The ghost of Noonan past
posted at 8:49 am on May 5, 2009 by Karl
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In 1992, Peggy Noonan reviewed R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.’s The Conservative Crack-Up. In that review, Noonan provided a brief history of the Reagan Era:
A party that had spent decades hanging on through low budget liberalism was finally changing. prompted by forces its establishment had not ignited and could not control.
From the West came the broad, grass-roots antitax movement signaled by passage of California’s Proposition 13. From the East came new writers with new assumptions, who argued for change in the journals of New York and Washington. The two forces converged to produce something fresh: a modern conservatism that could govern.
At the center was Ronald Reagan, who kept in one piece a naturally divided movement—social conservatives who would ban abortion, libertarians who would legalize cocaine—first by giving its members a winner when they hadn’t expected to have a winner in their lifetimes. Mr. Reagan’s interests were widely and openly conservative. He had come to his beliefs at a time when the right’s tenets were clear: budgets should be balanced; put a Federal agency in charge or the Sahara and it would run out of sand. But he was receptive to new thinking and generous toward all strains of conservatism because in a way he believed In them all. His respect for other conservatives spread as if by contagion. For a decade the people he brought to Washington functioned pretty well as one big fractious family.
However, winning the Cold War eroded the GOP advantage on national security, while Pres. George H. W. Bush squandered the Republican advantage on taxes. This left social conservativism as the primary face of the party, but I digress (or do I?). Noonan continued:
But this book is best when Mr. Tyrrell speaks of the distance, the utter disconnection, between the nation’s establishment—the press, academia, the arts—and its people…
***
There are, in 1992, many kinds of conservatives. Concorde conservatives crisscrossing the Atlantic to check on this election and that caucus, cultural conservatives, bristling supply-siders, spiky libertarians and others, all rent by 12 years of intramural fighting, conflicting ambitions and snubs. A dozen years of leadership will leave you tired; a dozen years away from the grass roots, when you used to be the grass roots, might leave you disoriented. It would be amazing if they weren’t fighting, and weren’t mean.
Another turn of the 16-year cycle, and here we are again. As in the late 1970s, Californians are again poised to reject the big government policies that are wrecking the Golden State, policies that are the results of supposed moderation. If California is a bellwether in this regard, its state GOP is a microcosm of what is wrong with the Republican Party nationally. The state — and the nation — could use a Reagan, but is stuck with a Schwarzenegger. Movie star governors just ain’t what they used to be.
Meanwhile, moderate pundits like Rick Moran are repelled by grass roots protests against the spend-and-tax extremism of the Obama Administration. Moran also claims moderates are being purged from the party by those social con meanies on talk radio and the Internet. In the real world, the GOP got the political exhaustion represented by the “kinder, gentler” G.H.W. Bush, the “compassionate” G.W. Bush, Maverick John McCain and an out of touch Congressional GOP. One wonders what sort of party the Morans would build if fiscal cons and social cons are just too icky and mean.
Of course, there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides of the debate. However, just as in the early 1990s, it would be amazing if they weren’t fighting, and weren’t mean. Politics still ain’t beanbag. People who only like their tea parties with lace doilies may want to stay in the parlor, and leave the arena to others.
Cross-posted at Patterico.
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I will tell you
They like some tax cuts but they are basically moderate democrats on everything else.
Think Evan Byah indiana
What gets me is why are they trying to push the Republican
party to the left but not trying to push the Democrats to the right.
kangjie on May 5, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Imagine a room full of gay members of the Rockefeller family.
pabarge on May 5, 2009 at 4:03 PM
True leadership can be honed and refined if it exists, but the basic kernel exists naturally. Which GOPer presently stands out in that regard? Who creates excitement, loyalty, and commitment amongst the rank and file? I see one or possibly two.
a capella on May 5, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Amen.
If a few protests against an out of control government are too extreme and too conservative for you, Rick, then maybe you should consider why you call yourself a “Republican” (or your website “Right Wing Nuthouse”) in the first place.
thirteen28 on May 5, 2009 at 4:38 PM
*Cracks knuckles*
Amen. The California conservatives are coming…
Theworldisnotenough on May 5, 2009 at 4:50 PM
Rick Moran’s party would be no different from Obama’s.
spmat on May 5, 2009 at 4:56 PM
I read Rick’s piece at PJM. I have posted on Right Wing Nuthouse. It matters to me what he thinks. However, Rick would not like me because I am one of those “animals” he referred to in his piece. I am a huge Social Con! SCARY!
I would be one of the social cons he believes are extremists. I want RINOS not to hold a political office unless elected by their state. What Rick and other RINOS do not get is that we do not object to RINOS, or moderates in the party, but we do not want them anywhere near policy or political offices. They do not stand for anything. It is just that simple. And while he rants about our behavior, he has yet to reflect upon his own statements and those of the control of the GOP. WE social cons are despised with a passion. We are just fed up with the RINOS causing us to lose elections and in totally screwing up things in Washington. You know, like those three, Specolsnow, that voted for the Stimulus Plan. And that one named McCain that said he did not give a damn what the American people wanted; he was not going to cast his vote according to those residing in this nation or his constituency in AZ.
What Noonan, Rick and others endorsing the theme of ,”love your local moderate”, do not understand is we are beyond fed up with having these so called RINOS casting votes that DO NOT represent those who elected them! We are tired of them flipping us off while they cavort around Washington making deals, raking in millions of dollars, and sticking it to small business and the tax payers.
Reagan may have had a big tent, but it was social conservative and fiscal conservative principles that Reagan exercised. It was wildly popular with Democrats in case those in the mod squad/RINO category do not recall.
What Rick and others do not get is that social conservatives do not wish to restrict their life styles. What you do behind close doors is your business. We do not want special rights given to any class of peoples other than those who are handicap. We heavily endorse free will and freedoms. But there are lines which should not be crossed based on 1) morals and 2) history. A society formed without morals has, and will, surely fail. Our nation has been successful because of being rooted in the Old Testament, and in particular the Ten Commandments. For over 200 years this was acceptable, and it was okay with the majority. In each social issue the nation favors the views of Conservatives. Majority rules, and yet we have moderates telling us we must allow the views of the minority of this nation to dictate the GOP. Why? And why must the GOP cave? Why not the Dems, or why not form another party that supports gay marriage, amnesty, abortion, etc.? Oh wait! That is the DNC! So why not go THERE!
RINOS do not win elections. Palin attracted the people, and the only reason any member of my family voted for McCain. This story is repeated over and over across the fruited plains. Rick my dear, if you read this, make up your mind which party is really the most comfortable with freedom, and your rights to publish on the net or in print. When the rubber meets the road it is social Conservatives that will die for your rights to choose whatever it is you want to be, not RINOS, not Dems and for sure not any of the real “animals” dwelling in the White House.
Love to ya Rick! LOL! Dude, that piece was way off target FYI.
Good going Karl! This was a good article. I have my political bazooka armed and ready for the fight! Ready to take back the party despite the RINOS!
freeus on May 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
No thanks to Piggy Noonan types….
shhh….I’m huntin rinos….
Branch Rickey on May 5, 2009 at 8:19 PM