Posted on 12/10/2003 8:59:00 PM PST by BobbyK
Enough With The Neocon And Paleocon
Carping—I'll Stand With George W. Bush In 2004
Like most Toogood Reports readers, I observed this year's battles within the conservative ranks with profound discomfort. In my mind, there are far too many real enemies out there to waste time and print fighting one another.
It seems that the world of conservatism has been split up between the "conservatives" and the "paleo-conservatives" or between the "conservatives" and the "neo-conservatives." Both sides present themselves as the bona fide article and the other side as the one in need of a prefix.
Personally, I just want to spit up this strife the same way the bleachers of Wrigley Field do the opposition´s home run balls. This qualifies as a "which side are you on boys" issue. It is my goal to conserve America's wonderful, non-living Constitution, and to forever preserve the personal and economic freedoms that embody our way of life. If you agree with me about these basic propositions, then you're on my side and the rest of your views are of secondary concern. Simply revering the spirit of the Founding Fathers puts you in the top 50 percent of the population on the Chap-o-meter.
Not only is an inter-journalist, inter-intellectual, conservative civil war fruitless, it is also detrimental to the nation as a whole. The country needs all of our efforts just to have a chance of mitigating the damage the culture war has wrought.
Our daily resistance may be the biggest obstacle to the federal pacman swallowing up fifty percent of the economy. We cannot afford to bicker amongst ourselves. The odds are too great. Obsessing over who said what about Taki, Buchanan, Frum, Lowry or any of the other public figures who make up the American right is counter-productive.
The neocon/paleocon debate is as bewildering as it is petty and misguided. Sadly, some conservatives now feel more comfortable with leftists than they do their own kind [I know of one who astonished me by saying that he regards the American Enterprise Institute as "The Death Star"]. Certainly, internal disagreements are to be expected, but they are trivial in comparison to accepting the positions advocated by the other side of the political spectrum. Socialism, cultural Marxism, white guilt, and radical feminism are eternal obstacles to advancing society. Other conflicts pale in importance when compared to them.
I propose that we abandon slurs like paleo-con and neo-con. Instead we should all evolve into "Logicons." The Logicon refuses to slash at the brethren who march alongside him because maintaining some level of public harmony is the only logical way in which we will succeed. Logicons realize that our fighting strength should not be diluted by internecine combat.
Much of the controversy currently centers around President Bush and whether or not one approves of his job performance. I've written here and elsewhere how much I personally admire him, but I also acknowledge that certain criticisms have been valid. Those who label him a big spender are correct in their assessments. He has not used his veto to curb the size of government and has developed a habit of hugging Ted Kennedy's voluminous appropriations.
While this is unfortunate, to pretend that Bush is not the best bet for advancing the country's interests is shortsighted. There are many conservatives out there who could do a better job of slashing outlays, but it is highly unlikely that any of them could get elected by our emotive and squishy electorate. On our side, George W. Bush "feels their pain" better than anyone. He brings in moderate voters the way my old Erie Dearie lures used to bag walleyes .
The problem is one of perspective. We can spend time complaining about steel tariffs or the administration´s pathetic capitulation on affirmative action last summer. Yes, I would have been greatly pleased if he disseminated a Michigan Law brief of his own after the decision entitled “O´Connor a Known Fruitcake,” but the fact is that he didn't and there´s nothing we can do about it. However, we must keep our outlook global by remembering what the alternatives are.
What would Al Gore do with affirmative action? How about Howard Dean, the neurotic would-be-king, with Al Qaeda? Makes you shudder doesn´t it? After the election, Al Sharpton would take his standup around the world as our Secretary of State and we´d hear Patricia Ireland lambasting “patriarchal textbooks” in her role as Secretary of Education.
In actuality, my examples really aren´t all that farfetched. The radical left has been carrying the Democrat Party since 2001 and, now, if the Democrats win, bills will need to be paid.
