Posted on 03/17/2016 10:05:10 AM PDT by Kaslin
For years, conservatives have told themselves the pretty bedtime story that they represent a silent majority in America -- that most Americans want smaller government, individual rights and personal responsibility. We've suggested that if only we nominated precisely the right guy who says the right words -- some illegally grown Ronald Reagan clone, perhaps -- we'd win.
Donald Trump's impending nomination puts all of that to bed.
There can be no doubt: The Republican Party has successful killed the legacy of Ronald Reagan. By consistently moving to the left in every presidential election, by granting the left its general premise that government is generally a tool for good rather than a risky potential instrument of tyranny and by teaching Americans that the problem isn't government itself, but who runs it, Republicans have ensured that the vast majority of Americans no longer hold to conservative principles.
In fact, a significant swath of Republicans themselves don't believe in conservative principles. Trump, obviously, is no conservative. He's a protectionist on trade -- a position that smacks of populist pandering rather than informed conservative economics. He believes in an authoritarian executive branch designed to make deals that achieve a win for Americans, rather than a heavily circumscribed executive branch with prescribed powers of enforcement. He believes that judges sign bills, that legislators exist merely to bargain with the great man in charge and that the military exists to serve as his personal armed forces.
All of this attracts people.
The angrier Trump gets, the more he talks about how he's going to set things right rather than giving Americans the power to do so themselves, and the more Americans flock to him.
So, let's look at the facts. Today, at low ebb, Trump garners approximately 4 in 10 Republican voters. Let's assume that at least half of those Americans aren't conservative -- a fair guess, given that many have admitted bias in polls in favor of government interventionism in the economy, a sneaking love for government entitlement programs and a strong position against immigration -- not for safety reasons, but to prevent economic competition. Meanwhile, more than 4 in 10 Americans support Democrats outright.
This means that at least 6 in 10 Americans support a big government vision of the world.
Which means conservatives have failed.
In order to rebuild, conservatives must recognize that they think individually; leftists think institutionally. While the left took over the universities -- now bastions of pantywaist fascism hell-bent on destroying free speech -- the right slept. While the left took over the public education system wholesale, the right fled to private schools and homeschooling. While the left utilized popular culture as a weapon, conservatives supposedly withdrew and turned off their televisions.
Withdrawal, it turns out, wasn't the best option.
Fighting back on all fronts is. Republicans need to worry less about the next election and significantly more about building a movement of informed Americans who actually understand American values. That movement must start with outreach to parents, and it must extend to the takeover of local institutions or defunding of government institutions outright. The left has bred a generation of Americans who do not recognize the American ideals of the Founding Fathers. Pretending otherwise means flailing uselessly as demagogues like Trump become faux-conservative standard-bearers.
Hard to argue against, GWB got elected twice and he was no government cutter, he expanded it and its power, and deficits.
Shapiro is an anti-Trump event seeking a place to happen.
Those who dream of "New" World Orders may be Jacobins, Bolsheviks or Nazis, or American equivalents. They certainly are not conservatives, by any rational interpretation of the word. Nor are those who let "political correctness" intimidate them into not defending their native land, its heritage & culture.
This is only even debatable among people who have no interest in actual conservatism.
Shapiro is an ass. The best thing that could ever happen to him is for him to become aware that he is an ass. Then he could think to cover it.
Strange times for sure.
“Free Trade” as it stands now is a misnomer. The term suggests unrestricted trade, but it is anything but, at least for us. If we gave these globalists everything they wanted, would we have unrestricted trade for Americans? No - we would still be regulated to the point of strangulation, allowing the less-regulated countries to have a huge advantage over us. When the regulations and unnecessary overhead of doing business in the US is so high that it becomes cheaper to move your factory to China, ship your raw materials there, pay off the Chinese government bribes, and pay to ship the products back than simply to build it here, then obviously we are over-regulated. Additionally, because meaningful employment here drops as a result of massive off-shoring and there is a resultant increase in people on social welfare programs, the offshorers are effectively able to shift their costs onto the American taxpayer, meaning that both the unemployed and the employed take a hit.
