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The Paradox of Unified Control–How Conservatives Can Win Without Bush
Vanity | 1/31/2004 | Self

Posted on 01/31/2004 3:07:29 PM PST by Kevin Curry

Can conservatives win in November if Bush loses the White House? The easy answer is "No." The thinking answer is quite different. The easy answer overestimates the power of a Democrat president who must work with a Republican-controlled Congress. The thinking answer is that gridlock is often preferable to a government shifting into high gear regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is at the wheel. And gridlock is always preferable to progressivism, whatever its form.

Liberal nanny state progressivism is a rouged tart wearing a high tight skirt standing on the street corner, who whispers "$20 for a good time." Compassionate conservative progressivism is the wholesome girl next door in a county fair booth that reads, "$20 for a kiss"–only the bargain is even worse, because the government forces you to pay, and someone else gets the good time or the kiss.

Neither form of progressivism is acceptable to a conservative who has better and more profitable things to do with his time and money.

The key to understanding why the thinking answer attaches such small value to a Bush win this November is to understand the paradox of unified control. Common sense suggests that conservatives are best served when Republicans have unified control over the two branches that write the checks, pay the bills, and write and enforce the laws: the executive and the legislative. That was the delirious hope of conservatives, including myself, who cheered in November 2000 as Bush won the White House by the narrowest of margins and the Republican Party won combined control of the Senate and the House in 2002.

But this delirious optimism has turned steadily to dark dismay as Bush recklessly and heedlessly cranked the conservative agenda hard left and smashed it into reefs of trillion-dollar Medicare entitlements, record deficit spending, incumbent criticism-stifling campaign finance reform, illegal alien amnesty-on-the-installment-plan, NEA budget increases and the like.

Where has the Republican co-captain –Congress–been as Bush has pursed this reckless course? Mostly sleeping or meekly assisting. Would a Republican Congress have tolerated these antics from a Democratic president? Absolutely not! Why has a Republican Congress tolerated and even assisted Bush to do this? Because he is a Republican and for no other reason.

Thus, the paradox of unified control: a president can most easily and effectively destroy or compromise the dominant agenda of his own party when his own party controls Congress. Bush has demonstrated the potency of this paradox more powerfully than any president in recent memory–although Clinton had his moments too, as when he supported welfare reform.

Does this mean conservatives should desire a Democrat president when Congress is controlled by Republicans? No. Conservatives should desire a consistently conservative Republican president who with grace and inspiration will lead a Republican-controlled Congress to enact reforms that will prove the clear superiority of the conservative, small government agenda by its fruits. Bush's tax cuts are a wonderful achievement, and have had a powerful stimulating effect on the economy. But imagine how much better the result if he had not set forces in motion to neutralize this achievement by getting his trillion dollar Medicare boondoggle enacted.

Ten steps forward and ten steps back is may be how Republicans dance the "compassionate conservative" foxtrot, but in the end it merely leads us back to the same sorry place we started. It is not an improvement.

When a Republican president compromises the conservative agenda and is enabled to do so by a Republican Congress too dispirited or disorganized to resist, the next best answer might well be for a Democrat to hold the White House. Nothing would steel the courage of a Republican Congress and enliven its spirit more than to face off against a Democrat bent on implementing a liberal agenda.

Any Democrat unfortunate enough to win the White House this year will face the most depressing and daunting task of any Democrat president ever to hold the office. The Iraq War will become his war, and he will be scorned and repudiated if he does not with grace, power, and dignity bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. That means he will have to conduct the war in much the same way that Bush is conducting it now–he will not have the latitude to do much else. If he conducts the war in the manner that Bush is conducting it, his own base will abandon him.

Any Democrat president will also have to choose between spending cuts or raising taxes. If he chooses the latter, he will see his support plummet as the economic recovery sputters and stalls. If he chooses the former, he will dispirit his base supporters. In either case he will strengthen the hand of the Republican controlled-Congress and see Republican strength enhanced in the Senate and House.

If SCOTUS vacancies open up, he will see his nominees scrutinized and resisted with a zeal that can only be expected and carried out by a Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee that has suffered through years of kidney-punches and eye-gouging in judicial appointment hearings by a Democrat minority (it would help immensely if the spineless, Kennedy-appeasing Orrin Hatch were replaced as Committee Chair).

As his frustrations grow, his support plummets, and the Republican Party adds to its numbers in Congress, a Democrat president would be viewed as opportunistic roadkill by zealots in his own party, including and especially the ice-blooded and cruelly-scheming Hillary Clinton. In the run-up to the 2008 election Democrats would be faced with the choice of continuing to support a sure loser in the incumbent or a scheming hard-left alternative in Hillary. The blood-letting in the Democratic Party through the primary season and into the convention would be grievous and appalling, committed in plain view of the American public–who could be expected to vomit both of them out.

That would leave the field open for the Republican presidential candidate to achieve a victory of historic proportions in 2008. With greater Republican strength in Congress, the opportunity would again present itself for this nation to finally achieve the dream of implementing a real and substantial conservative agenda, of actually shrinking government in a large and meaningful way.

The key to achieving that dream, of course, is to carefully select an electable conservative for 2008 who will remain true to the conservative vision and not cause conservatism to fall victim again to the paradox of unified control.

