Challenges For Conservative Candidates Illinois 2014

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.

Politics challenges anyone who feels the desire to run for office. There is always a petition process, requiring people to gather a certain number of names. Then there is fundraising, since running for office is expensive whether running a national or a local campaign. There are any number of campaigns that do not succeed because they are underfunded.

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.

Paleoconservatism is deeply established but few in number. Its most prominent leader is Patrick J. Buchanan, and its focus is on traditionalism as seen by white Christians, seen as endangered by modernity and leftism. Long outside the mainstream political life, it tends to foster many whose ideas about minorities repel most Americans.

Controversial, racist views, even those held by a campaigner's friends and associates, damage campaigns. These candidates become difficult to elect. For example, the Tea Party made great headway in the 2010 mid-term elections campaigning on Constitutional and budgetary issues, but became less successful once more Religious Right influence made it focus on social issues.

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.

Mainstream "movement conservatives" are the backbone of the Republican Party, reflecting the ideology that came to power with the Goldwater nomination in 1964. They are the faction of Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes, as well as Fox News, the National Review, and most of Right talk radio. They inherited the anti-communist mantle and remain committed to American superpower status, including an unmatched military and global free markets.

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.