Lord, Make Me Conservative, But Not Yet [Barfer]

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 18, 2008 | Thomas Frank

[Maceman]

The Republican Party is in tatters, but conservatism shares no portion of the blame. Or so former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay wrote in a cheering column a few weeks ago.

The movement's ideals of "reform" and "justice" did not fail, intoned this towering figure of virtue; conservatism just never got a proper shot in the first place. "To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton," Mr. DeLay wrote, "conservatism has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."

Did Mr. DeLay's head rotate on his shoulders, Linda Blair-like, when he wrote that line? I don't know. But it sure made this liberal chuckle. Nothing in this world Tom DeLay has ever wanted has been left untried.

[Jim Noble]

I'm not so sure about the (BARF).

Thomas Frank, it's true, ripped off Lenin's 1905 What is to Be Done and republished it under the name, "What's the Matter With Kansas?"

His ideas are hard-core Marxist, and I'm sure he's one of the ones who have been waiting for Obama (Shall we call them "friends of Barry?").

However, a lot of his points about the failure of conservatives to exploit the power given to them in 1994, the failure of ideas, the failure of governance which is leading to the upcoming disaster in November, are right on point and deserve full discussion.

[snowrip]

Present a conservative with a list of the recent scandals and episodes of misgovernment that have turned voters so overwhelmingly against the Republican Party -- a good number of which involve Tom DeLay, as it happens

Uhhh... does he mean like the Pelosi family contract deals? Or the Reid land scheme? Or maybe he means mile-long list of Obama baggage? No, he must be talking about the ten-mile-long list of Clinton baggage instead. Of course, he may be talking about William Jeffers, or the Chris Dodd bribes-for-mortgage stuff, or maybe about the rash of recent voter fraud convictions against liberal activists, or... (fill in the blank)...

Another liberal idiot who, through infinite repitition, has actually managed to convince his tiny brain that the crap he shovels is actually true.

[tcostell]

He totally misses the real point. It's true that people in government are guilty of corruption and mismanagement, and that doesn't change if they call themselves liberal or conservative. The real problem though, is that the people elected to office are all the same kind of creature. They make their living off the government so they are all in favor of more of it. Since Bush first took office no one has even tried to scale back government in any way. They gave it the same lip service as usual, but the after a while it all became apparent as lies.

Now, after 8 long years of Republicans claiming to be conservatives while acting like big government liberals, the “conservative” coalition is falling apart and no one in the media can understand the real cause.

“There is no constituency for smaller government” they cry, and yet, when it's obvious they were lying about supporting the idea, they lose elections. One of these days someone somewhere is going to figure out that in spite of what David Frum says, convincing people that you really are for smaller government will win elections, and when people realize that you were just lying about it, you'll lose them.

[Raycpa]

If Gov’t s basically corruptible, why give it more jurisdiction than absolutely necessary?

[alloysteel]

The very concept of “conservative” is highly disturbing to many people, for it implies that judgment and wisdom are not at all the same as cleverness and knowledge. Clever arguments may win court cases, and introduce new considerations to the everyday business of life, but they also activate “the law of unintended consequences”. It is not only that the situation was not completely thought through, it is IMPOSSIBLE to think every situation through without going back to previously decided similar situations, and realizing why some things worked then, and others did not. Plus we cannot, by definition, know every outcome before we start.

“Change you can believe in” is not necessarily GOOD change. And change for the sake of change alone is almost guaranteed to have a multitude of bad outcomes.

[SumProVita]

“To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton,” Mr. DeLay wrote, “conservatism has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

This shows what an imbecile Mr. DeLay is. That is not even a paraphrase. As good as the conservative political philosophy is......it is not Christianity. (I’m sure that DeLay doesn’t like genuine Christianity any more than he likes conservatism.)

[Amelia]

However, a lot of his points about the failure of conservatives to exploit the power given to them in 1994, the failure of ideas, the failure of governance which is leading to the upcoming disaster in November, are right on point and deserve full discussion.

I agree totally. My own congresscritter, who went in on the Contract with America (supporting term limits, etc.) is still there, and despite espousing fiscal responsibility, doesn't seem to have met an earmark or porkbarrel project he doesn't like as long as it's bringing home the bacon to our area...

[SoConPubbie]

Both of you, if you think about it, have actually made Delay’s point for him.

Conservatism did not fail, so-called conservative law-makers failed.

[MrB]

The people are corruptible, as anyone with a conservative worldview know. This is why we seek to limit the power that they can wield.

The leftist worldview is that people are NOT inherently sinners, and are perfectable. And we need to get the more perfect people in power and give them as much power as possible in order for them to implement their wisdom on the unenlightened.

Having stated that “conflict of visions”,

I’ll say that I read this article this morning, and saw nothing of substance in it. He complained about corruption, and somehow blamed that corruption on conservatism, without stating exactly what conservative principles were the cause of that corruption. (He can’t)

[nathanbedford]

What's wrong with Delay's paraphrase? Indeed, what is wrong with Delay apart from spending too much money?

[SumProVita]

Apologies...apologies. I was actually thinking of someone else and got DeLay confused with another person. My only excuse: I had just had ONE sip of my first cup of morning coffee. ;-/