Posted on 11/26/2020 9:36:10 AM PST by Kaslin
You might recall that, nine years ago, I wrote a book entitled "The Death of Liberalism." It was an answer to Sam Tanenhaus' suicidal 2009 book "The Death of Conservatism." Sam's book came out mere months before the conservative wave election of 2010. The liberals still have not gotten over the 2010 election. It pretty much eliminated an entire tier of promising liberal candidates. It also explains why the Democrats' promising young candidates this time around were the likes of Beto O'Rourke. Remember him? Or Eric Swalwell? And, of course, there was Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race before the primaries even began. Could any of these Young Turks have beaten President Donald Trump in 2020? I doubt it. That is why the Democrats nominated 78-year-old Joe Biden, the guy who spent most of the campaign in his basement.
No, the Democrats still have failed to overcome their 2010 loss to the Republicans. 2010 will be looked back on as a historic year in politics.
This year, the Democrats' victory had to rely on an old geezer consigned to his basement along with a sizable vote from the Never Trump crowd to win the presidency. I think the Never Trump crowd's vote was a mistake, but we shall have to wait and see if I am right or not. Put another way, the liberals of 2010 have yet to overcome the conservatives of 2010. In fact, I, as the author of "The Death of Liberalism," will go so far as to say the 2022 election will see the conservatives flipping the House of Representatives with very few liberals in sight. The Democrats will field progressives and now socialists and perhaps even vegetarians in 2022, but hardly a liberal will be seen. As the man said, liberalism is dead.
I am amazed to see supposedly informed commentators on politics write about such people as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as liberals. Or this Democratic candidate for the Senate from Georgia, Jon Ossoff, being called a liberal. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez calls herself a progressive, or perhaps, when she is on her home turf in the Bronx, even a socialist. Ossoff calls himself a progressive. They are not liberals, even if mainstream commentators long for the good old days of such true liberals as Hubert Humphrey and Adlai Stevenson. There are few liberals left. That explains why so many Democrats down the ballot were beaten this year. It is difficult to find a liberal left in the Democratic Party.
This should not be viewed as bad news for sensible Democrats. I would think it gives them something useful to do. Revive the term "liberal." Take it for your own. Really, "liberal" is not as discredited a term as "progressive" or "socialist" or "Marxist-Leninist." Point to your very own Ronald Reagan, that would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and say you are running in 2022 as a liberal, a Roosevelt liberal.
Moreover, you have a candidate who even knew Roosevelt, Joe Biden. Well, Joe is almost old enough to have known FDR. Joe, claim that as a little boy you met FDR while on a stamp collectors' trip to Washington. Do not worry about details. You once claimed to be a coal miner, and besides, in American schools today, history is seldom taught. Few people will know. Joe, revive the term "liberal" for the Democratic Party, and you will make history.
What is more, if Joe were to revive the term "liberal," it would put him squarely in the mainstream of the Democratic Party today. He would no longer have to be afraid of progressives or socialists, or even Marxist-Leninists among the Democrats. He would be able to stress his Rooseveltian heritage. Not only that, but he could avail himself to a whole series of policies that other Democrats, in their recent squabbles with Trump have completely forgotten.
Consider these policies. How about reverting to the "mixed economy"? Yes, I know we already have a mixed economy, but Joe, mix it up some more. There are some Never Trumpers who can help you mix it up some more. The very definition of a Never Trumper is that he or she is pretty mixed up to begin with. And how about advocating "moderation" in foreign policy. Joe, if you are for nothing else you are for moderation. Finally, insist on being a Big Spender. You might even convince some Republicans on the need to spend more money that we do not have.
Joe, you are the one to revive liberalism in the Democratic Party. Go do it.
I nearly posted this but dinner is approaching so....... 😀🍗🍣
Babylon Bee material. Except Not worth reading.
The GOP is useless...we combine Trumps 70 million with normal working democrats...legal immigrants and blacks...the MAGA party or workers party anything but GOP
I usually like this author’s work but this left me scratching my head. What’s in a name? It doesn’t matter what those people are called - they are all the same - no matter what name!!! Anti-AMERICAN - full of hate for anyone with a different opinion and not bashful about spreading the word to be violent when it comes to differing opinions and not at all concerned when those people burn down and loot cities!
NAMES matter not!
Somebody needs to let him in on the secret. The DNC is just the green party wearing a Democratic meat suit. The original Democratic party has been hollowed out and filled with a socialist deamon. There is nothing left to save.
Bozo O’Rourke is 48 and that make him “young”?
Take a look at all of Biden's cabinet picks and decisions he wants to make in his first months of office that have been posted on FR since the election. Then tell me with a straight face that he will revive old school liberalism.
Way way back when I was a leftist idiot I found E. Emmett Tyrrell, subscribed to The Spectator magazine and laughed my way into conservatism.
Wish I had kept some of those old magazines..... I have no doubt you could pick any article he’d written and found the truth of it’s content to stand through time.
Thanks for the post and Enjoy your day !
For a President, that is young.
That possibility went into the dumper in 1906...
ANDREW Gillum was the Democrat hope but he failed.
“The median age upon accession to the presidency is 55 years and 3 months”
Yup. Why anyone would want to associate with the GOP or RNC is beyond me. Most Republican politicians are lazy, empty suit, pathetic, grifters.
All Democrats are pur evil!
True
Rats are not meant to be trained
I suggest we redefine our borders to recognize the two nations that are present: America amd Antamerica.
In this new age of massive voter fraud, public policy discussions are totally irrelevant.
The author has no clue what world he is living in...
Tyrrell isn’t nearly as much fun to read as he used to be.
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