Why We Must (Gently) Disagree With Rich and Ramesh (great article)

conservativehq.com ^ | 7/15/14 | George Rasley

[cotton1706]

A week or so ago two conservative writers we admire greatly, Rich Lowry, editor of National Review and Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor for National Review, published an interesting article entitled “Establishment Tea, The GOP is coming together, not apart.”

In their piece Lowry and Ponnuru posit that a synthesis between the “tea party” and “establishment” wings of the Republican Party is emerging and they cite as examples of this synthesis the victories or defeats of various candidates supported or opposed by the two “wings” of the Republican Party.

We think one of the flaws in the analysis put forth in “Establishment Tea” is the notion that the tensions in the Republican Party that are now manifest in the tea party vs. establishment “civil war” began with the rise of the tea party movement in 2009.

As author and conservativehq.com Chairman Richard A. Viguerie documents in his new book TAKEOVER, those tensions have been part of the dynamics of Republican politics for over 100 years. They began in 1912 when former President Teddy Roosevelt challenged President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination for President and then bolted the GOP when he lost at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Teddy Roosevelt’s progressivism became the governing philosophy of the Republican elite, who conveniently forgot to tell the average grassroots Republican voter that they had no intention of actually delivering on, or fighting for the limited government constitutional conservative ideas held by most Republican voters.

[cotton1706]

"As we see it, conservatives are now closer to winning this 100-year battle for the soul of the GOP than we were when Ronald Reagan was elected President. Now is the time for limited government constitutional conservatives to contest every primary and every election for precinct committeeman. Now is not the time to engage in wishful thinking about a “new synthesis” that will only act to keep Big Government Republicans like Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran and Lamar Alexander in power to continue the policies we conservatives oppose."

[nathanbedford]

Just the other day I posted a reply which suggested that we ought to reconsider William F Buckley's famous maxim that we should vote for the most conservative candidate who can win. In view of the shenanigans in Mississippi and the chronic betrayal of conservatism by Boehner and McConnell in their respective official capacities, I question whether the time has now come to actually undermine the candidacies of Boehner and McConnell in the general elections.

The danger of forfeiting a chance to take control of the Senate was considered and the danger of such a course of action running out of control was also considered. Nevertheless, in carefully limited context it might now be time to openly demonstrate the power of The Tea Party to wreck establishment Republican chances just as they have sought and actually succeeded in wrecking conservative candidates chances in election after election.

All of this I bring up to note that the bona fides of rich Lowry as a movement conservative and one who is reliably conservative have been in question now for some time.

In view of the century history of the tension between conservatives and establishment Republicans outlined in this article perhaps it is now time to have a second look at the occasion in which Bill Buckley read the John Birch Society out of the Republican Party. Were all the equities on Buckley's side? I make no insinuation, but perhaps it is time to reassess the role of National Review in setting political correctness for the right.

I do not forget who Bill Buckley's son has become.

[cotton1706]

Bill Buckley wrote that when there was nothing but liberal republicans, so his goal was to move the republican party to the right by choosing the most “viable” conservative that was available.

Moderate republicans use that line as a club, when history has shown that their candidates rarely win. Witness November 2012 and the slew of bland, vanilla Establishment retreads that went down to defeat.