I noticed John Hawkins’ piece over at Pajamas Media, taking the conservative movement to task for losing another election because we weren’t involved. Where to begin? I know that pointing fingers at each other, and in particular the “Religious Right” or the “social conservatives”, is bigger sport than hackey sack or speed cupstacking right now on the right side of the writeosphere. But really John, do you seriously think “we” lost the election for the GOP? In my most respectful voice, I’m here to tell you that you and everyone else with that viewpoint just don’t get it.
…However, it’s worth taking the time to ask: what responsibility does the conservative movement — you, me, and all our conservative friends — have for this disaster?
Quite a bit actually.
We were too slow to challenge Republicans in D.C., including George Bush, when they veered from a conservative course. Yes, we complained, but not loudly enough and too late in the game.
Too slow, not loudly enough, and too late? You’re kidding me, right? Many of us have been loudly complaining since before the W years. But “the Party” has determined that trying to win elections by playing the political game is all that matters. And they’ve proven again and again in the past (Gerald Ford? George HW Bush? Bob Dole? John McCain? have I rung a bell with you yet?) that when they run middle of the road, stand for nothing, populist candidates, half the country yawns and does something else. A major part of the GOP, from the President on down, has been light on liberty and heavy on growing government for years. The promise of the 90’s midterm change in Congress was never realized, as too many of the Republicans learned how to play politics, spend money, and ignore the people. Our fault? Hardly! And Mr Bush didn’t “veer from a conservative course”. He was NEVER ON ONE! For all the good it did, we complained bitterly about it. You must have missed that part?
…However, the greatest flaw conservatives have is that when we get frustrated with the performance of the Republican Party, we have a tendency to pick up our ball and go home. “Well, if they do that, then I’m not giving any money, I’m not helping any campaigns this year, and I’m not voting.”
The Republican Party has presided over the largest growth of government, the most reckless spending, and some of the most blatant abuses of the Constitution this country has had to endure in many years. Led by George W Bush it has walked further and further away from conservative ideals. Don’t tell me Bush just wasn’t a good communicator, or that he just didn’t articulate the conservative message well. He DOESN’T BELIEVE those things, so how can he communicate them? And when faced with the obviously most Leftist opponents the Dems have ever run, and in spite of the evidence of the surprising support that someone as “not ready to be President” as Ron Paul generated on his message alone, the GOP runs a guy who threatened to jump parties a few years back and as lately as last summer pushed for something not even a majority of “moderates” wanted… I’m sorry, blaming conservatives for not joining the team and thus costing them the win is more stupid fingerpointing. Give me one good reason to support the very things we don’t believe in. And “at least he isn’t a Democrat” is NOT the right answer.
…Do you know why Western societies, including ours, seem to always go leftward, despite the fact that liberal policies don’t work?
Do you know why the culture seems to descend further into the sewer, no matter who’s in charge? Do you know why government always seems to grow, no matter who’s running the show, Republican or Democrat?
It’s because the liberals don’t take their ball and go home.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it yet John, but the leftists, including the Democrats, don’t go home because they actually believe in something (power and controlling other human beings) and there is a certain very large part of their party that is always working toward that something. You can’t say the same thing about the GOP. A huge portion of the GOP doesn’t believe in squat, except for playing the game. And here’s another clue for you. The culture does not descend because the liberals play ball better than we do. That’s the most simplistic thing I think I’ve read all week. The culture continually descends because human beings (of all political persuasions) are broken, lazy, envious, and selfish. Lefty politics plays directly to that human condition and promises salvation through government. The promise of something for nothing, take it from that evil guy there and give it to this nice guy here, is a promise that will always appeal to human beings and be a trait that can be exploited by those so inclined. It isn’t about whether the leftist policies work or not, it’s about human nature and control of the people. (psstt… don’t look too close… the GOP does it too)
And your answer seems to be “it’s your fault we didn’t win because you didn’t vote for the GOP candidate”. Puh-leeease. There is no salvation through government, be it Democrat government or Republican government. So when the GOP runs a campaign and a candidate promising just that, we’re going to ignore them every time. We proved it again this year, and I’m sure we’ll do it again in the future. It’s about truth, not winning the game. John McCain wasn’t simply a weak candidate, he was WRONG.
