The American Conservative Movement: Back to its anti-populist roots.
Quite a bit of bandwith on this site, and throughout America, has been devoted lately to populist rhetoric. We have strapped the evil big business men and the trade unionists. We cane the vile illegal immigrants and bemoan the fictional job losses to overseas. We champion protectionism as a foreign policy instrument. The hell with trading with China! We confuse nationalism with patriotism. We then keep quoting the little rich kid WFB Jr., and the uplifting Reagan who believed in none this crap, instead of quoting Pat Buchanan who does. We justify it because these are supposed conservative values. Well no not really, they aren’t. They just are not conservative principles.
Well I should say this is not my father’s conservative movement anymore. It is not his Republican party anymore either. At the top with McCain and Palin we have two opportunists screaming populist platitudes at the top of their lungs and prescribing statist/socialist solutions to any and all problems. Then we have the dissatisfied ’social conservatives’ who are angry that their views did not carry the day even though they demanded it. They scream they are Regan’s heirs. These ‘true conservatives’ are delighted with Palin though besides her being admirably pro-life there seems to be very little politically conservative about her.
As we get set to elect a socialist this week, or a do what sounds good statist, the oppositional hope for the future is a fractured reactionary caricature of a once powerful and hopeful movement. There is no reason or consideration given to issues and principles anymore. There is just the shrillness of the type WFB Jr. purged the movement of in the fifties and sixties. It is us against the demonic forces arrayed against us! We reject out right the concept that rational individuals due to present circumstances might legitimately disagree about the course the future should take. Instead we blame it on RINOS and the MSM. Though we can not come up with anyone single person politically successful we consider a real Republican since Reagan. Nor do we acknowledge that the public has alternatives to the MSM that it never had under Reagan.
I have faith in our republic, it will endure. It will even flourish again. Our government will be decidedly left of center for quite some time. Will the loyal opposition reform itself into an alternative that leads with the principles formed and articulated by WFB Jr., Goldwater and Reagan? Or will the forces of the left continue to help polarize this nation with the help of the righteous and the politically opportune? One thing is clear, or should be clear, is that the American people are rejecting the current conservative movement. By movement I mean all of it. The politicians and the rank and file. Sean Hannity’s protestations aside.
Bill Bennett, shunned as a Country Club Republican by some, said that the Republican Party after Bill Clinton’s victory needed the political equivalent of The Council of Trent. We sure need one now. This time I hope we get a new pope too. One that knows what he is doing.
They are not rejecting the conservative movement at all but the ineptness of Bush and the long years of an unpopular war. Conservatism has time and time been the savior of the Republican party. Bush is barely a conservative in some of his views and McCain is not at all. When the GOP grows government, spends like drunken Democrats and fails to adhere to principle, while pursuing questionable economic policies and then manages to let itself be painted as the defender of the rich, the greedy and Big Business instead of the middle class it will lose. And lose big. We will see the party now begin to once again return to its conservative and common sense roots, and that will be good for the Republican party in the long run.
Dave the Sage
November 2, 2008 at 6:38 pm
So it is Bush’s fault? Okay.
pg - your humble messenger
November 2, 2008 at 6:45 pm
We’ve got to get DFV’s take on Bush. He makes me look like the great defender of Jr. Wait until his ‘legacy’ post on Bush, that should be really good. I think Bush basically quit two years ago. Aside from the Surge he’s been ‘absent’ for half of his term and the Surge itself should have happened two years before it did. Failing to do so has brought about some long term consequences for the Republican party in particular and the country in general. His greatest legacy was overseeing the final defeat of the Reagan revolution. And many conservatives will not forget that. I won’t.
Dave the Sage
November 2, 2008 at 6:55 pm
David, you simply missed my point. You did get your talking points in again though.
pg - your humble messenger
November 2, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Step back and address this Sage. The post was about populism, not Bush. Then again I suppose I missed my own point, the big picture.
ADD: Let me restate in a more cordial tone. Bush has not caused the populist rhetoric of late from conservatives or Republicans. That was why I was sarcastic to your comment Dave. I also was not saying the conservatism was responsible for losing this election. My mention at the end was to the point that ‘real conservatives’ could not even prevail in their own primary this year. Personally I couldn’t care less what people’s opinions of Bush are. Blame him for the election, fine. I am not alone in bemoaning the populist tones, look around.
pg - your humble messenger
November 2, 2008 at 7:01 pm
My take on the Bush presidency is forthcoming, and different parts of it will surely be surprising to all. But for now, I have to say that as I read and re-read PG’s post, I’m struck by the fact that I largely agree with almost all of it, in content and in tone.
Not only that, but much of it is stuff that has to be said.
We reject outright the concept that rational individuals due to present circumstances might legitimately disagree about the course the future should take.
There is an adjective that describes that quote, this post, and PG’s contribution to this blog, and that adjective is “wise.” Clever, thought-provoking, interesting, knowledgeable, and witty are not traits to be dismissed lightly, and they are in abundance on ConClub. But wisdom is a tad rarer (the writer known as “E the Adjective In Question not withstanding), and I find it refreshing.
DFV the Scribe
November 2, 2008 at 8:57 pm
You did get your talking points in again though.
Always.
Dave the Sage
November 2, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Exceptionally kind words Scribe, thank you.
pg - your humble messenger
November 3, 2008 at 6:56 pm