Recessional: Conservatives Have Themselves to Blame

Pajamas Media ^ | March 1 | Victor Davis Hanson

[AJKauf]

So the Republicans betrayed their own principles and allowed the Democrats in 2006 and 2008 to run against deficits in order that they could enlarge deficits, convinced that the natural opposition was long ago discredited.

Trashing Bush for spending and not spending enough

Note the irony. Liberals trashed George Bush for urging us to buy and consume after the shock of 9/11 in order to ward off a paralysis of fear and possible recession. Now in the present crisis they insist we buy and consume to ward off a paralysis of fear and further recession. It would have been better had they trashed Bush for not urging deficit spending and consumerism and risking a recession than ensuring a long-term unsustainable cycle of red-ink. Had Bush campaigned in 2005 with a surplus and reduced spending, and ran against Ted Stevens and Jack Abramoff, he might have made it far easier for conservatives to continue in power.

...

[boroman]

Well written. Republicans need to reinvent themselves as fiscal conservatives, or they will cease to be a viable alternative for voters.

[refermech]

I agree! Man I like Hansen. What a smart guy. I’d like to stand beside him hoping some of the smarts would rub off!!

[marktwain]

Victor David Hansen is marvelous. I should buy all of his books.

[Nonstatist]

Republicans need to reinvent themselves as fiscal conservatives

Absolutely. Bush has been a disaster for exactly this reason, and none other.

We probably wont govern again until Obama implodes, but we cant govern as Democrap Lite. Rinos must be purged , and we must be reborn (metaphorically speaking)

[beaversmom]

We probably wont govern again until Obama implodes...

What's your guess on when it implodes? I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

[PackerBoy]

It could be pretty sooner. The market has hated nearly everthing the Obama Administration has said or done since Election Day.

[raybbr]

The squirrel-cage economy

Bush faced such hysterical opposition of matters of foreign policy, that to keep congressional support, on the domestic front he often gave into the fuzzy notion of ‘bipartisanship’ and ended up advocating massive entitlements like the prescription drug bill and No Child Left Behind, without detailing the source of funds to pay for them. So in fears of recession, and resulting political suicide, each new President now urges more borrowing and spending that allows him reelection and us yet another reprieve. No one dares tell the heroin addict that his habit is unsustainable, and that while each new fix brings temporary relief, in aggregate the injections are destroying the user himself. So it should have fallen to conservatives to yell, “Stop”, to risk recession and to change the ethos to ensure monies were not spent unless the source of additional revenue was assured. Such a readjustment might have been ugly, but not as ugly as the present mess.

This is exactly what I have been saying and I get trashed by Bushbots who will NOT ever admit that Bush wasted four years of GOP control of Congress.

The Bush policies and spending led this nation to Obama. It's the natural progression of Bush's policies, his non-existent fight against liberals and ever increasing lean to the left. What did the GOP expect? They can't ever out-liberal a liberal yet under Bush, they tried.

[freekitty]

NO,

What we need to do is find good leaders. They will do all the reinventing that’s needed.

[BuffaloJack]

Conservatives have not given in.
Unfortunately there exist Liberal Republicans (RINOs).
The Republican Party was Conservative; it isn’t any more.
Conservatives need to boot out any liberals who pass themselves off as Conservatives.
America was not founded as a socialist nation; it was infiltrated by socialists and other parasites who want big government and handouts.

[TennesseeProfessor]

I see a lot of the articles bashing Bush — and largely I have to agree. The Paulssn plan was an abomination which started the explosive deficits and bail-me-out-too mentality we have now.

However, we need to change focus from “It’s that guy’s fault” especially since “that guy” is already gone. Instead, let’s look at who the last few candidates for President have been:

Elder Bush
Dole
W Bush
McCain

Over the last 15 years, were those really the best candidates we had? And if not, then why were they picked? (And very likely a followup question:why aren’t they changing the primary process for 2012?)

[TennesseeProfessor]

I see a lot of the articles bashing Bush — and largely I have to agree. The Paulssn plan was an abomination which started the explosive deficits and bail-me-out-too mentality we have now.

However, we need to change focus from “It’s that guy’s fault” especially since “that guy” is already gone. Instead, let’s look at who the last few candidates for President have been:

Elder Bush
Dole
W Bush
McCain

Over the last 15 years, were those really the best candidates we had? And if not, then why were they picked? (And very likely a followup question:why aren’t they changing the primary process for 2012?)

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Bush’s fault (actually, it is)

[rb22982]

Yep, agree 100%

[andy58-in-nh]

Those were not the best conservative candidates we had. They were the candidates selected by a plurality of voters in Republican primaries, the voter base of which is not dependably conservative, especially in states with "open" primaries where anyone with a pulse and a utility bill can register as a Republican for a day. And what do we then wind up with? ("My friends, we need to reach across the aisle..."). Blecccch.

[patriot preacher]

Wrong answer...

Conservatives have not caused their circumstances — but the Republicans have caused it. One cannot equate Republicans with Conservatives. A few Republicans are principled Conservatives. Most, are not. Conservatives have, since the 1970’s at least, hitched their wagons to the Republican Party to advance their ideological agenda.

Republicans became more interested in the mid-90’s with preserving the power they’d gained than with achieving the goals Movement Conservatism had been aiming for over several decades. That’s why they went so far off track in the Bush years. That’s why so many “Conservatives” betrayed their principles and became merely “Republicans.”

The question is, can Conservatives trust the Republican Party again? Have Republicans really seen ther err of their ways? Is the Republican party still the best means to achieve the goals of Conservative ideology in the US?

I certainly ain’t buying it yet. We’ve got nearly 2 years to the next elections, and Republicans have a LONG way to go in penance before I buy their “return” to Conservative ideals.

In the meantime, Conservatives must apply other pressures to the system as a whole. They must operate [LEGALLY]outside as well as within the system, from the grassroots. They cannot trust the nation to politicians at this point — not even Conservative politicians (few and far between as they are).