Posted on 11/04/2009 12:46:11 PM PST by markomalley
If there’s one thing liberal pundits are experts on these days it’s the sorry state of conservatism. The airwaves and op-ed pages brim with more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger lamentations on the GOP’s failure to get with President Barack Obama’s program, the party’s inevitable demographic demise and its thralldom to the demonic deities of the right - Limbaugh, Beck, Palin.
Don’t look at the imploding Democrats. No, let’s all titter at the cannibalistic “civil war” on the right.
Well, here’s what conservatives actually believe. After 15 or 20 years of steady moderation, many conservatives think it might be time to give their ideas a try.
Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” was promoted as an alternative to traditional conservatism. Bush promised to be a “different kind of Republican,” and he kept that promise. He advocated government activism, and he put our money where his mouth was. He federalized education with No Child Left Behind - co-sponsored by Teddy Kennedy - and oversaw the biggest increase in education spending in history (58 percent faster than inflation).
With the prescription drug benefit, he created the biggest new entitlement since the Great Society (Obama is poised to topple that record). Bush increased spending on the National Institutes of Health by 36 percent and international aid by 74 percent, according to Heritage. He oversaw the largest, most porktacular farm bills ever.
He pushed amnesty for immigrants, imposed steel tariffs, supported Title IX and signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.
Oh, and he, not Obama, initiated the first bailouts and TARP.
Not all of these positions were wrong or indefensible. But the notion that Bush pursued conservative ideas with “dogmatic fixity” is dogmatic nonsense.
Most Democrats were blinded to all of this because of their anger over the Iraq war and an often irrational hatred of Bush. Republicans, meanwhile, defended Bush far more than they would have had it not been for 9/11 and the hysteria of his enemies.
In short, conservatives have had to not only put up with a lot of moderation and ideological flexibility, we’ve had to endure nearly a decade of taunting from gargoyles insisting that the GOP is run by crazed radicals.
The rank and file might be wrong to want to get back to basics, but I don’t think so. With Obama racing to transform America into a European welfare state fueled by terrifying deficit spending, this seems like a good moment to argue for limited government.
“If there’s one thing liberal pundits are experts on these days it’s the sorry state of conservatism.”
It’s a tacit admission that the left has no ideas and no answers.
Yes. yes they are.
Not all of these positions were [necessarily] wrong or indefensibleIMHO, certainly all wrong, possibly defensible, but defensible is not the same as well advised.
The only concern I have with that graph is most self-proclaimed “moderates” are really liberals without the guts to admit it.
No, the rank and file are finally waking up and realizing they can have an affect on the outcome of elections and we have a decision to make: either we are going to continue down the path we have been going down for quite a while now (and how's that working out by the way?) or stand on principles as to WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR COUNTRY?
I voted for W once in 2000 and against John The Snake Kerry in 04 and believe if there had been any other candidate, Bush would have lost
Too many of us are sick and tired of the Snowe's, Voinavich's, McCain's et al who continue to work with the Demo-Rats (going along to get along) and are unwilling to stand up and fight for what is right.
I believe that the next 2 years and the election cycles will be telling as to whether we move back to the center (never mind the right) or all become good little lemmings and follow the fools right over the cliff straight into full-fledged Socialism/Marxism.
Its fight or flight time and I'm not about to run away from this one.
No more RINO's, no more DIABLO's and no more "COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVES!"
Might I offer a new buzzphrase:
“Toughlove Conservative”
I think it describes the position of most true conservatives today.
When did Jonah Goldberg become a conservative?
Where in this piece does he claim to be a conservative?
“In short, conservatives have had to not only put up with a lot of moderation and ideological flexibility, we’ve had to endure nearly a decade of taunting from gargoyles insisting that the GOP is run by crazed radicals.”
When he states we’ve (conservatives).
Remember, the ideas were and are "self-evident" truths, could be stated simply and understood by farmers and professors alike, because they dealt with human nature as it is, and the tendency of human beings to abuse power if it is granted to them: therefore, the Founders framed a constitution for self-government that absolutely limited the powers they would give to their elected officials.
They even made that Constitution contain the only prescription for its own amendment.
Today, we have allowed those who call themselves "progressive" (what a cruel joke) to turn the Founders' ideas upside down and backward. Instead of "We, the People" being the sovereigns, the "living constitution" crowd and the power-hungry politicians behave like rulers or masters, amassing more and more of the earnings of the people to themselves, and making the sovereign "people" into slaves for several months a year.
These are "regressives," spouting ideas which are as old as the history of civilization--ideas which have failed in every place and time they have been tried. They are counterfeit ideas and lead to tyranny by the few over the many.
It's time to rediscover the ideas of liberty, using the Founders' own simple principles, and appeal to the common sense of ordinary Americans. It would be a winning combination. If the Federalist Papers were written to convince upstate New York farmers of the merits of the Constitution's limits on power, then surely they're not too complicated for citizens of today. It's worth a try. Read Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny." Read "Our Ageless Constitution." See
Memorize the Founders' words, and go forth to conquer the "regressives"!
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