From Wikipedia:

Modern classical liberals trace their ideology to ancient Greek and medieval thought. They cite the 16th century School of Salamanca in Spain as a precursor, with its emphasis on human rights and popular sovereignty, its belief that morality need not be grounded in religion, and its moral defense of commerce. Other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance thinkers such as Erasmus and Niccolò Machiavelli represent the rise of humanism in place of the religious tradition of the Middle Ages. Rationalist philosophers of the 17th Century, such as Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza developed further ideas that would become important to liberalism, such as the social contract. However, liberalism’s classic formulation came in The Age of Enlightenment. John Locke‘s Two Treatises of Government argued that legitimate authority depended on the consent of the governed, while Adam Smith‘s The Wealth of Nations rejected mercantilism, which advocated state interventionism in the economy and protectionism, and developed modern free-market economics. These early liberals saw mercantilism as enriching privileged elites at the expense of well being of the populace. Another early expression is the tradition of a Nordic school of liberalism set in motion by a Finnish parliamentarian Anders Chydenius, not to mention David Hume, David Ricardo, Voltaire, Montesquieu and others.

strangelet on March 20, 2009 at 4:56 PM

You can’t fight history, reality or gravity, either. There are a lot of constants in human nature that outweigh race and the fads of the moment.

Geministorm on March 20, 2009 at 11:30 AM

Palin is only a good candidate for the incredible shrinking base.
When was Reagan president?
A quarter century ago.
Palin will simply never appeal to blacks, browns, youth, colleged educated, academics, urban dwellers, pro-choice, gays or independents and moderates.
Your chances of regaining a majority with Palin as your designated candidate approach negative infinity.

And the republican ruling class and brain trust understands perfectly well that Palin is hateful deathpoison to independents and swing voters…

BTW, let’s repeat this for the umpteenth time; Reagan was put down at EVERY opportunity by the “republican ruling class and brain trust” as being a(n) (a) idiot, (b) un-educated (he didn’t attend an Ivy League school, he), (c) too religious, (d) out of touch with modern America, and (e) too right-wing. First with Ford Republicans, and then with “moderates” like John Anderson…conservatives see the same spirit in Sarah Palin. The fact that the left and the elitists in the Republican party deride her so aggressively is exactly why we KNOW she is a good candidate.

/sigh

strangelet on March 20, 2009 at 9:25 AM

Actually, Reagan was a C average economics student from Eureka College, and he was in a movie with Bonzo the Chimp. Don’t even argue with me that how Reagan fixed Carter’s economy didn’t usher in the longest economic peacetime expansion since World War II.

But a candidate with only populism to recommend them is a demagogue.

How is that AIG bonus fiasco working out for you? I love schadenfreude.

The GOP base worships Palin because she actually is joe sixpack with boobs,

If you actually are a woman, you must have serious body image and self-esteem issues. For you to make sexist comments about a female politician would indicate as much.

I can rip on Meghan McCain, because she is a media personality. Gov. Palin is a highly respected elected official, popular among her constituents, with an impressive record of achievement focused on reform over social issues.

The republican ruling class and brain trust understands perfectly well that Palin is

… is a star, which is why she was asked to be a keynote speaker at a fund raising dinner for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and she turned them down.

Snobs Are Wrong About Palin
I know Maggie Thatcher. The two women have a lot in common.
By JOHN O’SULLIVAN

Mrs. Palin had four big occasions in the late, doomed Republican campaign: her introduction by John McCain in Ohio, her speech at the GOP convention, her vice-presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden, and her appearance on Saturday Night Live. With minimal preparation, she rose to all four of them. That’s the mark of a star.

And the republican ruling class and brain trust understands perfectly well that Palin is hateful deathpoison to independents and swing voters, and are trying desperately to persuade the base away from Palin.
Quite a dilemma, lol.

strangelet on March 20, 2009 at 9:25 AM

It amazes me how little you know or understand.

Someday, it may come to you, but I’m seriously wondering whether you’ll be able to reason your way out of the liberal sack of lies that has encased you. You might start by looking a little deeper than the surface, say by figuring out if there are more people that move from being Democrats –> Republican, Liberal –> Conservative. Its like understanding why people from Cambodia would immigrate to the US in the 70s.

