The End of Conservatism(Fareed Zakaria)

newsweek ^ | Feb 16, 2008 | Fareed Zakaria

[kellynla]

Conservatives are a gloomy bunch at the moment. Many believe that their party—the Republican Party—has lost its way and that it has done so by abandoning its principles. Aside from his foreign policy and Supreme Court appointments, conservatives find little to love about George W. Bush. His signature domestic policies include a vast expansion of government-financed health care (prescription-drug benefits), and increased funding for education while halfheartedly promoting vouchers and school choice. Bush also signed into law campaign-finance reform and supported a proposed immigration bill that would have allowed illegal aliens a path to citizenship. The Republican Congress is even worse, having indulged in an orgy of irresponsible spending. And now the party is set to nominate John McCain as its presidential nominee, a man who on several key issues has broken with Republican orthodoxy and voted with Democrats. For conservatives, a return to principles is the only way to be returned to power.

David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, begs to differ. "On the contrary," Frum writes in his smart new book, "Comeback," "the evidence suggests that a more consistent, more principled, more conservative administration would have been even more soundly rejected by the public than the unpopular Bush administration ever was." As Frum documents, every Bush policy that conservatives decry is in fact wildly popular. Public support for prescription-drug benefits ranges from 80 to 90 percent. And every Bush policy conservatives favor is regarded by the public with great suspicion. A majority of Americans regard the Bush tax cuts as "not worth it," and would prefer increased spending or balancing the budget to cutting taxes. In the one area where Bush remains unfailingly popular with conservatives—foreign policy—public support has also collapsed.

[TommyDale]

I think principles are the most important. When we uphold those, all the other things fall into place.

[skully]

The end of Conservatism?? Conservatism is a way of life, not just a political idea or movement. We’re Conservative because of how we live, not just how we vote. Liberals just don’t get this.

As for gloomy; many of us aren’t thrilled with McCain, but gloomy might be an overly deflated assessment. In the current FR opinion poll, McCain is getting 57% support. That’s probably a bit more upbeat then gloomy.

[NewJerseyJoe]

The end of Republicans as a political party? Perhaps.
The end of conservatism? NEVER.

[RJL]

As Frum documents, every Bush policy that conservatives decry is in fact wildly popular. Public support for prescription-drug benefits ranges from 80 to 90 percent.

Well, that's good news for McCain and the Rinos, they'll have no problem winning without the conservatives.

[Luke21]

Conservatism is indeed a way of life, like you said. It isn’t represented in the current election, but it will be back.

[Sudetenland]

Your probably a real jerk, but I would attack you personally.

I don't want Mac to win because I don't believe him to be emotionally stable enough to be president. If you believe that McCain is any more liberal than Ike, Nixon, Ford, GWB, or GHWB, your fooling yourself. Reagan was an aberation. The one time Conservatives managed to control the party. It will take a strong Conservative with great oratory skills to get us back in control.

I don't care who is president, I am far more concerned with the down-ballot candidates and that's where I will concentrate my efforts.

Go suck your thumb and worry if you want to, crybaby, but I will remain optimistic.

[skully]

blackelkspeaks wrote:

How on earth can you make the claim that 57% support for McCain on FR is “upbeat”?

I was claiming that 57% is upbeat compared to the “gloomy” assessment the author of this article was attributing to us. I don’t believe the author’s and the MSM’s premise that Conservatives are as downcast as they are spinning. I know my happiness is not determined by who the POTUS is.

I’m not making any argument for or against McCain; but I was actually surprised at his numbers here on the FR poll. I thought they’d be lower.

[WOSG]

QUESTIONS FOR FREEPERS:

Whay too much whining about where we’ve been, backbiting, and not enough forward-looking agenda-setting.

Why are we conservatives? What do we care about?

What are the top 3-5 things we conservatives should hope to see change in USA in the next 12 years?

What should our 2020 goals be?

I invite you all to answer those questions. In answering those questions, you answer the skepticism of the author.

Conservatism will only have a future if we look to the future.

[kellynla]

“What are the top 3-5 things we conservatives should hope to see change in USA in the next 12 years?”

Until conservatives start electing true blue conservatives to governorships so that we have a field to choose from for POTUS; we are going to continue to be in the predicament we are in today and for the past 20 years.

In the meantime, the Gelding Old Party needs to get a testicles & spine implant and in a brokered convention, nominate the best qualified person for POTUS, Dick Cheney.

Finally, conservatives need to encourage others to run for political office in their cites, counties, districts & states.

The ONLY way we can take back the GOP is by in an injection of conservatives in membership and leadership thus helping lead America forward.
Point, Game, Set, Match!

[only1percent]

Exactly, there are more "conservatives" every year who are pro-life, pro-gun, pro-God, pro-military but who toss those issues the in dumpster the instant that their monthly government check is threatened.

Or, to put it another way: most people vote their self-interest, and naturally weigh feeding and housing themselves quite highly compared with such other matters.

This is as it should be -- people voting out of self-interest are going to make fewer mistakes than people voting out of idealism, because elections -- particularly as understood by conservatives -- are an exercise of pragmatic self-government, to erect and superintend institutions to do for us what we can't efficiently do for ourselves.

A conservatism which is not actually in the self-interest of a majority, or which is but fails to persuade a majority that it is, is a failed ideology which should and will be rejected at the ballot box.

[only1percent]

COnservatism is about as dead as it was when Goldwater lost...seems the left is starting to count some unhatched chickens.

Boy I hope we're not in that position. While it is true that there would have been no Reagan without Goldwater, had Goldwater won in 1964 there never would have needed to have been a Reagan. Moreover, in 30 years of ascendancy (the 1978 midterm elections marked the turning of the electoral tide) conservatives have managed to undo maybe 5% of the damage done in the 15 years before (1963 to 1978). The biggest problem is that left-wing policy-making married to left-wing media and academia dominance changes culture in ways that right wing politicians can't correct.