Posted on 10/28/2005 3:55:27 PM PDT by Crackingham
William F. Buckley, American conservatism's gray eminence, was recently asked by a writer for The New Yorker what he thought about the state of the movement he helped found 50 years ago. Said Mr. Buckley, "I'm not happy about it." More and more of us on the right feel his pain.
Conservatism, said Buckley, is "to a considerable extent, the acknowledgment of realities. And this is surreal."
He was talking about President Bush's grandiose wish to frog-march liberal democracy around the globe, but he could have been speaking of any number of unconservative things foisted upon the country by an ostensibly conservative president and a compliant Republican Congress.
American conservatism is in crisis at the moment because the bizarre Harriet Miers nomination imposed a surreality check on the right, forcing us to consider just how much nonsense we had gone along with for the sake of party discipline.
Where to start? With the LBJ-level spending? The signing of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, which candidate Bush had denounced as unconstitutional? The race-preferences sellout in the University of Michigan cases?
There was also the cynical use of the federal marriage amendment, which the administration dropped after turning out the social conservative vote in 2004. And grass-roots conservatives cite the president's intent to liberalize immigration policy with Mexico.
Then there is the Iraq quagmire, which, even if initially a worthy cause, has become a rolling disaster.
On top of this came the Katrina debacle, which further damaged conservatism's claim to competent governance.
Conservatives, consciously or not, looked the other way for far too long, mostly because we felt it important to back the president in wartime and because nothing was more important to the various tribes of Red State Nation than recapturing the Supreme Court.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
That's exactly how he sounds. It's not appealing. He used to be fairly cheerful and sometimes funny.
This from a guy who ranted yesterday that you'd be sitting out this SCOTUS nomination process because you didn't get your way with Miers.
You are confusing compromise for political gain with compromise of your principles.
To compromise in order to move the ball in your direction is a better alternative to getting nothing at all. To compromise your principles on a nominee that you have full control over is ludicrous.
When have we compromised and gotten a result of the ball moving in our direction?
Ditto. Someone point it out to me.
I think if we got 70%... heck, even 40%, we'd be sitting here with grins on our faces.
We're getting about 7%. And that includes the Miers withdrawal.
Don't forget Chertoff was referring to deporting OTM'S only. That was the turd in the soup. If the GOP steps up and demands border closure, a fence, proper funding as it is A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE, fine employers for hiring these criminals*, and deport every single alien working, laying up on the dole, or taking up space in our schools and hospitals. Let's not forget to deport those from our prisons as well. Send a bill for full reimbursement to the Mexican government. Inform State Law Enforcement unions they are to comply with federal law or Federal Funding to the state will be withheld. THEN, we'll know the GOP is scared poopless about the '06 and beyond. If they do none of these things, and they won't, they can kiss their jobs, perks, and powdered wigs goodbye. The little Kings need to be sent packing.
*note: as numbers of unemployed have risen due to the destruction from the Hurricanes... there are jobs to be had by Americans. If they refuse to take jobs, they should be cut from the dole. Listen, people move from state to state all the time to look for work thanks to anti-business policies and globalization, etc. That's just the way it is as we continue to right the boat. Those folks will just have to do the same.
It's time for some tough love.
Welfare reform. By not doing completely away with welfare reform, we showed that incrementally moving the program towards more responsibility on the part of the recipients would not result in millions of more homeless, etc.
Tax Cuts. We constantly demonstrate that tax cuts work by showing that each time we do a cut, revenues increase. But we could not repeal the income tax and replace it without those examples to prove our trustworthiness in handling the tax code.
Welfare reform came when the GOP controlled the House only and compromise was the only way to accomplish anything at all. Still, we won that one by holding out for the most we could get, not by conciliatory gestures.
Tax cuts were the product of compromise, true. This compromise also producted unprecedented spending. Did the ball advance in our direction? No, it advanced quite a bit in the other direction - adding debt is not a consequenceless nor neutral effect. Tax cuts are only meaningful in the context of commensurate spending cuts.
In the context of a GOP that controls the House, Senate, and Presidency, compromise comes with an immense opportunity cost - our time to act is frittered away, giving the opposition the ability to neutralize the advantage.
You adored the Clinton years, didn't?
Sothack has it listed...go read his personal page, since you've spent the last 5 years complaining about everything and not really paying attention to the good stuff..
"Which will dilute the conservative gene pool further, making the GOP nothing more than "DNC Lite."
I'm referring to 2006. And frankly, we need all of them that we can get. Not to mention somethng to vitalize the base.
I am HTML impaired, so just go read Southack's personal page.
Some of the stuff on that list is good. Some of it is bad.
And that's a list that deliberately omits anything that the list author thinks might reflect badly on the President.
Sadly, I can put together just as long a list - and a more substantial one - that illustrates the ways he has acted against conservative interests.
By the way, please get it right. It's been 7 years I've been complaining and not paying attention, not 5. But maybe I have been paying attention...
Perhaps your real problem is more than I stated.
My real problem is that I don't just sit there and take abuse quietly from anybody - not from a Democrat and not from a Republican. I complained when the Democrats spent us into oblivion and continue to complain now that the Republicans are doing it. I complained when the Democrats coddled Palestinian terrorists, and again when Republicans started doing it. I complained when the Democrats treated the UN as a government, and I complain when the Republicans do. And so on and so forth in all the ways the Democrat and Republican politicians work together for their own interests and against the nation's.
"true Conservatives" don't understand how important getting the Feds LARGEST spending program on the block"
Agreed. Hopefully, followed shortly by the even more expensive and rapidly growing Medicaid.
There is a cycle in politics where a party uses the big tent to gain moderate voters, then loses power when the ideologes and extremests push the agenda too far over to their side.
Beware of how much contempt you pile on the big tent types. They are the ones who know how to win elections. ------Just watch as Clinton hijacks our issues in the coming months.
Comprimise got us CFR.
First Amendment ... almost gone.... nibble nibble on it that have and now, they go after conservative radio and say when they promote this or that, it's an in-kind contribution. Our voice is being silenced. Democrats don't realize this WILL get them too..
Fifth Amendment .. Eminent Domain.
The obligation of our nation to defend it's borders from foreign invation...
The right of privacy to our medical records. GONE.
Illegal aliens winning in our courts of law, and entitled to more rights than citizens.
CAFTA.... American sovereignty.... GONE.
English Language.
Trading another Amendment for a tax cut is not acceptable. But you can be sure the full dismantling is at hand... and will be until, they have successfully eliminated the need for voting completely.
Which of course, brings me to Drivers Licenses for illegals.
I'll stop now.
I think I've had enough.
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