Posted on 11/14/2005 10:15:45 AM PST by smoothsailing
COMMENTARY
Bush Has Appeased His Political Enemies for Too Long
By JB Williams
Nov 14, 2005
The title compassionate conservative might have helped President Bush get elected, but trying to live up to that title has him spending like a drunken Kennedy and appeasing enemies like a hang-nail Purple Heart Kerry having a morning latte with the Viet Cong in Paris.
When it comes to fighting our nation's foreign enemies, Bush has proven to be a formidable foe capable of far more than just tough talk. But in the face of relentless attacks from his enemies here within, he has proven to be about as tough as Jimmy Carter, (no graphic expletive needed).
Bush's enemies within have been gunning for him since the moment Florida voters sent Al Gore packing in 2000. They have called him a "liar", an "idiot", a "fascist", a "war-monger", a "crook" and so many other things, I can't begin to remember them all. Hell - - even hardened liberals accuse him of over-spending, ignoring border security and going too easy on Al Qaeda.
Compassionate conservatism might be a great election cycle marketing term, but it turns out that it is a horrible means of leading a nation that seems to be not so compassionate in its conservatism.
The writing is on the wall, in case any Republicans care to take a gaze into their crystal ball for a glimpse at their political future. American voters went to the polls in the last four election cycles in record numbers for the sole purpose of removing socialist liberals from power. They handed the keys to Washington over to people they thought were conservative, like them.
These voters put Republicans in power not for the purpose of negotiating away that power, compromising away the conservative agenda or appeasing the left-wingnuts across the aisle who we just removed from power. They put them in power to reverse the trends of the last 40 years towards a socialist – secular – un-American – immoral left-wingnut society.
As we removed socialist liberals from power, some Republicans decided they needed to become more compassionate and tolerant of those things we sent them there to fix. Consequently, nothing is getting fixed, even with people who claimed to be conservatives in complete command of the ship.
Liberals told Republicans that they had no mandate, a great choice of words from a group systematically removed from power by American voters over four consecutive election cycles. Apparently, Washington Republicans believed them…
Bush wanted to be a "uniter", but he is having great trouble uniting his own Party, much less a country. The fact is - he has squandered Party unity in search of an unachievable social unity. Contrary to the claims of his enemies, domestically, he has attempted to lead by following. He has forgotten the most important elements of real leadership.
Rule # 1 - "The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government." (Thomas Jefferson) The will of the people is decided in election cycles, the last four of which willed Republicans into complete power.
Rule # 2 - "In politics the middle way is none at all." (John Adams) There is another word for "moderate"…. It's "uncommitted".
Rule # 3 - "Never confuse motion with action." (Benjamin Franklin) Washington is all about motion, these days even more about commotion. It seldom results in action and when it does, it's seldom in the interest of the people.
Rule # 4 - "One man with courage makes a majority." (Andrew Jackson) This idea was the essence of Ronald Reagan's leadership and it is the core characteristic of every great leader. Once given the authority via the will of the people, one must have the courage to do what the people sent him to do, without concern for his critics.
Rule # 5 - "It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use of reason as to administer medication to the dead" (Thomas Jefferson) Liberal socialists have been morally bankrupt and at least brain-dead for years. That's why American voters removed them from power. Negotiating, compromising, tolerating or appeasing them makes no sense at all.
True conservatives still exist in Washington. That's who rejected Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in favor of the better known conservative Judge Alito. Clearly, there are still a few willing to fight for what is right, still willing to do the job they were sent to do. As Jefferson put it, "Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong."
You don't have to be a scientist or a doctor or an evangelical preacher to know that a mother taking the innocent life of her offspring is wrong. You just need a very basic respect for human life. Rights of privacy have never included the right to end the life of another innocent human being and it never should. Yet we let it continue…
You don't have to be Winston Churchill or George Patton to know that you can't secure a nation without securing its borders. Yet our borders remain wide open and no action has been taken to close them or to find and deport those already here illegally.
You don't have to be Alan Greenspan to know the economic future of a nation that has become a slave to its lenders, spending an ever increasing sum of its future productivity on an endless list of socialist welfare programs designed to empower the federal government, not its dependents. Yet we keep on spending like there's no tomorrow and soon, there won't be.
