Posted on 05/17/2008 2:03:48 AM PDT by MartinaMisc
It was fun while it lasted.
The guaranteed election of a non-conservative President on November 4th represents the end of the conservative movement in America. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain stands for Reagan principles in any way, shape, manner or form—and after twenty years of non-conservative Presidents, it’s obvious that the Reagan era will never, ever return.
The conservative movement has been in the hospital for nearly two decades. Once George H. W. Bush—a good, moral man, but not a true conservative—entered the White House, conservative principles slowly but surely began to leave. Yes, he gave us a victory in the Gulf War and Clarence Thomas, but he also gave us a broken no-new-taxes promise and David Souter. Bush was more Rockefeller than Goldwater, during a time when America and the world needed more of the latter and less of the former.
Bill Clinton replaced Bush in 1993 and, during his eight years in office, stole certain conservative concepts (NAFTA, welfare reform) and destroyed others (judicial restraint, the rule of law). Clinton moved the country in a secular direction, helping to make the 1990s as culturally loose as the 1980s were culturally traditional. Clinton also seemed obsessed with, among other things, promoting the notion that the Reagan era was a fluke, and that (despite his famous 1996 claim) big government was a permanent reality.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
The GOP, even while having the edge in Congress and holding the White House, was too weak to eliminate the Natl Endowment for the Arts, NPR, or the waste of the Dept of Education, just to name a few. In the midst of gridlock and the inability to do anything significant, like fixing SS or immigration issues, a handful of greedy slobs broke the bank with selfish earmarks and waste. They all took turns robbing the federal treasury withthe exception of only a few like Jim DeMint or Norm Coleman. Now things will have to get much worse before they ever get better. My only hope is McCain chooses a strong conservative VP, wins, stays 1 term, and the conservative prevails. Not a high probability of this scenario happening.
You can't discredit a philosophy that has no integrity. You might as well embarrass a brick.
Well, when the ship goes down, (and it will), find something that still floats. Its not much (yet), but if you want a safe “raft” shared by real conservatives, check out Falconparty.com. Interesting anyway.
“..it’s obvious that the Reagan era will never, ever return.”
The ‘Reagan era’ was the last flare of a possibility that our culture can no longer deliver. Ronald Reagan is what was. The Three Clowns are America now.
Indeed, the Religionist Party (as I call them) has bet all of our "moral" chips on abortion as a national rather than local issue; by forcing local school issues to the federal level; by by applauding GWB's "compassionate conservative" boondoggles which have been in direct opposition to conservative principles.
They have supported Mike Huckabee who is an egregious tax raiser and Nanny Stater in preference to more conservative candidates.
It's time for conservatives to rethink this alliance with the Religionists and whether it is a good one or not for conservative principles. Personally I believe they're worse and more insidious than RINOs in their destructve influence.
Same Here.
Unfortunately, every time someone brings up the Constitution and shrinking the Federal Government to the size and scope the founders intended they get branded as a 'nutcase'--by BOTH parties.
No way the MSM is going to give them airtime, either--it would make TPTB look bad if the idea ever caught on.
>>>>Meanwhile, nobody of any real influence is talking about small government.
Newt is. He’s the only true conservative out there.
But we have a peanut gallery of no-nothings and Neanderthals with a visceral hatred for Newt coupled with no understanding of his positions, beliefs, or even his alleged “behavior.”
There are a few more, but the venal hatred of Newt in this forum is mind boggling.
The man is not prefect, but certainly is just about the smartest, most prescient voice in the conservative movement, or what's left of it.
“Conservatism will never die. It’s philosophy is grounded in history going all the way back to the Old Testament. It’s roots crawl thoughout history and a bunch of American hating nihilists are not going to destroy it.”
Well said.
The 1980s were culturally traditional???
I was born in 1950, and AFAIK, there was no essential difference at any time between 1980 and 1999.
It's true that RR brought with him to Washington executive branch officials that would have lunch with traditionalists, and who would smile at them. It's also true that B41 and the Clinton Crime Family sent those officials home.
But in terms of policy? In terms of meaningful action? And in terms of the culture (especially)?
No difference.
This is one of the best posts on here that I have read in a long time. Please don't stop posting, we should have more intelligent thought like this on here.
They only became a real problem after Rove and Bush lied to them, by letting them believe that Bush would actually do something, as opposed to the benign and wise RR policy of smiling at them and saying nice words to them.
