Quotes of the day

When the Party leadership hasn’t the stones to lead the Party, when the Party leadership stands off to one side while the Party engages in petty personality fights…he’s smarter, she’s prettier, he’s a hawk on defense, but is a liberal on social issues, he is tied to business, she is a feminist, and that sort of tripe, don’t you think that as intelligent people, we can make a case for principles first…then draw our candidate from that stock that understands those principles, has a track record of adherence to those principles and does not pander to anyone, letting those principles speak for themselves?

In the meantime, we will eat our own…as we argue over personalities, and who can win first and then try to fashion some sort of pseudo-conservative framework built around a front runner and not principle.

coldwarrior on April 27, 2009 at 1:00 AM

Excellent post, coldwarrior! I believe a banner representing individual liberty, opportunity, and the mistrust of government corruption has been left lying on the battlefield, waiting for a leader to pick it up. We can do our best to make sure the strength of numbers behind that banner, and the enormous responsibility inherent in taking possession of it, are clear to all who would consider the leadership position.

What we face now is the culmination of a system that has been feeding itself, growing larger and more corrupt, for almost seventy years now. The system has grown under both Democrats and Republicans, with even the great Reagan unable to do more than slow its growth somewhat. When, over the last three generations, has the government ever been asked to do with less money, or seen its power scaled back in a significant way? Even when a conservative-leaning President cuts taxes, the government machine just reaches into the future for sustenance with deficit spending. Conservatives have few absolute and total victories to point to, on the domestic front. Even the most heroic struggles have been delaying actions, pushing the collectivists back for a few years, as anyone watching the ravenous corpse of HillaryCare claw its way out of the grave can attest.

The movement of politics has been inexorably leftward for decades, animated by government functionaries and imperial Congressmen whose careers extend far beyond those of presidents. Even the crusading Republicans of 1994, ascending to power opposite a weak and confused Bill Clinton – a president forced to run to the microphones of an adoring media and loudly insist he was still relevant – quickly discovered the collectivist system is quite capable of defending itself without strong Democrat Party leadership. Cut away one part of the leviathan, and it showers the entire population with its blood.

The task ahead of us is nothing less than the dismantling of this system, because it has swelled to such titanic size under Obama’s few months of leadership that marginal changes and small adjustments will never be sufficient to rescue America from it. The next Republican President or Congress will not be able to restore the free-market economy by shaving a few billion off Obama’s bloated budgets, or fighting for a minor percentage increase in the huge taxes coming over the horizon. Reform cannot consist of mildly objecting to a few of the most corrupt Democrats, or timidly returning a small measure of freedom to the industries which have been nationalized.

I honestly believe a properly communicated conservative agenda would sell itself. Basically we just want to be left alone to pursue our own lives on our own terms. Why that wouldn’t appeal to non-activist Liberals (socialist parasites really) I can’t understand.

DerKrieger on April 27, 2009 at 1:04 AM

I must disagree that the conservative agenda will sell itself, although it’s certainly true that a good agenda must be solidified before the sales pitch begins. We are far past the point where the simple, commonsense principle you stated – being left alone to pursue life on its own terms – would appeal to a large enough bloc of voters, to defeat the votes of the dependency class. I would point to the political success of the Democrats as evidence that salesmanship matters – their ideology is ridiculous on its face, asking people to support a party that exists to seize their wealth and spend it more wisely than they can spend it themselves, with experience such as Fannie Mae and Amtrak on their resume. They sell it with a moral argument that says measurable success or failure is irrelevant – socialism, fascism, and the other Big Ideas of the Left must be implemented because it is immoral to oppose them. Objections are dismissed as greed, racism, and religious fundamentalism.

Liberals control so much of the apparatus of political salesmanship – including the media, pop culture, and education -
that conservatives find themselves in the strange position of defending the “failure” of policies that have never been tried. Even blindingly obvious instances of the spectacular failure of liberal philosophy, such as the subprime crisis, are magically transformed into indictments of economic freedom. The totalitarian tactics of liberalism boil down to pushing their opponents into apologizing for even suggesting there are alternatives to collectivism. McCain’s entire presidential campaign, with the exception of the Palin phenomenon, was presented as a long apology to Barack Obama for inconveniencing him on his way to the White House. McCain obviously didn’t think he had to “sell” conservative ideals (to the extent he supported them.) He thought they were so common-sense they would sell themselves, and he spent the final weeks after Joe The Plumber looking baffled that this wasn’t happening.

Aggressive salesmanship is called for from conservatives. They face an uphill battle, and time is of the essence. A good start would be rallying America against the Democrats’ plans to force socialized medicine down their throats in October. It’s true that Republicans don’t have the raw voting power to stop this… but they *could* display the leadership to motivate the public to stop it. If the Republicans convince enough of the electorate to let the Democrats know that proceeding with their plans is political suicide, they can be frightened out of the socialized medicine death spiral. Republican leaders could then stand atop the re-sealed crypt of HillaryCare and begin explaining to the voters why all the rest of the Democrats’ agenda is equally flawed, and present the case for liberty and opportunity in language that makes it impossible for the Democrats to dismiss it out of hand.

Doctor Zero on April 27, 2009 at 1:43 AM