Listen, I hate wasting time like this (because you’re probably a drone and a hopeless cause), but here it goes;

I was born and raised a liberal. I was a liberal until my mid-20s. There are reasons that I turned to the far-right. To be as brief as possible and not lose you due to your short attention span, the philosophy of conservativism is the best path for individual liberty/freedoms and a strong nation. It is *not* primarily about becoming rich and saving on taxes, although smaller taxes = smaller government and being “rich” = success, so those are still desirable ends.

The right EXPECTS that the youth will vote primarily for liberals because they are inexperienced and easily swayed by emotional pleas on topics that they *have not* thought through on their own. That’s OK, eventually the philosophy soaks through to some. Often what “middle America” has is an upbringing that instills those values and principles so that they are ahead of the game even though the libs like to portray them as rubes, red-necks, regressives, etc. As I said before, read some conservative thinkers (Burke, Friedman, Goldwater, Reagan, Smith, etc.), even if you’re not interested in the conservative philosophy, you should know your “enemy”, right?

Palin is attractive to the right because of her principles and “common man” persona. Look at the elected branches approval ratings, the reason why they are low is why Palin is popular. Forget the crap you’re regurgitating about Palin being “hateful” and really look at *why* she’s popular…if you continue to think its because America is racist, or religious nut jobs, or whatever other derogatory label, you’re heading in the wrong direction (just to let you know).

The conservative party does need a shake up and a rebuilding. Its because too many undisciplined “Rebublicans” (what we label as RINOs) have come into power. RINOs have abandoned the philosophy to appeal to what is perceived to be the populist vote, and that is where the battle is lost. The moderate Republicans think that the middle is where they should stand, but they don’t really stand for anything adamantly, they have no philosophical grounding. The philosophy should drive the policy, not polls or bipartisanship.

You are dependent on a political class that is corrupt, power-hungry and totally incompetent.

trigon, you are a moron if you think that we haven’t been ruled by elites all along. republican elites just pretend to be Noble Yeoman Farmers in order to scam votes. Even Reagan was a cultural elite.
But a candidate with only populism to recommend them is a demagogue.
Need skillz.
The GOP base worships Palin because she actually is joe sixpack with boobs, the “real deal” as joetheplumber so accurately put it.
And the republican ruling class and brain trust understands perfectly well that Palin is hateful deathpoison to independents and swing voters, and are trying desperately to persuade the base away from Palin.
Quite a dilemma, lol.

OF COURSE SHE IS THE MOST QUALIFIED REPUBLICAN IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! A FISHING BOAT??? WOWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

The Wall on March 19, 2009 at 2:12 AM

Yeah. A fishing boat will do just fine. Or, an assembly line. Or, a store.

This nation is supposed to be governed by it’s own people. Not a political ruling class. Too many in government have never held a job in the private sector. They don’t know how to run anything. Fix anything. Produce anything.

Your thinking is wrong. You are dependent on a political class that is corrupt, power-hungry and totally incompetent. I say we should take this entire class of people and drop them in the nearest convenient hole and fill it in. Then park something heavy on top so they can’t dig their way out.

Then, we might have a hope of getting out country back.

So, yeah. A fishing boat.

In fact… the only elites you can claim are the elites of the church. And we know how appealing church is to the 18 to 29 year old demographic. ;)

strangelet on March 19, 2009 at 10:59 PM

Let’s see how appealing debt slavery is to the 18 to 29 year old demographic. As for “elites”, real Americans don’t carry on like they’re better than everyone else. They believe in equality, yet recognition and the deserved reward for hard work.

Lol, think of how many votes would gotten if he had been white. But in 2020 you won’t be the biggest mob anymore…in 2020 caucasian becomes a minority.

strangelet on March 19, 2009 at 10:56 PM

Not because I’m as preoccupied with race as you are, but The New York Times says you’re wrong.

Whites will still make up by far the largest number of Americans but not as big a percentage as they do now. The white population will shrink from to 78.2 percent, from 83.3 percent.

American Indians will increase their share of the population from eight-tenths of 1 percent to nine-tenths of 1 percent, rising to 3.1 million in 2020.

If Obama had been white, he would have been run out of politics hanging out with a race-baiter like Rev. Wright, or a terrorist like William Ayers. He would have had a hard time explaining his resume.

couldn’t even command the allegiance of has-been 80s hairbands.