RR went home to California with the "values voters" love for him intact. Bush, OTOH, "sold them out".
And they don't realize how they have polarized the rest of the country. Reagan Democrats, in particular, fear and loathe "values voters" with an intensity that is hard to believe at first.
Look at how they believe that a preferred candidate like Duncan Hunter (who can't get 2% of the Republican votes) would be ELECTED PRESIDENT "if only the message could get out".
The "values voter" brand on a candidate is the kiss of death, electorally, anywhere and everywhere.
A socially liberal nation will never be fiscally conservative. Try going into San Francisco and preaching fiscal conservatism and a strong national defense, while maintaining a liberal stance on things like abortion & the homosexual agenda. You'll lose in a landslide. That's because a culture that would tolerate something like abortion-on-demand or same-sex “marriage” is going to be filled with cowards who won't fight and weaklings who want the government to take care of them.
This is why the left spends so much time pushing liberalism on social issues. It's why the media is so lopsidedly to the left on these issues. Once a culture becomes socially liberal, it will become liberal on everything else. Notice how all those brainwashed kids turning eighteen after years of watching “gay tolerant” MTV are lining up to vote for Obama because he'll end our “militarism” and give them all kinds of life-long freebies.
One of the reasons we don't have socialized medicine yet here in America is that we're more socially & religiously conservative than Canada, Sweden, Britain, etc. Once people concede their culture to the left, they just become secular drones wanting to live out their lives on a pension. They don't care any more about the future of the country, they just want to grab all the goodies they can and avoid any conflicts. The followers of Gramsci in the Sixties decided that the only way to create a socialist America was to change its culture. So we got the sexual revolution, feminism, the gay agenda, etc. Once those things dominate a society, it'll go socialist.
This is why Goldwater was so wrong, and why one of his final political acts before his death was to endorse a federal law to ban discrimination against homosexuals. A very different Barry Goldwater than the one in 1964 who voted against the Civil Rights Act because it violated states’ rights and restricted the freedom of employers to choose their own employees.
I don't agree that they're worse. They're mostly good people - if they were running the country, it would be a better place, for the most part.
The problem is that they're allergic to compromise, and since they are less than 15% of the electorate, once they move into "rule or ruin" mode, they can't win but they can do a lot of damage.
Bush and Rove grossly overpromised them, and what we are dealing with now is the result.
Reagan had it exactly right - a couple of lunches at the Justice Department, a couple of minor officials addressing their conferences, be sure to be out of town for the March for Life, and you're good to go.
But are we dead?
Yes, if we try to recover through the Republican party.
No, if we take the movement in a new direction, with activism external to any party.
So how well is conservatism doing in places like England & Sweden & Canada where the social conservatives were purged a long time ago? Not very well. Those nations are governed by leftists most of the time. Occasionally, the leftists screw up so obviously that the Tory-type party wins by default. Nothing happens for a few years and the people then put the socialists back in and the drive to the left continues. The only exception I can think of to that general rule was Thatcher in England, who accomplished some reforms, but it’ll all be washed away because the socially liberal and quasi-totalitarian EU will nullify England itself in the long run.
As McCain fiddles with the Global Warming hoax, Cap and trade crap, and pushes illegal aliens into citizenship, welfare and SS payments, the economy will begin to crush the average worker at an accelerating pace. The lowest earners are already being ground into the dirt, but they are typically liberal anyway. They would vote for Joe Stalin.
I give it less than two years before the mob wants to hang McCain or Obama. 2010 to 2012 will be a blood letting for Democrats if Obama is at the wheel. If McCain is in power, there wont be a republican left standing. His mental instability alone will condem the party for putting him in office, and rightfuly so. The average voter will be horrified when they see McCain in action. The "hold your nose crowd" will be in shock.
You’re absolutely right.
I'm not advocating a purge. I'm saying that since socons are 15% or less of the electorate, they should stop repelling the other 85% of the electorate, realize that no official who gains power by election can do what they want done, and in general stop ranting and raving about what they will do if they come to power, since they won't.
As socons here love to point out, they are an irreplaceable element of a center-right coalition. Without socons, you get Obama.
But they are not numerous enough to get what they want, and I agree with angkor that, since they've copped on to the fact that the mainstream GOP is afraid to be seen with them (for good reason), their influence has become primarily destructive.
What is the gun ownership situation like in Slovakia? Are there a lot of restrictions or is it better than most countries in Europe?
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