Is it my imagination, or are Steyn's columns more and more, well, burdened, grave, sad lately? There's plenty of reason for it, of course . . .
Yes he does sound less optimistic, but so am I.
Perhaps so, but I sense he is (like so many of us Conservatives) approaching a point of frustration due to his perception of different factions not willing to cooperate and the results becoming debilitating for the party.
His is a clarion call for all factions within the party to start to work together if we are going to reclaim a majority in Congress in 08 and most of all, IMHO, he is calling for something akin to a Reagan Era/1994 Contract direction which we could all support.
Sadly, beginning with the "top" their is not much in the way of such a movement, direction, philosophy or goals toward achieving that end.
I don't think it's your imagination. I've noticed a change in tone, too. And as you say, with good reason.
This was an interesting analysis of an aspect I hadn't thought of before, that is, a division of the GOP into those particular two camps, the War Party and the Small Government Party. But I'd say that it is not new but has actually always been a constant in the GOP (people attracted by the idea of a strong national defense and people attracted by the idea of small government), although there have been different issues around which it has coalesced.
One of the features of the Small Government Party is a certain isolationist tendency, which, while it may sound good, is completely unrealistic for the US in today's world or any other. The War Party, having no concern for small government issues because it thinks small government might limit defense, attempts to conciliate the SGP by limiting wars so that it cannot be called imperialist or be accused of trying to spread US values beyond our borders. This leads to a tendency to fight half-hearted wars.
Practically as soon as we were a nation, we had to fight the Muslims (Barbary Coast pirates). But even in that case, we did what we are doing here: we didn't entirely defeat them. We knocked them back enough to get them to leave us alone.
The only people we thoroughly defeated were the Germans, and that was under a Democrat president. Curious issues to ponder.
Life is so much simpler when all one thinks deeply about is Brittany Spears.
I've noticed it too. Who wouldn't feel that way after recent elctoral events?
<< .... are Steyn's columns more and more, well, burdened, grave, sad lately? >>
Yes.
I hold back on criticizing radical Muslims sometimes now too... there's an overlay of feeling that on some basic level, we've lost. Same with some of the higher ideals of being conservative - our Pubbies threw away principle to get security for themselves - and a few friends... and lost. Maybe Steyn's right - maybe people would rather opt out of the dignity freedom brings - and settle for the bullied slave structure of dependence. Or maybe Steyn's just reacting to the death of a great man ... Let's hope it's the latter.
I heard him the other day being interviewed by a local radio host here in Denver. It was a few days after the election. He started out with a few jokes, but during the bulk of the interview he sounded quite subdued and almost sad.