Posted on 02/21/2006 9:47:12 AM PST by raccoonradio
THE WONDERFUL thing about writing commentary pieces is that I get ample feedback, often from people unencumbered by the niceties of interpersonal diplomacy.
Last week, I did what you might expect a conservative columnist to do. I told young orphans there is no Santa Claus. No, no, just kidding. (Besides, I'd have gotten a better reaction closer to the holidays.)
No, I merely cataloged the troubles of the Democratic Party. The infuriated response from hordes of liberal readers was, "How could you criticize the Democrats when the Republicans are in so much more trouble?" Fortunately they provided their own answers, most of which involved words such as "hack" and "shill," and phrases ill-suited to a family newspaper — or even to bars frequented by ex-cons. Angry readers recounted the long parade of GOP problems: warrantless wiretaps, the Abramoff scandal, Tom DeLay's indictment, Katrina, the revelation that President Bush is Rosemary's baby, etc.
And that was before Vice President Dick Cheney started shooting people.
Allow me to defend myself. First, fish gotta fly, birds gotta swim, and conservative columnists gotta indulge their schadenfreude about the sorry plight of the Democratic Party. It's what we do.
Second, of course the GOP is a mess (although I would remind liberals that it is better to be a majority party with problems than a minority party with problems). Congressmen are hanging out in K Street warrens like addicts in 19th century opium dens, but instead of Chinese dudes passing out pipes, there are lobbyists handing out checks, golf trips and other prizes from behind Curtain No. 2 on "Let's Make a Deal." The Contract With America that brought the Republicans to power more than 10 years ago is a distant blur in the GOP's rearview mirror. Smaller, competent and restrained government has been sacrificed to the new coalition of Republican rent-seekers.
Compassionate conservatism may have had some intellectual rigor when it was the stuff of egghead journals and think tank conferences, but under Bush it has always been a marketing strategy designed to justify spending vast sums of money. This shattering of the GOP's at-least-nominal commitment to limited government has not only resulted in a bidding war between Congress and the White House on how "best" to expand government, it has also caused philosophical incontinence on the right.
I'm less critical of Bush's handling of the War on Terror, but there, too, one certainly needn't struggle to the point of herniation to find mistakes.
Third, Republicans and conservatives aren't the same thing. This distinction seems lost on lots of people, including cable television bark-show bookers and partisan Democrats and Republicans alike. To a principled conservative, it is bad news when the Democrats lurch to the left, even if it makes the Democrats less likely to win elections. Why? Because when the Democrats move left, so do the Republicans.
In American politics, when one party moves left or right, the political center of gravity moves that way too. Bill Clinton, whatever his flaws, moved his party to the right. His triangulation infuriated Republicans because it is always vexing when someone steals your lunch. Democrats despise Bush's compassionate conservatism for similar reasons. A Republican President promising to "leave no child behind" annoys Democrats as much as Clinton's denouncing of Sista Soulja irked Republicans. When the Bush presidency is over, it will be more obvious in hindsight how much he moved the GOP to the left — by making the Nanny State bipartisan.
It all boils down to what matters to you most. As a conservative, the extent I root for the GOP depends entirely on how successful it is in moving the political climate of the country toward fiscal restraint, limited government and cultural decency. Single-issue voters understand this point best: Pro-lifers would dearly love to break the GOP monopoly on opposing abortion, just as abortion rights supporters dream of the day when both parties are pro-choice. Many conservatives, including yours truly, would have agonized over a choice between a reliably pro-war Democrat and George W. Bush in 2004, particularly if judicial appointments weren't so important.
The point, dear liberals, is that some conservatives who criticize the Democrats or offer them advice do not do so solely to salt wounds, but in the hope that someday we will have a real choice on Election Day — and not between the lesser of two evils.
AGGGGHHHHHHH...makes me crazy.....
RANT OFF!!
The point is well illustrated in the Port brouhaha going on. It's a weird feeling to be watching TV and agreeing with Chuck Schumer.
The problem with the leftward shift in the Rat Party is that as a result, the GOP has gotten watered down by moderates who really should be Democrats, but the party is too looney for them.
Forty years too late!
That's a good point. As a conservative first, it's not good for one party to have a monopoly on all conservative principles. It makes that party lazy and less likely to pander to conservatives (I mean "pander" in a good way.)
Having a viable Democratic Party is important in a two-party system; we need a good opposition party to keep us focused. However, the Democrats seem dead set on committing political suicide.
That is unfortunately not what really happens. In truth the political establishment has been moving steadily leftward for decades under the influence of the mass medias, and not just in this country but throughout the West. The only Republican President of the last 50 years who has been even vaguely conservative was Reagan, and even he didn't do squat domestically.
You are confusing the Democrats with some of their moonbat supporters.
Political parties exist to win elections and exercise political power. If the voters change their views then the parties will also change.
For example, George Wallace was an outright racist for much of his career. When it became clear to him that racism was a political loser he famously apologized and said "I was wrong". He won his last election to Governor of Alabama with significant black support -- something that would have been unthinkable years before. That's becuase George Wallace was a politician, not a racist. He adopted racist views when it served him politically and dropped them when they didn't.
The Democrats -- what's left of them -- will eventually come around, especially after their "Old Guard" dies off. Meanwhile, notice how politicians like Shrillary and Carter's kid are still holding "pro-choice" positions, but are personally "anti-abortion" (their terms of course). That's because they know that abortion is not as popular as it used to be. That's due, IMHO, to the winning of hearts and minds on this issue, not legal proceedings or elections. Their ridiculous straddle won't work, but I suspect that the Democratic Party will soon not be so pro-abortion as they are now.
The US system is set up for two parties. When one goes too far off the reservation, something happens. I hope what happens is that Dems gain their senses, and become the Joe Lieberman party, and stop being the Barbara Boxer party. If they do, they may pick off a lot of voters who are nominally GOP, and make a 2 party system safe for America again. Right now, it's not safe to vote Dem, they are led by the 20 percent of the country that is anti-American or post-American.
You make a very good point, which is that the media propaganda machine, in cahoots with liberal political elites, work very hard to move the public views leftward. When they think the public is ready, they launch a new policy. They break down American society in stages--tearing down religion and culture and marriage, etc. We need a counter-reaction to take society back to policies that are better for society, that make us more cohesive, healthier and freer.
I agree, but please get rid of the liers, cheats, as*holes and drunks. Oh sh*t there may not be anyone left.
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