As portions of the Republican Party split over how to tackle fiscal cliff negotiations, Yahoo News asked GOP voters to weigh in: Which camp in the party do they support? Here's one perspective.
COMMENTARY | In Washington, the two major parties are hashing out how to fix the nation's economic woes and avoid the fiscal cliff. But it's the GOP that is very recently a house divided -- and not just on raising revenue, but on cuts to defense.
"We understand that in getting to an agreement that drives down the debt ... that there are going to be cuts," says Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who was elected in 2010. He's talking about willing cuts to defense, not forced sequestration cuts. That a Republican would say this is new to me.
Non-sequestration cuts aside, a much more likely route of compromise proposals will have plans to raise taxes. This has created cracks in the once-whole GOP. I am a bit on the fence in this fight, but if I fall, it will be on the side of the now-seemingly unpopular conservative tea party Republicans. They're the only politicians that I can trust now because they push an agenda that goes against their peers -- moderate Republicans and Democrats -- in Washington.
During the fiscal cliff talks, they have remained resilient and have tried to protect the taxpayers from inappropriate taxation. Unfortunately, other members of the GOP are not taking kind to these cage-rattlers, and they are being hunted down and forced from committees.
-- Greg P. Phillips, Sacramento, Calif.