It is not too soon to start looking for that candidate.


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KEYWORDS: gop
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To: olliemb
Off camera.

Janet surely did her family name some good tonight, eh?
981 posted on 02/01/2004 6:00:09 PM PST by Howlin (If we don't post, will they exist?)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Let me educate you junior.

No, see, that would be my dad. I'm the third. It's where I get the '3' in my handle from.

But hey, you can continue to prey if you desire. I am kind of amused by it.

The only thing amusing here is your tapdancing and never failing to mention your absolute favorite subject: Illegal aliens.

982 posted on 02/01/2004 6:01:00 PM PST by rdb3 (If Jesse Jack$on and I meet, face to face, it's gonna be a misunderstanding...)
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To: rdb3
prey .Wonder if he meant PRAY or PRY. Either way, you won't be getting anything from him.
983 posted on 02/01/2004 6:01:11 PM PST by gatorbait (Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
I now see the error of my ways.

I should have portrayed myself as a mysterious analyst, a la Valerime Plame, and made myself seem important and official.

You are so full of it that I can hardly stand it.

In all the times you have posted you have NEVER spoken of your occupation or your employer. You have often acted like you were simply an average guy in California.

You are a fraud and a disruptor.

984 posted on 02/01/2004 6:01:15 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: gatorbait
Threatened how?
985 posted on 02/01/2004 6:02:12 PM PST by rdb3 (If Jesse Jack$on and I meet, face to face, it's gonna be a misunderstanding...)
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To: gatorbait
I think we have been infested by Democrats, all the sleepers coming awake, now that they can bash Bush to their hearts content, under the cover of claiming to be conservatives. Really sad commentary.
986 posted on 02/01/2004 6:02:50 PM PST by FairOpinion
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To: Howlin
What?!

I had it on but wasn't really paying attention while I folded laundry. My daughter missed it, thank God. I'll have to ask my husband if he saw the nipple.

Sheesh.

I did comment when I saw the was appearing that I suppose we shouldn't hold her responsible for her brother...
987 posted on 02/01/2004 6:03:18 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: Neets
And get medals from them and our very own threads, dedicated to everything we post to FR and then smashed over there. :-(
988 posted on 02/01/2004 6:03:53 PM PST by nopardons
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To: FairOpinion
Can't do it anymore....Have your read Jim Robinson's post ?
989 posted on 02/01/2004 6:03:55 PM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: Miss Marple; Joe Hadenuf
You are a fraud and a disruptor.

Actually, he is a Mirage.

Damn, I have to get to bed.

990 posted on 02/01/2004 6:03:57 PM PST by Neets (Complainers change their complaints, but they never reduce the amount of time spent in complaining.~)
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To: Miss Marple; rdb3; Howlin; onyx; nopardons
If you read his profile, he is a space cowboy.Or maybe the gangster of love.
991 posted on 02/01/2004 6:04:03 PM PST by gatorbait (Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
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To: Vets_Husband_and_Wife
2/3rds of the al Queda leadership is either dead or captured.

But 1/3rd isn't, if those numbers are to believed.

Nonetheless, if this was a war against Al Queda, you've made a strong case that 'we are winning'.

But it's a "war against terror". Terror is not Al Queda. It is not Iraq. It is a tactic that has been used throughout the history of mankind.

So at what point is it officially "won"? Or is it perpetual?

992 posted on 02/01/2004 6:04:49 PM PST by Mulder (Fight the future)
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To: FairOpinion; Jim Robinson
Yes, there are many sleepers and imposters on the forum.

I am confident Jim also knows this and is actively seeking them out.

Don't get discouraged. WE SHALL PREVAIL!!

993 posted on 02/01/2004 6:04:54 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: cyncooper
Evidently Justin Timberlake pulled her top down/off.
994 posted on 02/01/2004 6:05:05 PM PST by Howlin (If we don't post, will they exist?)
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To: Brad's Gramma
Coming in rather late to the game as far as this whole conversation goes, but if the above is true, why would you then ask for someone else's SSN?

I always do that when some one asks me personal info.

You now what I say to the begger approaching the car, knowing he's going to ask for spare change, I always get the jump on him and say, "hey, you got any spare change"? The begger usually goes on his way at that point, with a confused look on his face.

995 posted on 02/01/2004 6:05:52 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
I don't like football. I"m a girl...what's your excuse?
996 posted on 02/01/2004 6:05:59 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Brad's Gramma
Thanks be to God. And prayers for the family of the one who gave all.

Prairie
997 posted on 02/01/2004 6:06:52 PM PST by prairiebreeze (WMD's in Iraq -- The absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.)
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To: cyncooper; Howlin
LoL! I just saw a thread with the title "Did Justin Timberlake just pull down Janet Jackson's top?"
998 posted on 02/01/2004 6:07:05 PM PST by EllaMinnow (If you want to send a message, call Western Union.)
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To: Miss Marple
You are a fraud and a disruptor.

LOL! The laughs never end!

999 posted on 02/01/2004 6:07:15 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: Miss Marple; Joe Hadenuf
It's a game of twenty questions...
Let's play along

Let's see are you from California?
Do you draw a check from the government?
Is your wife's first name Maria?

AAAhhhnold is that you?
1,000 posted on 02/01/2004 6:07:21 PM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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