Convolution is not conservatism

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | 06/26/05 | Colin McNickle

[smoothsailing]

Convolution is not conservatism

By Colin McNickle

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Sunday, June 26, 2005

The headline and guts of a Wall Street Journal commentary took on a wholly buffoonish patina as the week progressed.

Fast on the heels of last Sunday's commentary here (and by others elsewhere) that real conservatism is in danger of dying of ignorance, neglect and perversion, The Journal on Tuesday offered an essay from John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge.

These two highly respected British chroniclers of conservatism write for the equally respected Economist magazine. And they chided other conservative annalists for their dour assessments.

Federal spending is galloping out of control, they note. Yes, Social Security reform is going nowhere, the pair add. And the Republican majority doesn't appear to know how to govern, given its failure to quash the Democrat minority's filibustering, they admitted.

"But it's time for conservatives to cheer up," Micklethwait and Wooldridge said. "Fixate on a snapshot of recent events and pessimism makes sense. Stand back and look at the grand sweep of things and the darkness soon lifts.

"There are two questions that really matter in assessing the current state of conservatism: What direction is America moving in? And how does the United States compare with the rest of the world?"

The answers, they say, should encourage conservatives.

Oh, really? Well, just last week there were three new very discouraging developments that show the conservatives' march to irrelevance is vigorous, America is moving in the wrong direction and is emulating, not leading, the rest of the world:

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court, that supposedly wacky right-wing bunch of guys and gals who "stole" the 2000 election for George W. Bush, eviscerated one of the fundamental building blocks of republican liberty -- property rights.

Conservacrat Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy offered the swing vote...

[CBart95]

Comforting to have our "betters" chide us for our muddle-headedness,what?

[Haru Hara Haruko]

The U.S. was not even in the top ten in economic freedom before this odious decision.

We burden ourselves with the federal employee payroll and future pension obliogations of the TSA - thousands standing around.

We allow GM and Ford and the airlines to sell out their shareholders to corrupt union pension obligations.

We trample states rights over an inconsequential weed.

We deserve what we get.