the character of the man or woman. Will this potential President be loyal to America? Will American's interests be served? Will the President lead from the front?

As I recall, too, President Reagan's children had variously complicated relationships with him. History's pages are filled with great leaders with personal failings. America needs a great leader. That leader will invariably be flawed. The question is whether those personal failings will harm America.

Americans, even those dreaded evangelicals, have endured imperfect Presidents throughout the years. Can everyone, especially conservative leaders, please let go of the faulty assumption that those on the Right are all "Right Wing extremists"? It's destructive. It's also not true.