Beautiful People, indeed. I heard the fat Wilson sister ate herself into a food coma, she was so mad about “Barracuda.”

chunderroad on March 19, 2009 at 10:54 PM

In fact…..the only elites you can claim are the elites of the church.
And we know how appealing church is to the 18 to 29 year old demographic.
;)

A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.”

Allow me to remind you, Obama really won this time because of the Econopalypse. Lol, think of how many votes would gotten if he had been white. But in 2020 you won’t be the biggest mob anymore…in 2020 caucasian becomes a minority.

You see, it isn’t just academic elites, media elites and intellectual elites on our side. We own the cultural elites: art, music, theater, dance,the Beautiful People.

Let’s face it… Palin told my demographic that we are not real americans because we are going to school in univerisity cities, and that we are elitist intellectual snobs and poseurs… a subdeme of American culture that we would mostly die before associating with.

strangelet on March 19, 2009 at 2:06 PM

Palin doesn’t have to call you anything to make you look ridiculous.

strangelet on March 19, 2009 at 10:21 PM

Meghan McCain makes her debut on The View.

Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of ‘Home.’”
Bon Jovi joins the Foo Fighters, Heart, Van Halen, John Mellencamp, and Jackson Browne in their protests against usage of their music by the Republican Party during this election. Is there anyone out there who can spare McCain/Palin a tune? Johnny Ramone was famously a Republican, perhaps Palin could start using “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” on the campaign trail? [via NY Mag]

Come to think of it, since all you got is C&W, Gretchen has a good theme song for the GOP……..

Don’t drive your truck when you’re all jacked up.

your postmenopausal turkeyneck dry pussy no man having hag banshees company

……but I thought Coulter and Ingraham were republicans?
You forget, we are the Beautiful Party.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.”

Obama won more because fewer traditional Republican voters showed up at the polls in support of Meghain McCain’s father, than because there was a gigantic turnout for Obama. He barely improved over John Kerry’s 2004 stats.

John “Frankenstein” Kerry.

We don’t need any “poor little” rich girls who can’t get dates or decide on a life direction or work out their daddy issues to spearhead a youth outreach when they have no political experience, nothing good to say about who they are supposedly applying to (funny career move, launching your Republican party activist stint on The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post), and can you name any PR job where you don’t need basic social skills?

You can keep her, and she can keep your postmenopausal turkeyneck dry pussy no man having hag banshees company. Maybe she can have a spot on The View, and I bet she’s jealous of Elizabeth Hasselback and would jump all over her with Joy Behar.

Even though The One is not likely to be a strong candidate in 2008, and even though Sarah will prove to do a worthy job in Alaska, there will be people propping Prez’s candidacy in 2012 and we will scratch our heads again.

2012 maybe 4 years from now but we need to find our candidates (Mitt, Sarah, Cantor, Bobby) and bring them on on the national stage to show the fallacy of the current administration at EVERY opportunity.

I wonder if this will get as much play in the MSM and if the WH will come after Sarah as it did with Sanford?

By the way these are rhetorical questions, because I already know the answers.

Sapwolf, I am convinced this is one big con game as the AIG mess is a diversion to divert people from Obama’s intentions to destroy America through insidious and unscupulous means.

technopeasant on March 19, 2009 at 3:54 PM

I think it was meant to distract the public from noticing too much the Fed was putting another trillion into the economy, something you will see in the markets next week nonetheless

And then saying she agreed that privacy is in the constitution. Are you sure she’s on your side?

strangelet on March 19, 2009 at 1:49 PM

Actually, many conservatives have found a right to privacy in the constitution without thinking it covers the aborting of fetuses.

Yuval Levin at National Review Online cleanly rebutted the idea that privacy = abortion, citing both conservative, anti-Roe Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative, anti-Roe Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, arguing their belief in a right to privacy within the Constitution as written. Levin concluded that “The general view that the Constitution protects a right to privacy does not require… support for Roe v. Wade or an abortion right.” The First and Fourth Amendments, for instance, clearly draw boundaries between individuals and government.

Is Obama truly incompetent or is he feigning incompetence to mask his true ruthless brilliance in his efforts to destroy the American economy, destroy capitalism and install a Marxist socialist regime bent on converting America into an authoritarian state that suppresses personal initiative, stifles opportunity, impoverishes the middle class for the sake of the Obamatrons, and represses the natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Sapwolf, I am convinced this is one big con game as the AIG mess is a diversion to divert people from Obama’s intentions to destroy America through insidious and unscupulous means.