The two evils besetting the Republican Party are tearing her apart. First, we have ideologues who will not compromise in order to govern. They will try any far fetched scheme, pander to any delusion of the Party crowd, in order to advance their agenda. It does not matter to them if they govern, so long as they are pure.

Such Utopianism is the antithesis of conservatism. An ideologue is willing to do more practical harm than real good just so he can make his case, especially if a television camera is nearby. He is the evangelist to the converted with the fruit such sermonizing always brings: failure of which they are proud.

Every fight is an Alamo in their minds, but after the defeat our leaders never get to San Jacinto. They bring us to another crushing defeat and so most of these fights are unjust wars. Christian ethics teaches that a just war must be winnable. If there is no chance to win, then we must retreat, or even surrender, to fight another day.

But a greater evil is the hypocrite who talks family values while mocking them in his life or personal opinions. He placates and panders, but he does not agree with the ultimate goals of our Party platform. He compromises not to reach the goal, as Reagan, did, but because he has no interest in the goal.