Brilliant article and brilliant post. That is why I could never support Trump. He is NOT a conservative.
Talk Radio is the home plate of Dogmatic Conservatism. They live. For them theory of “Conservatism” is more important then anything else
The 2016 GOP Primary has brought up an old divide in Conservatism. There currently is a war being waged between the Dogmatics and the Realists. The Dogmatist care nothing about political realities, only the purity of the candidates political dogma matters to them. The Realist understands you have to be able to advance the political ball down the field to achieve the goals of the dogma. The Realist understands some times a flawed tool is going work better then the flawlessly poltical pure tool.
Reagan, who was a realist, wrote about it.
By Ronald Reagan in his autobiography An American Life
“When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn’t like it. “Compromise” was a dirty word to them and they wouldn’t face the fact that we couldn’t get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don’t get it all, some said, don’t take anything. I’d learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: ‘I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.’ If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that’s what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.
The Dogmatic at NR, Town Hall, Red State and the rest of the “Conservative” media sneer at the realist as being “nihlistic towards DC and the GOP”.
It is not Nihilism, it Realism. Since 1988 Conservatives have faithfully pledges their treasure and time to the GOP. Despite elections successes in 1988, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2014 what have Conservative gotten from the GOP?
Prosperity? Nope worse economy since 1979.
Reduction in Government-nope as expensive, corrupt, incompetent, intrusive and bigger then ever
Supreme Court? Nope as far left as it has ever been.
A Nation secure? Nope at risk in a dangerous world. Military broken, exhausted and overextended.
A respect for rule of law and the Constitution? Nope. Government, and society, is more lawless then it has ever been.
A healthy growing vibrant society? Nope stagnant, or in decline, everywhere in every way.
So, it not Nihilism, it Realism. It is a realistic assessment that doing the same thing again this year electorally is going to continue this decline and degradation from DC.You can only overcome inertia in any system with force. So we need to force DC out of it denigrate path onto a new path. So why Trump rather then Cruz?
I know this falls on deaf ears with 100%ers at NR, Red State and other “Conservative” media but the fact remains, we are a Constitutional Republic that rests on the notion that the people’s Representatives in Government know how to compromise and negotiate.
This feeling that Cruz will ride into DC and dictate the Conservative Media’s 100%er terms to everyone else there is simply wishful thinking. What is more probable is Cruz would be a GOP Carter.
Carter was the same sort of religious political puritan who went to DC and assumed he would dictate his political dogmas to everyone there. The record shows how badly that idea failed.
“Conservative” politicians talk a good game and then go to DC and accomplish nothing. After 30 years of fail, it is time to try another solution. The winning candidate is, brace yourselves.... going to have to cut DEALS! And some times those deals require..compromise!!!
Another fail point for the “Principled Conservatives” is they think only as far as the election. Then once they win their purity candidates go to DC and fail against the inertia of the DC/Media political machine. 1988-1994-1998-2000-2002-2004-2010-2014 are all example of where this “Next election” mindset has failed.
Trump is merely the 1st wave of a multi wave assault. Cruz might do for a follow up wave, he is not a 1st wave candidate. Without Trump to lead the way, the Cruz boat would of either been ignored because it was irrelevant, or been shelled into oblivion by the $10s of millions of GOPE attack ads.
The 1st wave job in any assault is to shatter the defenses and open the road for the follow up waves. No matter how flawed you think the vessel is, Trump is the best 1st wave political assault team we have had to hand in my lifetime.
We need to use Trump for all he is worth to shatter the corrupt, “my party right or wrong” mindset that grips vast swaths of the electorate. Break that inertia, get the people thinking outside the party label box and real change is possible. Do not an we slide into a stagnate European style decline that will not end in my lifetime. Cruz shares that agenda point but is not as well equipped by background and media following to achieve that break through as Trump
We either win this now or we have little chance of ever doing it again politically. Once we win we must relentlessly stay on the attack election wave after election wave until we are dead.
I am really not willing to leave this fight to my kids and grand-kids. We have let the ship of state drift since Reagan in the hands of the “smart people”. We failed and must redeem that failure.
This is our generation’s “go” time
Which is fine. After all, that’s no different than the faithful in Utah, right?
A lot of “conservatives” aren’t conservative.
Tough luck. I think Brussels just won him election 2016! He’s the only serious candidate on terrorism.
And I could never support Cruz because he’s not eligible for the office. Minor detail for the Cruz Crew though.
JEB! Is that you? “He is not a Conservative!” Cute!! ;-)
Of course Trump is not conservative. He also is angry, egotistical, vulgar, and is a street bully. His upside is that he is not Hillary. If you are part of the rabble like me, what is not to like?
What crapola. The brothers Limbaugh convinced people that W was a rock solid conservative. I don’t trust their judgement particularly the lawyer David
Do you listen to Rush? Is he conservative in real life? How many times has he been married? Who was the guest of honor and singer at his last wedding? Do you know the answers? If not they are easily gotten and once you get them ask yourself if those are conservative family values.
You’re right, Trump isn’t a conservative. But he isn’t a liberal either. Nor is he a partisan on either side of the fence. Historically, he’s contributed almost equally to candidates from both parties, which isn’t terribly unusual for a businessman of his stature.
Trump is a populist, but not the populist that the media and the GOP try to portray, i.e., a person who only says what he things people want to hear. Unlike other so-called populists, Trump really is as pissed off and fed up as we are. Notice that he doesn’t use teleprompters, notes or even talking points. And, while he occasionally contradicts himself (what person doesn’t), his recognition of what is wrong with our country and his passion and commitment to righting those wrongs is consistent and clearly resonates with many Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and independents alike.
No, Trump isn’t a conservative, but he is a patriotic American who honestly wants what’s best for America and American citizens and while I may disagree with him on a few things, at this point, that’s good enough for me.