But one thing someone said to me last night in a political discussion hit a nerve & I've been thinking about it all day.
He said that while the ideals of Conservativism were good & essential in preserving what we need to live as a free people, yet the way that the Conservative movement frames itself and its arguments are actually what makes its so vulnerable. Because Conservativism by its description is static and doesn't look forward, only backward. It seldom acts, but rather simply reacts. Virtually all arguments of Conservatives today are about what date we want to turn the clock back to, as though the best of lives were already behind us. And this is exactly what makes us sitting ducks, and easy to pick off by the socialist movement who are continually moving forward.
He went onto say that if we really do want to preserve those ideals necessary to survive as a free people, we have to start expending some energy and developing some dynamism as Conservatives. We need to agree what to take on our trip, what to leave behind and start moving forward. We need to start acting instead of just reacting to a present and future that we don't like. Socialists (Libs like Obama) have presented to voters a vision of the future and ticket for the trip and that gives people "hope" (however false), while all Conservatives are doing is offering is a trip back in time through some old photos & stories to a time that if it were really as "perfect" as we remember, it would not have changed in the first place.
Even our own Republican Party ignored Conservatives when they picked McCain, and they are sure that we will vote for him anyway because we are afraid of worse (Obama). McCain is also more like the Libs so there is the potential for crossover votes, but McCain was forced to move Left while Obama didn't need to move Right to get votes.
I don't think that this guy was wrong. There must be a better way to frame the message and generate some energy. While Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater WERE incredibly inspiring, they are dead now. And so is Buckley. That unfortunately is the reality. We needs some new living, breathing, dynamic Conservative spokesperson for a new generation -- whose representation isn't just one of a bunch of scared, constipated old men. Otherwise Conservatism has hit a dead end, and outr numbers will dwindle based on attrition (death) until we are over & out.
The "Program for the New Traditionalist Movement" contains a very positive agenda. See, for example, the discussion about the "Study Groups" toward he end of the paper.