Rather than fantasize about an ideal future, conservatives need to think about how things can, and will, get devastatingly worse, should Bush lose. Be it Dean or Kerry or whatever burrito they decide to roll out of the Taqueria next summer, the fate of the country will be in jeopardy. By this time in 2006, there will be a foreign policy coward in every pot and a benefit check in the hands of every college drop out. Think France, think Germany, and then be grateful we have a president who doesn't spit after saying "tax cuts."
Besides, the Bush Presidency has produced many hidden benefits. His appointees may well be our salvation even though he backs obese budgets. In the latest issue of The New Criterion, we see that his appointments to the National Endowment of the Arts have had a wonderful effect. Under Dana Gioia, the agency is sponsoring Macbeth for military bases and has resurrected traditional Shakespeare at the national level [Shakespearean plays are now staged as in the days of old which means brothels and bath house scenes are no longer mandatory].
I don´t care if you insult him or trade in Karl Rove conspiracy theories, but, in November of 2004, this particular rightist is going to stand by George W. Bush just as the bumper sticker on my car promises. Our hopes for a better tomorrow rest in the White House on his bed. We must support him because heady days await and also because his reelection keeps the Democrat Party headless. Let´s proudly stand by our man as he loudly subsumes the popular positions of the left while promoting many of ours in the shadows though his judges, appointees, and minions.
Well todays reality is that there is no one willing to stand up and win on pure principle alone. That forces us to make choices. My choice is to defend our country against terrorists whose goal is to nuke at least one of our major cities.
The democrats goal is appeasement, asking questions like "What did we do to offend you, and how can we make it right". The democrats goal is to yield our right to defend ourselves by taking a vote in the UN (108 countries of which have refused to cooperate in ferreting out terrorists in their own countries)After 9-11, Algore would still have been holding conferences, trying to get world support before taking any action (and trying to determine the environmental effects of dropping any bombs).
So vote in a way that puts these liberals in power and our next argument could well be -- to hell with Medicare and CFR -- when do you think it safe to go back to Dallas after that dirty bomb was exploded?
Read my tagline. In the order of things, CFR and Medicare are small stuff compared to our national security.
Sorry to hit and run, but it's 4:30 am here and waaaay past my bedtime.
And history, once again, repeats itself! Blackbird.
The notion of assumed and inherent superiority is utterly anathema to me, and that self-assumption on the part of quite a number of my former fellow undergraduates I thought both ridiculous and arrogant...and got into any number of brawls (real brawls, blood shed, and the lot) on this very point. However, my dear uncle, recently departed, had taught me a very valuable lesson as a boy: NEVER start a fight, and NEVER fail to finish one. And I didn't, and I didn't.
You may recall that, in March-May 1970, Bobby Seale (head of the Black Panther Party) was on trial for murder. That trial was held in the New Haven courthouse, exactly 2 blocks from where I lived. Well, this trial was ''unfair'', dontchaknow, ''racist'' and all that, and every leftie scumbag in the world descended on the campus on May Day weekend that year. The attitude all round was, shall we say, somewhat less than tolerant. There was supposed to be a ''student strike'' of classes, to show ''solidarity'' (or something) with (someone) -- the arguments made in favour of this were, at best, delusional.
I declined to ''strike''. On the Friday before the weekend orgy as planned, I was walking into a class I particularly liked, Demography 17b, with Lincoln Day (wonderful lecturer, btw), and one of the little radical types stood in front of the door to Linsley-Chittenden Hall. He presented all the arguments (well, all the 30-second sound bytes, at any rate) why I shouldn't attend class. I said, very mildly, ''Thanks. I disagree.'', and made to go into the building, by going around him. He made a mistake. He grabbed me.
He was extremely lucky. Two of my fraternity brothers were with me, and pulled me off the little bastard before I did anything more than put a few stitches in his face and kick him square in the crotch a couple of times. Upon leaving the class when it ended, I found that the little coward -- having started the problem -- had run off to the police and filed a charge. I was duly thereupon arrested, the only time in my life.
