Repub-Lincolns

What with the presidential race upcoming, and the nomination process dragging on, at least on the Democrats’ side, I thought I might weigh in on the situation with my take.
I consider myself a Republican, I voted Republican in the last two elections, in 2000 because I was still learning about politics, and in 2004 because of that picture of John Kerry using his chin to catch a football. The man bore an eerie resemblance to Fred Astaire’s claymation character in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Anyway, I think of myself as a Goldwater Republican. That is, "any government that is big enough to give you what you want is big enough to take it away." Now, I still think Ron Paul is crazy, but I’d like something of Aristotle’s Golden Mean in my conservative leaders. Socially liberal, fiscally responsible, and strong on national defense without being racist. Also, all theocrats can go to hell.
So right now, I’m a bit of a Man without a Party. The choices have eroded to "Tax and Spend," or "Cut taxes and Spend," the former offending my small government beliefs, the latter offending my ability to balance my checkbook. I despise theocrats and fundamentalists, which eliminates 40% of the party, and I can’t stand the neo-conservatives and their military-industrial fear- and warmongering. So what is a young RINO (Republican in Name Only) to do?
The answer is vote for a Democrat. My belief right now is that the best thing that could happen to the Republican Party, and the country in general, is for a Democrat to win the White House. While we’re at it, give them the House and Senate too, though we’ve managed to neuter that branch fairly effectively. But back to my crazy point.
The nadir of Republican power and influence came during the Clinton Administration. His centrist policies aside, men like Newt Gingrinch managed to bring a philosophy suffering from malaise after St. Reagan’s lackluster successor, and made it acceptable to be a conservative again. More than that, he was able to point the finger squarely at Clinton and say, "look where liberal Democrats have brought this country," and blame anything he liked on the White House. The party was now the Voice in the Wilderness, and the sweeping in of Republicans to the House and Senate floors bore testament to how effective that voice could be.
Now the same thing is happening in Washington. The Republican party had no candidate that they could unite behind, voter turnout was nothing like their counterparts across the aisle were receiving, and a sense of lethargy was and is permeating the Grand Ol’ Party. Effectively, after Gingrinch resurrected the party, he had to put his money where his mouth was, and prove that Republicans could do a better job at running the country.
Whether or not they did, or could, is not my point. My point is that it is far, far easier to be an opposition party than to be in charge. As the opposition to Democratic rule, (which looks likelier every day, especially as Hillary continues to implode) Republicans may face another decade as the party looking in from the outside. Nothing should excite long-thinking conservatives more. Here is an opportunity to take the party back from the neo-conservatives who have lost touch with the isolationist policies of the party with their constant warfare. Also, we can take power away from Fundamentalists who seek to remake America as a Christian Iran. We can return to the party of individual freedom and responsibility, of fiscal conservatism, and a disinterest in the personal lives of its citizens. We can go back to being Republicans in the manner of Lincoln, the man we should hold up as a paragon, and one day hopefully will again.