Conservative? Then you must go read this.
These are gloomy and uncertain days for conservatives, who — except for the eight-year Clinton interregnum — have dominated political power and thought in this country since Reagan rode in from the West. Their tradition goes back even further, to Founding Fathers who believed that people should do things for themselves and who shook off a monarchy in their conviction that Big Government is more to be feared than encouraged. The Boston Tea Party, as Reagan used to point out, was an antitax initiative.
and...
Giuliani's lead in the early polls doesn't necessarily mean the Republican race is getting any closer to the kind of early coronation the party usually manages to engineer. A New York Times/CBS News poll out this week found that nearly 6 out of 10 Republican primary voters who responded said they were unsatisfied with the choice of candidates running for the party's nomination; by comparison, nearly 6 in 10 Democrats pronounced themselves happy with their field.
go read this article here, and take heed.
What are your thoughts on all of this? Has the GOP abandoned Reagan for self-indulgence?
Comments
I read an article the other day that argues the problem with Bush isn't that he's not conservative - it is that his adminstration has been incompetent in carrying out the conservative agenda. And that's true. All they've gotten in tax cuts and Alito and Roberts. Faith-based initiatives, tax reform, Social Security reform, health care reform, social issues - its all been a flop.
A good, competent sensible conservative like Huckabee or Fred Thompson could be just the trick.
Remember - in the 1986 midterms, Democrats won big, only to get creamed in the presidential race in 1988. And Dukakis led Bush by 14 points over the summer of 1988.
In the 1994 midterms, GOP retook Congress - but Bill Clinton cruised to reelection in 1996.
DO NOT ASSUME that the current political climate means that the GOP cannot win in 2008 - history shows that it is too early to say. Once the parties have their nominees, the focus will shift away from the incomptetence of Bush and toward the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snw7_6mJf5c
There are two parts to this click so make sure you watch both.
The article is surprisingly insightful, and should be mandatory reading for anyone who is worried about the fate of the party on a national or local level. And anyone who is not worried about 2008 isn’t paying attention. The majority of the country is absolutely fed up with politics as usual under the Bush Administration. This is a man who swore on the Bible that he would end corruption in the White House and restore dignity to the office of the President. He has proven that he is no better in that regard than Clinton. For a Republican to win, he will need to be beyond clean ethically and not overly associated with the President. Even then it will be an uphill battle.
I have not agreed with Bush's immigration policy or the domestic spending, but when you consider Clinton's real White House agenda and his head in the sand approach to foreign policy, Bush certainly doesn't look that bad.
I don't know much about Thompson, but one Governor who would be excellent is Haley Barbour. He was the chairman of the GOP leading to the 1994 GOP takeover of both houses of congress. He is who we conservatives need to be drafting!
Reagan screwed up everything he touched. The glorification of Reagan is an indicator of the depths of Republican emptiness in past and present leadership. The whole conservative GOP stands on the shoulders of Herbert Hoover not Ronald Reagan.
Small frogs in small ponds think Republican business and tax policy will make them rich. The Republican party isn't even "trickle down" anymore. It is all suck up to spread the gap between the rich and the poor and destroy the middle class which has a few of the resources to combat or soften the edges of raw corporate red in tooth and fang business Republicanism.
All the blather about rights and respect for the constitution has been shown by Bush and Reagan administrations to be smoke and mirrors for the theft of Joe Average's billfold.
So, a really good actor is just what the national Republican party needs for leadership. Somebody who can read the lines without screwing up and really fake sincerity well.
The GOP is not a big tent, it is a big empty bag.
Well, first I must add (to a post that really said everything) that Douglas's characterization of Reagan doesn't cast quite enough scorn on this pathetic excuse for a leader.
Then, Amen, Douglas.
Clinton was a self-indulgent, spoiled little prick, whose rapaciousness only looks good in the reflection of Dubya's idiocy.
Pretty good example of damning with faint praise there.
Your comments on Clinton might be a bit harsh however.
For the real debate on the future of American Conservatism:
National Review, the American Conservative and Commentary Magazine.
Don't be so mean. Hurts my sensibilities.
Bush does not understand Reagan conservatism. He understands political opportunism, crisis management, and regional wars to avenge his father / promote oil.
Reagan was a principled leader. Bush is not.
Democrats, likewise, have failed to put forward a principled candidate. Stuffed shirts are apparently much more palatable as "Republicans" than as "Democrats".
Free market has turned into some unholy alliance of the government making laws that allow private corporations to screw people even worse than they could on their own.
They have wasted billions on useless programs that would make any Democrat blush. Faith based nonsense. How much of our taxpayer money has been wasted on religious programs encouraging people to get married? Or abstinence programs. Talk about government waste.
Big goverment.
Wasted tax payer money.
Corrupt goverment.
I will never vote for another Republican for anything ever again.