JAMES H. GIBBONS wonders why conservatives take so little joy in their domination of U.S. politics

Houston Chronicle ^ | August 23, 2004 | JAMES HOWARD GIBBONS,interim editor of the Chronicle's opinion pages and a member of the editorial b

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Voters not only angry, but unmoved by good fortune

JAMES HOWARD GIBBONS wonders why conservatives take so little joy in their domination of U.S. politics at nearly every level.

As this no-holds-barred election campaign proceeds, American voters are reported to be not only sharply divided but unusually angry. Calls to the Chronicle's editorial page office support both assertions.

Several liberals complained that the paper has become hopelessly right-wing. A host of conservatives suggested in so many words that the Chronicle is now the willing tool of the liberal elite.

All I can say is that both charges cannot be true. There are times when I sympathize with Ambrose Bierce, who defined a conservative as someone who accepts existing ills, while a liberal wishes to replace them with new ones.

I can well understand why liberals are angry. In the last decade they lost power in almost every arena. For four years or longer, Democrats have held no sway in Washington or in Austin.

Liberals have had to stand by helplessly while Congress passed tax cut after tax cut. Businesses generous in their campaign contributions have been able to tailor legislation to their benefit, regardless of what Ralph Nader thought.

But I cannot grasp why conservatives, by and large, take so little joy in all they survey.

The White House, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are in the clutches of politicians who are either extremely conservative or charlatans cleverly and persuasively pretending to be. The Republican Party wields a solid majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, at least when the party's fortunes are on the line.

In Texas, the Republican Party claims every statewide office. In Harris County, it controls the powerful Commissioners Court and every judicial office above justice of the peace.

Business lobbyists have never had it so good. Industrial emissions are now officially countenanced and seen as benign. When government budgets had to be cut, the burden was borne by children's health insurance programs and the like, while corporate subsidies increased. What more could a conservative wish for in a government?

News stories report that the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, is leading in key battleground states, but conservatives needn't lose sleep over that. A smear campaign or two, deserved or not, should dispel the danger.

Perhaps conservatives' ill mood derives from the paucity of Bibles in public places. A Christian conservative called last week to complain about the impending removal of a Bible near the Harris County Civil Courthouse. I offered to lend her one of my four, but she would not be comforted. She said the end times were coming and Harris County needed to have a government that was thoroughly Christian.

County Judge Robert Eckels and County Attorney Mike Stafford give every indication they agree with her. But the U.S. Constitution stands in their way — in this instance and in others where the majority wishes to trample on the rights of the minority. Vexing, perhaps, but it shouldn't be enraging to a Christian.

Aren't the large tax cuts a source of happiness? Most of the cuts went to the well-to-do, but after all, they are the people who pay the most taxes. Nothing amiss there. The deficits are out of control, but Vice President Dick Cheney, called the Britney Spears of conservative white guys, said it well: "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."

The tendency of conservative media idols to turn out to be hypocrites, liars, cads, drug addicts or worse can be maddening, of course. That's why compassionate conservatism was invented, to show compassion for your own.

Perhaps conservatives are doomed to remain far from gruntled by the very nature of conservatism. Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century British Tory prime minister, put it thus: "Conservatism discards prescription, shrinks from principle, disavows progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future."

No wonder levity appears so thin among the conservative ranks. That does not mean they are implacable.

Ian Macleod, a prominent British Conservative politician of the last century, noted that conservatives, in time, always forgive those who were wrong. Indeed often, he said, they forgive those who were right.

I happily fall into one of those forgivable categories.

Gibbons is interim editor of the Chronicle's opinion pages and a member of the editorial board. (james.gibbons@chron.com)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Whew! What a LIBERAL rant.

***......Conservatives who think progressives are misinformed idealists will forever be blind-sided by the malice of the left-by the cynicism of those who pride themselves on principle, by the viciousness of those who champion sensitivity, by the intolerance of those who call themselves liberal, and by the ruthless disregard for the well-being of the downtrodden by those who preen themselves as social saints. .........***Source

[Bonaparte]

"The Republican Party wields a solid majority on the U.S. Supreme Court."

This man needs to put down the hash pipe and take a long cold shower. Who doesn't know the USSC has 3 conservatives, 2 unreliable moderates and 4 flaming leftists.

[jocon307]

What a disgusting piece. How many subscribers will this paper lose today?

