Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Reflections

(The following is a reprint of a blog post I wrote on November 5, 2008, with bolded “I told you so” passages for purposes of gloating stoically rubbing our chins in deep contemplation.)

Now Is Our Time

Some Conservatives are naturally upset about how the election has gone. But while The One campaigned successfully with his mantra of “hope” and “change,” it has always been the Conservatives that embody hope. Indeed, unlike the Liberals who immediately whine of stolen elections when they don’t get their way, Conservatives do not live and die by political fortunes because we recognize that we are some things (read: “almost everything”) more important than politics.

So while it is okay for Conservatives to be disappointed that the Omighty One is elected, as a Conservative myself I see the countless reasons to remain optimistic, even in “defeat.” Consider just one number for a moment:

55,543,527.

That’s how many people (according to the counts at the time of this writing—and look for it to be revised upward too) who voted against the Anointed One. Fifty-five million is not a small number. Fifty-five million is, indeed, a very substantial portion of our voting population.

There is fear that Obamessiah will try to institute many of his radical ideas. The media, who failed to do basic journalism and were so in the tank for the Chosen One from day one, engineered a victory for a man with some of the most questionable associations, statements, and beliefs ever elected. We’ve seen O lie about public financing, promise to bankrupt coal companies, and continue to lower the dollar cut-off for whose taxes will be raised upon.

But 55 million people are a check against him. Even with majorities in Congress, the Democrats have to acknowledge that the electorate has only given them a razor thin edge at the moment; if they try to do anything radical, that edge will shift immediately to the Republicans.

Conservatives can take heart about this. We are logical people. We understand that reality is real. All our dreams (or our father’s dreams) and hopes do not change what is real. And the reality is: 55,543,527 is not a landslide loss.

But while Conservatives deal with reality, let us also use our imaginations for just one moment. McCain got 55 million votes. Imagine what we could have done with a real candidate.

See, the Republicans nominated a weak candidate. McCain was burdened by being in the same party as an unpopular president, he was outspent in commercials, faced a hostile media, was inarticulate and unable to debate to save his life (or in this case his candidacy)…and he still got 55 million votes. Change any one of these factors and he would have won. So what could we have done with a real Conservative, one who understands Conservativism and therefore can defend it even against all of the above?

There is no reason we can’t have a real candidate in the future. Indeed, if Republicans are paying attention we will get that real candidate in four years.

Moderate Republicanism is a dead-end. And this election demonstrates the fruit of selling out our core principals. If Republicans ignore Conservatives, they lose; it’s that simple. If Americans want Liberalism, they can vote Democrat. If Republicans do not offer an alternative then why are they surprised when they lose?

Just to make it personal, after 2004 I could see that the Republican Party had strayed from its Conservative base. As a result, in 2006 I ceased to call myself a Republican. As Ronald Reagan would have said: “I did not leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left me.” The Republicans ought to have seen the problems in 2006 given their massive losses in Congress. They ought to have realized that they could not win on a moderate ticket; they had to return to their Conservative roots.

They didn’t. Instead, they nominated McCain. Conservatives were told, “Support McCain because he’s electable.” (Good call there, RNC!) But I couldn’t do so. Only after what the media did to Joe the Plummer did I even think to vote for McCain. I never supported McCain, though; I just despised the media. And I’m not at all heartbroken that McCain lost. I had nothing invested in this man.

There’s more reason to hope though than just McCain. The Republican losses extended well beyond the presidency. The Democrats increased their majorities in both branches of Congress. This ought to be a major wake-up call for the Republican Party: you CANNOT win on moderate Republicanism!

Because we’ve now had two straight losses due to moderate Republicanism, even the densest political strategist ought to grasp that. That’s why McCain’s loss should be a good thing for Republicans. See, Conservatives like me are still waiting for you, dear leaders of the RNC, to return from your prodigal path. If you use this opportunity to reform and return to your Conservative roots, you will find success once again…plus I’ll be able to call myself a Republican again.

As I stated earlier, Conservativism is built upon logic. Unfortunately, logic is intentionally no longer taught in public school. But it is not very difficult to grasp for those who are interested in learning it, and simple analogies (which require candidates who are good at thinking on their feet, unlike McCain) can quickly show the error of virtually every fallacy even for those who do not wish to see. We need to teach people logic once again, to show them how empty and hollow Liberal rhetoric is.

