Distinguishing Conservatives from Democrats, Republicans and Leftists
by Bruce Walker | View comments |
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Republicans wanted too much to become last generation’s Democrats, and that is the last thing that conservatives wanted.
At the rest of belaboring a story which is now almost a month old, Republicans lost the November 2006 election because the Washingtonian branch of the Republican Party had forgotten that conservatives, who constitute in every Battleground Poll sixty percent of the American electorate (and that is sixty percent even when moderates, liberals and can’t decides each have their own separate percentage), wants conservative government.
Republicans in Washington seem not to have followed the advice of Rush Limbaugh after they called him the “Majority Maker” twelve years ago. He warned them not to become Washingtonians. He warned them not to listen to political insiders and professional politicos. He was right.
People who vote conservative do not vote to advance interest politics. Interest politics is Leftism. All Leftism is, in fact, is a polyglot and quarreling group of political tribes whose only concern is how to overrun, like Huns, civilized society and then to split up their ill-gotten spoils or how to intimidate tribute from civilized society in lieu of conquest, sacking, rapine and burning.
Conservatives wanted men and women who would protect us from Mongols, Vandals, Vikings and other political parties whose aim was to produce nothing, contribute nothing and to seize all that they could. Conservatives did not want our putative leaders to become Mongols, Vandals and Vikings who won booty for us.
What was one of the keystones of the Republican Revolution of 1994? Term limits! And when Democrats voted against term limits, Republican congressmen who had taken a three-year pledge honored that pledge (like former Congressman Coburn, and now Senator Coburn, a true icon to conservative principles.) Republicans were also against unfunded mandates for states (which is no different than unfunded mandates for prescription drugs). They pushed through something like a taxpayer bill of rights. They cut taxes. These things motivated conservatives.
What has happened? While Republicans, rightly, complain that Democrats won with no agenda, what exactly was the agenda of Republicans? Where was the Contract With America, Part Two? It was conspicuous by its absence.
If the Left is nothing but interest (i.e. booty and pillage) politics, then what are conservatives? They, too, are a polyglot group of people – evangelical Christians, objectivists, Orthodox Jews, patriotic Americans, social conservatives, libertarians – but what unites them? Principles!
The Pro-Life movement gets nothing but jail time for protesting at abortion clinics (they certainly get no federal funds.) Libertarians do not profit from their libertarianism, but from the pleasure of telling the truth. The men and women who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq did not do so out of self-interest, but rather out of selfless patriotism. Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews try to please the Blessed Creator, and not themselves.
What do these people want from government? We want protection from Leftists and other thieves. These diverse conservatives simply want to live their lives in peace, safe from enemies abroad and from robbers at home dressed up in pious causes but with mercenary interests. They want the promise which was once America and which can become again America.
They do not want a sack full of goodies from Washington. They do not want “congressmen for life” or “senators for life,” even if they belong to our triumphant hordes. Why, I wonder, did Republicans not push for legislation to end all gerrymandering at the state legislative and congressional level when it would have benefited America, but maybe cost them a few congressional seats? Now it may be too late. Why, I wonder, did Republicans not push through state legislatures a constitutional amendment against term limits and challenge Democrats to defend their votes at that level? Now it may be too late.
The sad answer is that Republicans wanted too much to become last generation’s Democrats, and that is the last thing that conservatives wanted. There is hope. Leftism is still a weak, disunited, squabbling confederation of barbarians. What conservatives must do is regain principles and then make those principles concrete proposals which we push incessantly. What we need are fewer glitzy ads or get out the vote campaigns, and more explicit statements of what we will do with power.
I suggest that we look less at political polls and more at value polls. Make our next Contract With America conform to ten very popular conservative proposals, which the Republican nominee should sign off on, and then make sure everyone in America knows what conservatives will do with power, if the America voters trust us again in 2008.
bwalker2004@cox.net
http://www.amazon.com/Sinisterism-Secular-Religion-Revised-Updated/dp/1432705466
Read more articles by Bruce Walker
Every shot hit squarely in the target. Well done!
Required reading for every Republican. E-mail your article to every congressman and senator with an "R" after their name.
Comment by Mountain Man | December 1, 2006
The most accurate portrayal of the conservative movement and the election of 2006 written yet. I only hiope the republicans are reading and believing it.
Comment by Honker | December 1, 2006
"Interest politics is Leftism"
Only if Intellectual Conservatism = Intellectual Fraud
The biggest single interest is money. And money is hardly leftist.
"The men and women who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq did not do so out of self-interest, but rather out of selfless patriotism."