[goldstategop]

Actually, its a self-portrait of contemporary liberals. Despite winning the culture wars and imposing secular humanism in this country, their feeling of triumph is made incomplete by the fact there are people around who refuse to see the world the way they view it. I submit that is what really bothers James H. Gibbons and mainstream media liberals. They may dominate our intellectual and cultural elites and still complete acceptance eludes them. As a conservative I am happy with my lot in life and all I desire is for the government to leave me alone to pursue my own happiness.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

And majority doesn't mean control. Just look at the Senate.

But then, exclusive readers of the Chronicle wouldn't know much about facts.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What a disgusting piece. How many subscribers will this paper lose today?

I don't know if there are many conservatives left who subscribe.

[Porterville]

Hello, boys and girls. This is your old pal, Stinky
Wizzleteats. This is a song about a whale. No! This is a
song about being happy! That's right! It's the Happy Happy
Joy Joy song!

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!
I don't think you're happy enough! That's right! I'll
teach you to be happy! I'll teach your grandmother to suck
eggs! Now, boys and girls, let's try it again!


Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!
If'n you aint the grandaddy of all liars! The little
critters of nature... They don't know that they're ugly!
That's very funny, a fly marrying a bumblebee! I told you
I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me! Why didn't you
believe me?!

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Happy Happy
Happy Happy Happy Happy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

...U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are in the clutches of politicians who are either extremely conservative or charlatans cleverly and persuasively pretending to be.

We're pissed because by and large there's a lot of charlatans. RINOs and CINOs.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LOL

[Lancey Howard]

A Christian conservative called last week to complain about the impending removal of a Bible near the Harris County Civil Courthouse.... County Judge Robert Eckels and County Attorney Mike Stafford give every indication they agree with her. But the U.S. Constitution stands in their way...

Har!, this author, James Gibbons, must be one of those liberal pantloads who has never read the Constitution and therefore actually believes that the liberal judicial activist invention referred to as the "separation of church and state" is really in there somewhere. What a maroon!

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Insults from the left are usually just confessions.

[kittymyrib]

A typical Houston Comical leftist editorial. And he's surprised that conservatives think that rag is liberal...pathetic. Any conservative who subscribes to or advertises in any of the Texas newspapers is aiding and abetting the enemy. Why, oh why, couldn't someone with a few bucks publish a newspaper for this state called "The Texas Conservative" (ala the USA Today model)? They could put every newspaper in Texas out of business.

[x]

Perhaps conservatives are doomed to remain far from gruntled by the very nature of conservatism. Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century British Tory prime minister, put it thus: "Conservatism discards prescription, shrinks from principle, disavows progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future."

This is a quote from Disraeli's novel Coningsby. It's part of a long criticism of Robert Peel who founded the Conservative Party out of the remaining Tories. But it's not a comment on "the very nature of conservatism." Rather, it's an attack on Peel and his followers for not being conservative enough or for not being conservative about the right things in the right way. And it's a criticism that applies to other modern, competitive political parties as well.

Knowing that Disraeli became the Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, Gibbons ought to have been a bit curious about where the quote comes from, what it means, and what Disraeli was trying to say. But Gibbons is a representative type -- the editorial writer, who with his thesaurus and dictionary of quotations writes articles that simply represent narrow partisan views and passions. There are a lot of editorial writers like Gibbons in the Northeast, and they get away with a lot because basically, no one reads newspaper editorials, but it's strange to find such a pure example of the type in Texas.

So why aren't conservatives "happy" about "dominated" American politics? Maybe because in a country divided roughly evenly nobody can be said to "control" things. My guess is that politics look very different to those, like liberals in Texas, who are in a small minority going against incumbent, than it does for those in the battleground or strongly anti-incumbent states.

And maybe because politics aren't a place for happiness or contentment. They seem to involve forever keeping people discontented and agitated. To become complacent or contented is to lose. And things change quickly in politics. Dominance is too often the prelude to decline. Liberals "dominated" American politics in 1964. But there was no reason for them to become smug or complacent. In a few years it was all gone.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you for putting that quote into context. Gibbons certainly twisted the meaning of his words. You'd think I would learn not to be amazed by such deception, but the Left's diabolical, amoral, relentless attack on liberty is something I can not relate too. I guess I expect in some naive way, that people really couldn't be like that.

They have to divide and conquer and lie to have power.