Here's a practical tip for you: if arrested, call your attorney IF he or she is the one that can do you the most practical good the quickest. In this case, an attorney was NOT the person to call. I called instead a lady named Hannah Grey, the CFO, essentially, of the College, described to her the circumstances, asked for her assistance, and mentioned -- very casually -- that I was majoring in mathematics and was able to construct numbers with an AMAZING amount of zeroes. Nothing threatening, mind, everything very calm and orderly.
The College had me bailed out in 34 minutes, by the clock. I lost a wager with the bail officer, a nice guy, that it would be at least one hour -- he had experience in these matters, I didn't, but the wager seemed reasonable at the time. We enjoyed a nice lunch with a couple of beverages (my treat, paying the loss) a couple of weeks later.
Never heard another word about it, ever. At the time, Yale College still had some scruples about property and private responsibility for one's behaviour. It no longer does, which is of course why I no longer (since 1992, btw) have had anything to do with that institution.
The radical amateur utopian socialists of that day were, as you correctly point out, far too numerous. I despised every one of them, bar one. And they knew it, too. They did their ''thing'', whatever the devil it was. I did mine.live and let live is fine with me, and I'll hold up my end of that bargain until you decide not to ''let live''. Look up the lyric to the last verse of ''Sixteen Tons'', if you'd care to know the dynamic of that mutual relationship.
L'Envoi: I only ever saw that little punk again once, 1 1/2 years later...but that's another saga for another day.
''None of the above'', in context, means that I am not required to participate in a game in which the outcome is loaded against me, and much more importantly, against the Constitution.
It's too late for that. This guy is already 100% behind every Federal spending program on the horizon. Not only that -- he touts his support for the "No Child Left Behind" Act and the Medicare prescription drug bill as major accomplishments.
Just think of Dean or Hillary with a Dem Congress, if you don't like what Bush and the curent Congress is doing now.
Actually, the problem here has nothing to do with political parties -- it has everything to do with a lack of divided government. If you took every political jurisdiction in the U.S. and closely examined those that have been dominated by a single political party for any length of time, one of the clear trends you will see is that these jurisdictions tend to be in worse financial shape than their counterparts. And that is the case regardless of whether were talking about Democratic governments like New York City or the U.S. government of 1993, or GOP governments like Nassau County, Long Island or the U.S. government of 2003.
It's no accident that in the last 50 years, the two brief periods in which the U.S. government operated with any sense of fiscal responsibility also happened to be the two most contentious periods of divided government in Washington (the end of the Johnson administration and start of the Nixon administration in 1968-69, and the height of the Clinton impeachment scandal in 1998-99).
I must admit, though, that I've softened my attitude a bit regarding my own Congressman. I knew him personally back before he entered Congress (long story), and his political career is a very strong argument for the need for Congressional term limits (nice guy, but that's another long story). CFR will probably not affect him at all because I believe he finances a sizeable chunk of his own campaign in each election.
You go ahead with your purest attitude help elect a Dean, or Kerry.
I think President Bush is immensely head and shoulders above the rest.
We're not asking for perfection, Dane. We're just asking that the Bill of Rights be left unmolested and unabrogated.
You didn't address this to me,but if I may,
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la, la la la, la la la. Troll the ancient Yuletide carol, Fa la la la la la, la la la la.
See the bla-zing Yule before us (fa la la ...etc)
Strike the harp and join the cho-rus (fa la la ...etc)
Fol-low me in mer-ry mea-sure (fa la la ...rising ...etc)
While I sing of Yule-tide trea-sure (fa la la ...falling ...etc)
What you cited is the second couplet of the first verse.
Best of the Holiday season to you!
I trust you are being facetious here (please tell me you are). I have a sister living in Dallas and another one in Ft Worth. Yeah, I live in a rural community, so I'm personally relatively safe from terrorist attacks. And I didn't know a single person who died in the twin towers, but that didn't stop me from grieving for them.
It angered and infuriated me to the point that the WOT is my number one priority, so that 9-11 never happens again.
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