Posted on 08/03/2004 12:09:31 PM PDT by dead
Opening Statement
Dear FRiends:
I once suffered two great frustrations in being a freelance political writer. First, the loneliness: you put an article out there, and you might as well have thrown it down a black hole for all the response you get. Second, the ghettoization: when you do get response, it would be from folks you agree with. Not fun for folks like me who reliish--no, crave and need--political argument.
Then came the Internet, the blogs--and: problem solved.
I have especially enjoyed having my articles in the Village Voice posted on Free Republic by "dead," and arguing about them here. The only frustration is that I never have enough time--and sometimes no time--to respond as the threads are going on. That is why I arranged for an entire afternoon--this afternoon--to argue on Free Republic. Check out my articles and have at me.
A little background: I am a proud leftist who specializes in writing about conservatives. I have always admired conservatives for their political idealism, acumen, stalwartness, and devotion. I have also admired some of their ideas--especially the commitment to distrusting grand social schemes, and the deep sense of the inherent flaws in human nature. (To my mind the best minds in the liberal tradition have encompassed these ideals, while still maintaining that robust social reform is still possible and desirable. My favorite example is the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, author of the Serenity Prayer and a great liberal Democrat.)
Lately, however, I've become mad at the right, and have written about it with an anger not been present in my previous writings. It began with the ascension of George Bush, when I detected many conservatives beginning to care more about power than principles. The right began to seem less interesting to me--more whiny, more shallow--and, what's more, in what I saw as an uncritical devotion to President Bush, often in retreat from its best insights about human nature.
I made my strongest such claim in a Village Voice article two weeks ago in which I, after much thought, chose to say conservatism was "verging on becoming an un-American creed" for the widespread way conservatives are ignoring the lessons of James Madison's great insights in Federalist 51 that in America we are supposed to place our ultimate trust in laws, not men.
Finally, in what I see as the errors of the Iraq campaign, I recognize the worst aspects of arrogant left-wing utopianism: the idea that you can remake a whole society and region through sheer force of will. I think Iraq is a tragic disaster (though for the time being the country is probably better off than it was when Saddam was around--but only, I fear, for the time being).
I am also, by the way, a pretty strong critic of my own side, as can be seen in my latest Village Voice piece.
So: I'm yours for the day--until 7:10 pm CST, when I'm off to compete in my weekly trivia contest at the University of Chicago Pub. Until then: Are you ready to rumble?
Respectfully,
Rick Perlstein
Mr. Perlstein:
I am proud of my views as a conservative Republican.
I am proud for what my party stands for.
Are you, on the other hand, proud of abortion, taking guns from INNOCENT people, stifling the Christian from his/her views...to name a few.
And, why is it OK for John Kerry and John Edwards to have A LOT OF MONEY, yet we Republicans are constantly called greedy?
I'll await your answers.
Thank you.
Your point being?
I believe that was the thought I expressed, was it not?
In Perlstein's article on people who love Bush, I wondered why he painted conservatives/Republicans as people who change the subject if they don't have a good answer, when that's exactly what liberals/Democrats do.
---
firebrand, I'm afraid you're going to have to argue with THIS liberal/Democrat, not "liberals/Democrats" in the abstract. I'm not going to skip a single question today. The fact is, all humans have a fight or flight reflex. My problem with the conservatives I wrote about is that I found their changing the subject especially egregious, especially since they invited me into their homes, knowing I was a liberal, to discuss Bush.
Better to look away and pretend nothing is happening, after all, it's not our problem.
"Rick, the fact of the matter is Iraq is a breathtaking and brilliant success that will be studied for years and hailed well into the future. You need more information from better sourcing in order to make informed opinions."
Dittos on that.
Question for Perlstein: How many years of non-genocide, non-dictatorship, freedom, free enterprise and democracy will Iraq live through before you admit you were wrong?
The surest way to win a presidential election is to successfully scare the bejesus out of the voters about what will happen if the opponent becomes, or remains, president of the United States. Not a pleasant thing for Democrats, who like to be nice, to have to ponder.
"Rick, the fact of the matter is Iraq is a breathtaking and brilliant success that will be studied for years and hailed well into the future. You need more information from better sourcing in order to make informed opinions."
Dittos on that.
Question for Perlstein: How many years of non-genocide, non-dictatorship, freedom, free enterprise and democracy will Iraq live through before you admit you were wrong?
Better to look away and pretend nothing is happening, after all, it's not our problem.
"...when I detected many conservatives beginning to care more about power than principles"
Please! The country just watched a convention where Democrats tried to hide their dovish policies and beliefs behind flags and smoke and mirrors and the candidate left his years in public office out of his resume.
Virtually every delegate interiewed admitted they cared more about regaining power than espousing their principles in this election.
I asked above but you have yet to answer. Is this an ACTUAL CUT or just a reduction in the base line budgeting projected increase.
If I had asked you, in 2000, what were the most important things this country needs, what would you have said (top three)? How about on Sept. 12, 2001?.
Southhack accuses me of relying on the mainstream media for my perception of Iraq. I don't. I go to the Brookings Institute's Iraq Index--
http://www.brookings.org/iraqindex
Which is updated daily, mostly with Pentagon statistics. I invite everyone to bookmark it. The picture it shows, I submit, is not pretty.
But at least with the raw data, one can judge for oneself.
Just out of curiosity, what makes you all on the Left think that the only folks having problems with you are conservatives, aka Republicans, aka the VRWC?
You established a strawman. Who the heck are these architects ? congress who voted for the war ? Where are the blueprints ? Why aren't they being followed ? Typical lefty can only beat strawmen in order to debate.
Yeah, this thread is going to hit 1000 by the end of the day if you keep going. You'll easily break the record for posts by a "troll". =^)
(Interesting that the term fits this thread so well, although you are trolling for debate, and not simply knee-jerk reactionism that the less-mature variety seeks.)
I honestly believed you were going to answer questions we have...you are not doing so....can't you answer some of our simple questions without reverting to your articles which you probably took hours upon hours to compose....
That doesn't say much good about Kerry. Lives were at stake kere. He picked an extremely innapropriate time to make a stand for principle. He should have done what the rest of the Senate Democrats do and puch his economic agenda seperately. The negative reaction to that was not the result of a Republican conspiracy, but the reactions of conservative and moderate voters to both the "Nay" vote and his stated reasons for doing it.
When does this turn into a debate?
If Democrats are trumpeting President Clinton's achievements against terrorists, then why aren't they absolutely ecstatic about President Bush's achievements? After all, they are in favor of Presidents fighting terror aren't they?
That's for sure!
Denile isn't only a river in Egypt. ;)
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