Yeah go on believing that. Try taking away all their compensation, and oh yeah, try taking away the back door draft too, and see just how many true patriotic volunteers we get. Patriots don't rush off to do the bidding of halliburton and corrupt oilmen…
"Leftism is still a weak, disunited, squabbling confederation of barbarians."
Tell me, how can something so complicated result in anything but "disunity". When people march in lockstep you know it's because they're totally right or totally fooled.
"Make our next Contract On America conform to ten very popular conservative proposals"
And what might those be?
1. 1 million dollars of debt for every man woman and child?
2. Forced vaccinations, sterilizations, and drugging of children with any psychological defect (as defined by the drug companies)?
3. Forced labor camps for all debtors?
4. A chip in every child by 2012?
5. Another tripling of the size of the BATF by 2010?
6. Trillion dollar police state budget?
7. Elimination of all social programs and transferring those funds to corporate welfare?
8. 100 million to the new halliburton CEO?
9. Total censorship of all information on the internet by 2010?
10. Another 40% devaluation of the dollar?
Comment by Iconoclast421 | December 5, 2006
Iconoclast421,
Could you have missed the mark any further? If there is any ideology where dissent is not tolerated, it is Leftism. If you happen to be a Democrat and are pro-life, well, you might as well have leprosy. And if you actually stand behind your vote to authorize the war in Iraq, ala Joe Leibermann, you get tossed out of the party. If you're a conservative scheduled to speak on a college campus, who is it that shouts you down? You guessed it, leftists.
Yes, Liberals are sooo tolerant.
But we conservatives not only tolerate dissent, we encourage it. We discuss it. We debate it. And what do we get in return? Posts like yours regurgitating a litany of leftist talking points with absolutely no refutation, discussion, or substance.
Well, let's go ahead and scrutinize a few of your points and see where that leads us.
1) "Money is hardly leftist." Ok, I've finally able to stop laughing. 7 of the top 10 richest senators are leftists. The philosophy of big government supported by big taxes because those filthy rich corporate types don't deserve the money they earned and the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer and Bill Gates and Big Oil and eeevil Halliburton… Yeah, I see your point, leftists don't care about money.
2) "1 million dollars of debt…" I've always wondered why deficit spending was only a problem if Republicans were doing it. Prior to 1994, Democrats controlled the Senate and House almost uninterrupted for 40 years. How did all that money get spent, hmmm? I guess I should point out that big, intrusive, wealth transferring government is the darling of leftists. The author's article is all about how too many Republicans are acting like Democrats to their detriment, or didn't you get this point?
3) Forced vaccinations were implemented by a Democratic congress. Ritalin is the ugly stepchild descended from the corruption of the old tried-and-true educational process and parent rearing techniques, which were replaced by leftist feel-good it's-not-your-fault-blame everyone else "progressive" ideas.
4) "Forced labor camps…" Name one prominent conservative that has ever said or implied such a thing.
5) "Trillion dollar police state…" Well, this is the dream of leftists, isn't it? Bring to bear the strong arm of government on fatty foods, smoking in public places, warning labels on step ladders, banning saccharin and alar, forcing wetlands regulation on private property, not to mention an IRS which knows every detail of a person's private financial matters. Yes, the police state is a quintessential leftist invention.
6) "Elimination of all social programs…" Name one prominent conservative who has proposed this. And while your trying to name that person, name also one social program that has solved the problem was created for.
7) "…Halliburton CEO…" Sorry, I really didn't know that the government paid the Halliburton CEO's salary.
8) "Total censorship of… the internet…" Oh, you mean like conservative internet bloggers who are being treated as campaign contributors because their speech is deemed to be an in-kind donation?
Jeez, I could go on, but I am pretty sure I am wasting my time trying to reason with an ideologue.
Comment by Mountain Man | December 5, 2006
"What conservatives must do is regain principles and then make those principles concrete proposals which we push incessantly. "
The freshman class of 94 and their "Contract with America" needs to live again! We will probably have to wait until Hillary has been in office 2 years for a new class of 2010. But what happened to the class of 94? They have all been either run out of office like Newt or have sold out like the rest of the Republicians.
You are right in that the great majority, you say 60 percent, is conservative. But, how do we exercise our sovereignty? How do we promote our best and brightest to the top? There is no party or institution or group of conservatives with the time, the wisdom or testosterone to do it.
How do we use the electoral process and where do we start? It takes money to fight the hostile media and the Hungarian, George Soros who now owns the Dem. party.
Comment by WeThePeople | December 23, 2006