Psalm 127:1
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Ben Shapiro is a very, very smart guy whom I respect greatly. The Trump drones will be incensed by this article and go off their nut, but if you look at what Shapiro is saying, he is no Trump fan, but the problem is much deeper than Trump.
Sadly, Shapiro is correct in that Conservatives were silent as the Left commandeered the universities. Conservatives abdicated from the fight over public schools by seeking private schools and home schooling, and Conservatives (how many times have I heard this right here on FR?) just withdrew from the culture by saying, “It’s TV, it’s not real, get a grip. Or, “Just turn off your television.” Or, I haven’t had a television in X years.”
However, I will say this in response to what Shapiro says, and as a non-Trump supporter. I think many Conservatives don’t necessarily think Trump holds all the answers, I believe many Conservatives view Trump as the big kid in school who — finally — remove a lot of the bullies that have infested the school. And this will help clear the way for Conservatives to regain their footing.
These crony communist neo-cons have been repeating the same lies over and over and over for several decades, and they are still lies. What they have been calling "free trade" is horribly managed trade -- trade agreements designed to destroy the economy and security of the USA, to the benefit of a few traitors, and to the detriment of the vast majority of US citizens.
William McKinley was a conservative, as a congressman, a governor, and as president. Protectionism is a conservative policy for international trade. McKinley said the following in a speech to congress in 1892:
"Under free trade the trader is the master and the producer the slave. Protection is but the law of nature, the law of self-preservation, of self-development, of securing the highest and best destiny of the race of man. [It is said] that protection is immoral.... Why, if protection builds up and elevates 63,000,000 [the U.S. population] of people, the influence of those 63,000,000 of people elevates the rest of the world. We cannot take a step in the pathway of progress without benefiting mankind everywhere. Well, they say, 'Buy where you can buy the cheapest'.... Of course, that applies to labor as to everything else. Let me give you a maxim that is a thousand times better than that, and it is the protection maxim: 'Buy where you can pay the easiest.' And that spot of earth is where labor wins its highest rewards.With reasonable protectionist policies enforced, as McKinley demonstrated, the US economy boomed, and the other economies of the world followed suit. Whenever the Democrats were able to crush the protective tariffs, the economy crashed. It still happens, and now the establishment GOP has joined the Democrats in their efforts to keep the US economy in the sewer.
Not if you call writing op-eds for Townhall.com since June, 6, 2002 a brand new job at Townhall.com and I bet you Andrew Breitbart is turning in grave what they did to his site.
Terrific reading of the tea leaves. When we’re done sniping at each other after Cleveland, I hope leaves 1 and leaves 2 can see that we need to unite.
Ben Shapiro lately of Breitbart spewing a mouthful of idiocy. Welcome to Townhall you will fit right in Ben.
One good thing about Trump is he has drawn out the statists in the Republican Party.
CGato
As I was just saying elsewhere ....
Conservatives are a minority in the Republican Party.
What a load of crap. Conservatives in government in the beltway support a big government vision of the world, too. Those who vote for them also want a bigger government, they want their share of the pie. Conservatives are not a whole lot different than liberals, only the funding levels of pet groups is different. Being a conservative these days is nothing to be proud of.
So, what’s Trump going to with corp income tax?
No, its not, because there are more democrats than republicans and the rats always support big government.
And Trump is not a conservative. He's more like a blue dog Democrat ( which is still 1000 times better than Hillary). I just get tired of Trump supporters insisting Trump is Reagan. He thought Reagan was a con man.
We have a candidate who is conservative, can articulate conservative ideas, and as close to Reagan as we've had in our lifetime (Cruz).
Unfortunately a large number of FReepers are not backing him, and instead back the moderate. I don't get it.
Must-Read BUMP.
So do the Republicans. They never trim the size of government. They continually fund their pet projects. We have two big government parties.
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