Ron Paul followers believe that ONLY Ron Paul can save the country. They are wrong. Sarah Palin’s supporters believe that only Sarah Palin can save this country. They are wrong. The same can be said of almost all of the supporters of the individuals in the GOP field, and they are wrong.

The sooner conservatives come to this realization, the sooner we can start saving this nation; but in order to reach this realization, conservatives must come to grips with a few things.

1)     NO One Candidate Can Save This Nation.

It’s a simple premise – which will probably have some conservatives up in arms – but it’s true. No ONE single candidate can do it because no ONE single candidate is capable of doing it alone no matter who it is and no matter how hard that candidate’s followers or supporters are clinging to them.

2)     Rugged Individualism of the Tea Party Can Become Our Worst Enemy

The Tea Party, of which I am proud to be a part of, is based in part on rugged individualism; but, if we are not careful, that individualism will conspire to work against us in a most self-defeating way. We must start seeing the 2012 election not as a political race but a rowboat race. IF, as rugged individuals, we are all rowing in different directions, we will most certainly lose the race.

3)     As Conservatives We MUST Adopt an Us against THEM Mentality

Right now, as conservatives, we are much more engaged in an us against US mentality rather an us against THEM mentality – which is playing directly into THEIR hands. A perfect example of this would be the occurrence in last night’s debate where we had a candidate who believes it’s okay to offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens getting into a pissing contest with a candidate who had illegals tending his garden – and both of them were trying to claim they are tough on illegal immigration.

4)     Time Is NOT Our Friend

With the first in the nation primary possibly no more than 6 weeks away, we no longer, as conservatives, have time on our side. If WE can’t come to grips with points 1, 2 and 3 very quickly, we had damn sure come to grips with another 4 years of Obama and his administration of anti-American ideologies.

If no single candidate can save this country who can? WE can. Conservatives must decide which is more important…Our individual candidate or the future of this nation – and I suggest it’s the future of the nation. In that regard, I will also go so far as to say it  matters less which GOP candidate becomes our next President than it matters who gets elected to the halls of Congress. With 23 seats in the Senate now occupied by liberals and 10 occupied by conservatives, it is much more important to ensure that we unseat as many liberals as possible while retaining the conservative seats than it is making sure our own individual candidate of choice sits in the White House.

If we, as conservatives and Tea Party faithful, continue to adhere to an individual candidate as “the only possible correct choice” for President, we are essentially all rowing in a different direction. We need to stop looking for reasons NOT to support candidates and START looking for the aspects of EVERY candidate we can get behind. If we DON’T do that, how on earth can we properly choose a candidate to face Obama in 2012? It’s NOT about nominating the lesser of the evils but it IS about nominating the candidate who has the best chance of beating Obama in 2012. To do this, we as conservatives MUST drop the, as Congressman West puts it, “Cult of personality” mentality and adopt a cult of competence mentality. ALL of the candidates have baggage – but if we are only looking for reasons NOT to vote for someone, how can we discover the reasons TO vote for someone?

At the same time, and along the same lines of thought, if all OUR individual candidates are beating one another about the head and shoulders with their oars…Who exactly is rowing the boat in this race? The debates SHOULD be about policy ideas, how a candidate will restore conservatism and where they stand on specific issues. Instead, the debates have become fodder for sound bites spun around the sideshow of infighting. It’s shameful and ludicrous and playing directly into Obama’s hands. Liberals are loving this and why shouldn’t they? If WE, as conservatives, continue to ignore what I have outlined above, we will self destruct and guarantee another 4 years of Obama’s reign as our vote will be so split and disconcerted that the issues and policies which are of the utmost importance will have been left behind.

If we, as conservatives, can put our biases aside, concentrate on positive principles, look at the big picture rather than at individual bits and pieces of it and think long range rather than short term, what we can accomplish will save our nation.

If we continue to hold to individual candidates and feed the fires of dissent, what we will lose IS our country.

If it IS only 6 weeks to the first primary, we, as conservatives, have only DAYS to effect the sort of change which WILL reclaim our nation from liberal/socialism; and the choice to do so, or not, is ours – but should we choose against a cohesive policy and value-based strategy of putting individual divides aside for the long term better of this nation, I submit we will soon have no country to save and we will have to accept some responsibility for that.