I know, you’re exhorting the conservative folks to get back to work. To bear down, work locally, send money, yada yada. We’re doing that John. We’re conservatives and libertarians, remember? Work is what we do. We do support those who believe the same things we do. We write blogs, and letters, and support local candidates, and cancel our newspaper subscriptions. We send money to groups who are working for things we believe in, like the NRA, and to real campaigns with real liberty-minded candidates. It wasn’t enough this year John. And won’t be, as long as the powers that be in the GOP continue giving us the wannabe- Dem/populist/stand-for-nothing candidates they seem to have such an affection for.
Does John McCain have a deep and abiding understanding and love for the Constitution? Not that I can see. He’s a D.C. player. He’s a populist. Does he understand that America is supposed to be about the people, not about the government? Not that I can see. You know all the arguments, and I’ll bet you’re there with me. But where we part company is the mistaken idea that we somehow have to support the GOP regardless of what leftist nonsense they’ve embraced, or which “my turn” candidate they run for office.
…The current reality is most conservatives won’t contribute their time or money to candidates and organizations that they like. Most bloggers and talk radio hosts, if given a choice between having their favorite candidate lose or asking their audience to give them money, would prefer to see them lose. Many people complain about the Republican Party — but, how many people are willing to join up locally and try to change the organization from inside? Not many. People would rather sit and complain than get involved and actually make a difference.
Well, all I can say to the pouting right is that if you think something needs to be done to change the Republican Party and the country, don’t wait for a leader to come along; get out and be a leader. Do something. And if you can’t do something, then at least support the conservatives who are out there trying to do something.
No. We definitely don’t prefer to see our “favorite candidate” lose. And there you make a jump that again tells me you don’t get it yet. Do you honestly believe that “most conservatives won’t contribute to candidates they like”? I think you’ve been drinking the GOP Kool-aid. Because we will support conservative candidates. The real problem? There WEREN’T ANY! The GOP persists in this mistaken notion that they are the only place for conservatives… that we need THEM more than they need us. Again, I point to Gerald Ford, Bush the First, and now John McCain. I didn’t prefer to see John McCain lose because of some ignorant “Religious right” quirk that makes me prefer to see my “favorite candidate” lose. I hate to lose. But McCain wasn’t my favorite candidate in the first place. He wasn’t even an “acceptable” candidate, to be perfectly honest. I don’t care that he lost. Many of us don’t see the GOP with McCain in the Oval Office as being any more positive for the country than BHO and the Dems.
Small government. Fiscal restraint. Balanced budget. Individual liberty. Personal responsibility. You know the list. Tell me again, who was the conservative candidate in the GOP stable this go-around? The real one, not the guys who had some publicity agency doll them up for this horserace? You got nothin’! So you’re bitching us out for not going all in on nothing? And the real tradgedy of all this? The current state of the GOP is so bad that even some of the local candidates who are conservative got tossed out with the rest of the bums.
No, the real problem with the GOP is not that conservatives aren’t serious enough, or don’t know how to play the game, or don’t want to work or send money, or just want to quit and pout, the real problem is that the GOP has no soul, no foundation, and doesn’t stand for anything anymore. Fix THAT problem, and you’ll see turn-out. THAT is the real message of the 2008 elections. Ideally we have a representative republic and a citizenry that is still “center-right”, and the Republican Party seeks to represent a majority of those citizens. When they do, they win elections. When they don’t, they lose. Right now they don’t.
…In case the 2008 election didn’t send the message — doing nothing is not enough.
You’re right. I only hope that the GOP is listening. So far, I’m not sure they are because they’re doing nothing but blaming me, and it is NOT my fault! And as long as they continue “doing nothing”, they (and the country) are going to continue to lose.
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November 28th, 2008 at 11:55 am
“Small government. Fiscal restraint. Balanced budget. Individual liberty. Personal responsibility. You know the list. Tell me again, who was the conservative candidate in the GOP stable this go-around?”
Ron Paul. It seemed the GOP would have liked to disavow him; they certainly tried to ignore him.
My first election was in 1976; this was the first election I just stayed home.
November 28th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I remarked to a friend 4 years ago, that the Democratic party being hijacked by the extreme left wing was bad both for the Dems, and the Republicans. As the more moderate (think Lieberman) dems find themselves adrift, the reaction of the Republicans is to move to the left to try to pick them up. This causes the base of the Republicans to drop out and stay home.
I suppose that at some point, the Socialists will get themselves hanged, figuratively, if not literally, and the remaining Dems will become Republicans. Of course that means that the Conservative or Constitution parties will have to become the new right to offset the Republican left.
My first election was 1972, and I’ve NEVER missed one. Voted Libertarian or something similar when the Republicans were in no danger of losing, and Republican when they were, hoping that someone in the Republican party would notice. Apparently, they never did.