I’ve been meaning to get this post out for a few days now, but until now I haven’t known where to start. I had the opportunity to attend my second Conservative Political Action Conference this year, and even better… I had a seat on the official “Bloggers Row”.

Being on Bloggers Row was inspirational as well as educational. The inspiration was brought in by the fact that Mary Katherine Ham sat directly to the right of me, and NZ Bear to the left. To their sides were Rob Bluey, Erick Erickson, Ed Morrisey, My Man Mitt, and several other prominent bloggers.

It was fascinating being with a group of highly successful bloggers at the largest conservative gathering of the year. It was politically educational hearing their thoughts on the sticky GOP situation and the Republican Presidential Primary.

As most of us, if not all of us already know… John McCain should take the GOP win. This became an almost certainty when Mitt Romney dropped out of the race last Thursday morning during his speech at CPAC.

Through CPAC I noticed two groups. 1) Those who are not really “prominent” in the party, but keep close tabs on what goes on and vote every primary, went in to CPAC with arms crossed in refusal to vote for or support John McCain. 2) Those who are prominent, AKA: Pundits, columnists, and bloggers, went in to CPAC supporting Mitt Romney and doing their best to inform the rest of us about McCain’s short comings in regards to liberty and conservative fiscal issues.

Once the announcement came, I noticed group #2 immediately jump behind John McCain and begin pouncing on group #1. I belong to group #1, so I began feeling the heat from #2 almost immediately.

Now, without using specific names, I wish to assert that group #2 is playing a significant role in the current wounds of the GOP. While this group spent the last year telling us how “dangerous” and “reckless” John McCain is, they almost instantaneously jumped behind him when it became clear he would be leading the party in to the 2008 general election.

What does this say to me? Well, in short, it says that the GOP establishment will support anyone with an “R” next to their name.

Think about it… John McCain voted against the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, he attempted to negotiate a deal that would have allowed him to become a Democrat without losing his level of seniority, he worked to create the “gang of 14” to oppose conservative nominees to the Supreme Court, he joined Ted Kennedy and his ilk to push through Amnesty without securing the borders first, and he created one of the most blatant attacks on freedom of speech via McCain-Fiengold.

All of the influential figures on the right new this, and were actively promoting it through their communications with the world. Yet, suddenly, they set it all aside in favor of the “we must get behind our candidate” mentality.

Granted, it’s very difficult to imagine a White House occupied by the likes of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But, in my opinion that would actually assist the conservative movement. I mean, wouldn’t it be much easier to point at the Democrats and the left for failing on all political fronts than to try and defend more of our own failures? Because based on the past that is exactly what we’re going to be doing if John McCain becomes President.

In my view, the GOP has become more and more liberal with each new cycle. It seems to be a very patient method of decreasing the influence of the conservative movement, and from what I can tell it’s working brilliantly.

When old establishment power heads know that Republican pundits, media, columnists, and bloggers are going to fold and support their candidate no matter how liberal he or she is… they have the upper hand.

And this is exactly what I witnessed at CPAC. The establishment flexed its muscles for John McCain, and group #2 almost immediately got in the kool-aid line.

Take Citizens United for example. The group ran a VERY expensive TV ad campaign just weeks ago that blasted John McCain as being a replica of Hillary Clinton. Yet, one the shot callers for the group came out a day or two ago saying that now is the time to support McCain for the good of the party.

What? Seriously?

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expected a different result

So, in essence, CPAC helped me discover that I no longer belong with the Republican Party. I used to consider myself a fiscally conservative Republican, but now I consider myself a libertarian minded independent.

The two major parties have completely written me off. There for, I no longer support either of them.

Does this mean I’m finished fighting for a fiscally responsible American government? Of course not! I’ll do everything I possibly can to promote fiscal conservatism through transparency and state based policy. But when it comes to supporting liberal Republicans… I’m done.