Conservative ideas are strong because they are based on reality, not illusory dreams. It is preferable to be the party of rationality than the party of emotionalism, even if most people these days are irrational. This is still a position of strength because (as I also stated above) reality is real. That which is based on reason will win out in the end, no matter how deluded anyone may be.

This is why Conservativism wins. This is why we cannot give up on it for an easy “win” by caucusing with the intellectually lazy.

Related to that, we must argue for our ideas, especially since we do live in irrational times. It is not enough to simply present those ideas and hope others see the logic of the position. We must be able to defend each and every Conservative position. This requires Conservatives to have an understanding of Conservativism; we cannot accept candidates who claim to be Conservatives but who have no understanding of the philosophy behind it. This is how we ended up with moderate Republicans in the first place, and we’ve seen where that leads us. If Republicans seriously want to win again, they need to winnow the field. Cast out the RINOs. Insist that if you are going to call yourself a Republican there are certain philosophical standards you must uphold.

If Republicans do that, then they will begin to win again. But if they do not—if they are still convinced that “moderate” is the way to go—then Conservatives need to take the next step. This election ought to be our line in the sand. If the Republicans won’t return, then it is time for us to get rid of them. It is time for Conservatives to form their own party. Conservatives may have been hesitant in the past because we did not wish to lose everything by dividing the Republican vote with a third party…but Republicans have lost everything anyway. Conservatives have nothing left to lose in forming our own party.

It would naturally be preferable for Republicans to return to the Conservative fold. But this election has shown us that we Conservatives no longer need to be tied to Republicans on the false hope that it will provide us victory. And that, perhaps, is the greatest reason for optimism of all.

So Conservatives take heart. We did not lose this election, and now is the time to take back our party. The chaff has been cleared away, the façade broken. All excuses are banished. Now is our time.
Incidentally, right before I wrote the above post, I also posted:
…I actually look at it with relief to know that now we no longer have to put up with spineless “moderates” under the guise that “they’re still winning.” They’re not. And after four years of hell, Conservatives will be poised to recapture everything (well, we’ll get Congress in 2 years).
So now that we’ve established that I’m a better prophet than Benny Hinn, it’s time for you to all reach deep into your pocket and send me some cash!!!

5 comments:

  1. Interestingly enough, people on the left, like Michael Moore, are saying the exact same thing about the 2010 election.

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  2. Naturally, they would say so.

    But the polls seem fairly clear that people self-identify far more as conservative than they do as liberal, even if they also self-identify (up until this election, at least) more as Democrats than Republicans. And furthermore, just looking at the elections since at least 1980 (and probably, we can go back to at least Nixon on this one), the more conservative the president, the greater the landslide.

    It is true that in the 2010 election, most of the so-called "Blue Dogs" were voted out. Then again, these are the same "Blue Dogs" that voted for Obamacare, so how conservative were they as Democrats?

    In any event, I will conclude with this. In what way has Obama *NOT* already governed as a Leftist? He had fillibuster-proof majorities and has rammed through everything he wanted rammed through. So for Moore, et al to claim that Obama needs to govern even further to the left if he wants to win in 2012seems to be asking for the impossible.

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  3. Obama lost his filibuster-proof majority when Scott Brown was elected. The Health Care Bill had no public option, so it's not socialized medicine by any stretch. In fact, it's considered wimpy by the Left. He could have tried to put through an illegal immigration amnesty bill (If immigration is outlawed, the only outlaws will immigrate), etc.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html

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  4. I disagree with you about health care. That it's not *as* socialist as, say, England does not mean that it's not socialist. Even corporate insurance has always been a direct result of anti-Capitalistic practices (it began when FDR's administration froze wages during WWII and companies couldn't go after higher skilled workers with more money, so they switched to offering services like health insurance; but that would never have been done had the market remained free).

    That aside, I never claimed that Obama has been as far to the Left as it is possible for him to be; but I would defy you to show me anything Obama's done that would be classified as Right. When I say he's governed from the Left, I mean just that: everything he's done has been from the Left.

    It's not like Bush, who was socially conservative while fiscally the worst president in recent times...that is until Obama doubled down on it. Bush angered millions of Conservatives by not being a Conservative while bearing the mantle. But no one can honestly accuse Obama of being Conservative on any issue.

    In any case, should Obama decide to go even further Left, then we shall see what even bigger red wave 2012 will bring :-) My prediction: Obama's only chance of winning re-election is if he does what Clinton did after '94 and moves to the Right. I don't think Obama will do so, however, and as a result I think he will be a one term president. But again, we shall see.

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