We do these things and worse in the name of compromise, tolerance and compassion. But there is nothing compassionate about killing the unborn, nothing secure in tolerating an increasing illegal immigration problem and nothing right about compromising our children's future freedom for a few pennies from the national treasury. It's wrong, all of it!
The people worked hard to remove socialist liberals from power and it was a step in the right direction. But the people's work is clearly not done.
We must not only continue to remove remaining socialist Democrats from power at every opportunity, we must also begin to replace moderate "uncommitted" Republicans with true conservatives. We need people who will take real action to secure this nation including at our own borders, people who will no longer tolerate the taking of innocent life in the name of convenience or compromise our children's future freedom for a few pennies from the treasury today.
The conservative movement to reinstate real American values is alive and well at American kitchen tables across this great land. If the title neocon bothers you, just remember that this term is coined and used only by neo-socialists. People who never liked anything about America and never will. Accept the title as a compliment…
While in power, Republicans need to lead this country on the basis of true conservative values, or they need to be replaced at election time by real conservatives who will. Our job began with stopping liberal Democrats from driving this nation further into a secular immoral abyss and fiscal bankruptcy. It needs to be finished by stopping uncommitted Republicans from doing the same by negotiating away the power we gave them.
Freedom was never easy. If you thought you could just go to the polls a couple times and then return to life as though all would be well, you have not studied American history much. It is an ongoing struggle, a never ending fight for freedom and it is a war that needs to be re-won every day. It can only be fought by the people who elect politicians. Then, politicians can never be trust to get it right on their own, no matter how they title themselves.
We are in fact on the right road, but we have to keep hold on the wheel. We can't set our country on cruise control… But then, we never could. True conservatism is compassionate, it's just not wasteful.
We are the land of the free… but only because we are the home of the brave and the tireless.
JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father and a no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy.
© Copyright by NationalLedger.com
*ping*
Amen!
Honorary Tagline for Thomas Jefferson.
Read the whole thing * ping *
Dems write President Bush fake letters - acting like they're everyday Americans. And because he's isolated - and his team is isolated - it's easy to believe these really are Republicans. Remember when Rush used to fall for them? Then one day he caught on - and FR caught on and we named the lying dems: trolls. Bush needs to get with what's real. And that's conservative Americans.
Bush isn't appeasing his political opponents. He is and has been liberal on a number of topics and has remaind consistely so.
He believes the government should care for it's people rather than stay out of the way and let them care for themselves.
He's for lower taxes to stimulate the economy, but he still believes in big government and a strong economy provides a large tax base to fund it.
He pushes morality and personal responsibility, but stops short of leaving those who have planned poorly to fend for themselves, and in the process he does help promote a culture of entitlements.
It took me a longer to catch on to Bush's stance on many of these issues, but it's not because Bush his his stance of was promising one thing and doing another. I guess I was assuming that he was saying the right things to get elected, but was more conservative that he presented himself to the press.
Instead, he appears to have been surprisingly honest. I would rather have had a choice of a more conservative president, and I think that the Medicare prescription drug plan is going to be a huge mistake in retrospect, but he was still our best choice of those available to us.
Big ole "Amen" to this article.
If the Republicans cannot prove that they can and will do what they were sent to Washington to do, then we might as well have the 'Rats in power.
That's a great tagline, all right!
Why is this lesson so hard for Republicans to learn:
You get zero credit for doing things that the Democrats want you to do. They lie about your record just the same. You piss off your base and do nothing to help your image among the people who you are trying to mollify?
Why is this lesson so hard for Republicans to learn?
Maybe I should ask the question this way:
Why is this lesson so hard for Republicans to learn?
Well said.
I was beginning to think he was French. Maybe He thought it was not the Christian thing to do, but, even Jesus got rightously angry when He threw the rift raft out of the Temple.
In the past year, the GOP's message to conservatives has been this: Thanks for re-electing us to the White House, and giving us gains in the Senate and House. Now we won't need you anymore until 2006.
My concern is that having made one speech, a warning shot across the Democrats' bow as it were, the President will retreat into the ivory tower that is the White House, and let his enemies pick at him for the next three years. The Democrats didn't manage to inflict significant damage on Mr. Bush overnight. They've been working on him for over four years. A "one off" speech that is not followed up by additional public statements from the Commander and Chief will do more harm than good.
"Moderates" - road kill in the Big Sh*tty.
Thanks for the 'ping'.
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