Will the furor over the Miers nomination drive conservatives together or tear them apart? I was listening to Rush Limbaugh while driving around at lunch today and he seems to think it's the former. Rush's thought is that yes, conservatives are ticked but this will just drive them together to take back control of the Republican Party.

Rush pointed to the Reagan revolution of an example of the power of conservatism unleashed. After rejecting Gerald Ford's version of the Party, voters overwhelmingly chose Ronald Reagan's vision of Conservatism. Given the chance, Rush seems to think, they'll rally around a similar candidate.

I'm sitting in my car thinking "bring it on!". We certainly need another Reagan. I do believe that another Reaganesque conservative would not only get the conservative vote, he or she would also bring those Reagan Democrats back into the fold. But then Rush got a caller. The caller was in perfect agreement: conservatives felt betrayed by Bush's nomination, etc. Of course, the reason the caller felt betrayed was because he was fearful that Miers would uphold Roe v. Wade and sure, she was an evangelical Christian, but some of her Church's activities included gays.

I groaned aloud. This is the brand of conservatism I'm supposed to rally around? Now, don't get me wrong, by all accounts Roe v. Wade is just bad law. People agree with that assessment regardless of their stance on abortion. But what ever happened to a conservative movement centered on the idea of limited government? This caller was exclusively concerned with moral issues. That's all well and good for him, but not for me. I don't think we can rally around the same candidate. Conservatives can't just "come together" because we all don't believe in the same things and even if we do fall on the same sides of some issues we prioritize those issues in a vasty different order.

I think the 2008 primary season will determine which brand of conservatism will control the Republican Party (at least for awhile). The fiscal conservatives and the social conservatives will duke it out in what is sure to be a bitter battle. In fact, I think it will be so bitter that the loser will either vote for the Democrats or sit out the general election entirely. However, if something big happens in the War on Terror, all bets are off as both of these groups will make national security their number one issue.

If the Republicans nominate another spend and spend conservative (this time with added morality!) I'm not going to abandon my belief in limited government. But I, and others like me, might very well abandon the party and find someone else to support. I know people scoff at this, but I just ask you to remember 1992. If Ross Perot wasn't a complete loon, he would have been elected President. I think the time is ripe for a real third party in America. The Republicans can't really serve the interests of both fiscal and social conservatives, can they?