Posted on 06/27/2008 12:16:44 AM PDT by neverdem
Among the many dark tidings for American conservatism, there is one genuine bright spot. Over the past five years, a group of young and unpredictable rightward-leaning writers has emerged on the scene.
These writers came of age as official conservatism slipped into decrepitude. Most of them were dismayed by what the Republican Party had become under Tom DeLay and seemed put off by the shock-jock rhetorical style of Ann Coulter. As a result, most have the conviction — which was rare in earlier generations — that something is fundamentally wrong with the right, and it needs to be fixed.
Moreover, most of these writers did not rise through the official channels of the conservative or libertarian establishments. By and large, they didn’t do the internships or take part in...
--snip--
The heart of the book is the last third, where Douthat and Salam lay out a series of policy ideas to help working-class families cope with economic, health care, neighborhood and family insecurity.
“What all these ideas, from the sober to the speculative, have in common is a vision of working-class independence — from bosses, from bureaucracy, from entrenched interests of all kinds,” Douthat and Salam write. This is not compassionate conservatism (which flattered the mind of the compassionate donor), it’s hard-work conservatism, which uses government to increase the odds that self-discipline and effort will pay off.
I’m not sure how quickly the G.O.P. can swing behind this working-class focus and this vision of government-enhanced social mobility. But the McCain campaign really needs to. So far, McCain’s platform is like an omnibus spending bill — lots of decent ideas thrown together with no larger social vision.
It may take a few defeats for the G.O.P. to embrace a Sam’s Club agenda, but sooner or later, it will happen. Trust me.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Brooks is an idiot, like Pelosi.
No, any sane person, anyone with a conscious, anyone with one 1-iota of concern for the well being of this country - should not vote for Hussain ObamaRama.
Come to think of it, it will take a fair bit of Jim Beam to get me to vote for McStain........
Ann Coulter has added nothing to the cause. I am one of those people who quit the GOP this year. The final straw was when 100 GOP House reps voted for that bloated farm bill. These guys are not fiscal conservatives at all, more interested in power. They tolerate creeps, crooks and perverts in their ranks. The GOP may be done after this election. A more libertarian, limited government, strong defense party is where most of the country is I believe.
They tolerate turncoat Democrats (Republicans in name ONLY) in their ranks. And then wonder why a RINO loses to a "conservative" Democrat.
Conservativism isn't being applied. It wasn't the rhetoric of DeLay (3 years passed) or Coulter who have led us to this point. Amnesty, no border fence, etc. have hurt the GOP by turning off the conservative base.
The first Supreme Court nominee didn't win favor with conservatives either.
As much as I wish you were right, I think that's wishful thinking. Libertarian idealists, in my mind, want liberty for themselves and recognize that part of the package is that they give up any notion of controlling others. Liberals, and a majority of modern day conservatives seem to believe in freedom for themselves, but still want to control how others live their lives. Environmental policy is probably the most notable example. Politically correct speech is another.
Um, how about no. This young conservative doesn't like the tone of this one bit. Sounds like more Third Way BS.
...this vision of government-enhanced social mobility.
Say what?!
Tom DeLay was way too busy with shaking down K-Street and "buying" the contributors and electorate with government spending to see how far that / he and Hastert / strayed from the vision of Contract with America and small government conservatism, which led directly to disastrous consequences of 2006 (it was not "Iraq").
Ann Coulter is not a government or elected official, she does what she needs to do to sell books, so her "rhetorical style" has no more to do with "official conservatism" than Pat Buchanan's and has absolutely no place or relevance in this piece.
David Brooks of New York Times is ... well, David Brooks of New York Times and has no authority to speak about "official conservatism" about which he has no notion, but is pushing to define now as "Sam's Club conservatives" the same way Democrats invented "soccer moms".
And any "conservative", "Blue Dog" Democrat can be either defeated or forced to "convert" into Republican in this election cycle with simple questions - "Did you vote in 2007 and are you going to vote next year for Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker?" and "What good does it do us if you say you will vote against Nancy Pelosi liberal agenda, if you can't force her not to table ours?"... Use Nancy and Harry and make it just about numbers in House and Senate - game over.
“this vision of government-enhanced social mobility.”
Is this like a soviet five-year plan? Does a dacha come with it?
(Click to play Russian National Anthem. Best played at 3 in the morning with windows open.)
http://www.du.edu/langlit/russian/anthtxt.html
“And any “conservative”, “Blue Dog” Democrat can be either defeated or forced to “convert” into Republican in this election cycle with simple questions - “Did you vote in 2007 and are you going to vote next year for Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker?” and “What good does it do us if you say you will vote against Nancy Pelosi liberal agenda, if you can’t force her not to table ours?”... Use Nancy and Harry and make it just about numbers in House and Senate - game over.”
There’s one problem with this - the Repubs are in complete disarray; the dems have all the $$; it takes LOTS of $$ to get elected; if the Blue Dogs et al p!ss off Pelosi, Reid and their fellow travellers, the $$ spigot gets shut off. As things stand now, shifting to the National Republican party would be like playing Russian Roulette with 5 rounds chambered. Repubs need to return to common-sense conservatism. There are a few left in the House - Randy Forbes is one of them. Check out H.R. 6260 at Thomas. Don’t know if Randy is interested in the national scene though.
... if the Blue Dogs et al p!ss off Pelosi, Reid and their fellow travellers, the $$ spigot gets shut off.
All the more and better reasons to get right at them in front of their conservative district electorate - if "conservative" Democrats can't go against their liberal leadership for fear of getting funds cut off to their reelection fund or their district, then they are not serving their district - they are "Pelosi lap dogs" not "Blue Dogs"...
It's a simple and easy case to make. Whether Stupid Party is capable of making it is another matter.
I don't know whether I would agree with their prescriptions, but this is an excellent diagnosis.
Secondly if someone from the Slimes is pushing for an agenda which will theoretically help the Republican Party, you can rest assured that the opposite is called for.
Lastly when these writers (purport according to Brooks) to attack Delay and Coulter, that's about all I need to know
Next.
Blue dogs are fairly leftist.
Delay was part of the problem in that he seemed to be mostly interested in getting Republicans elected and getting more money into the party. There was corruption around Delay thst really never attached to Newt (for example) who really was ideologically motivated. I don't think Delay cared about much about anything except winning.
That's pretty cool. I wonder if anyone's ever done the Star Spangled Banner as a chorale.
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