Relax, liberals. You've already won

Salon ^ | June 10, 2008 | Michael Lind

[forkinsocket]

No matter who prevails at the ballot box in November, John McCain or Barack Obama, the four-decade-long conservative counterrevolution is over.

Now that Hillary Clinton has conceded the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, the primaries are over and the general election campaign for the White House has begun. On the Republican side, however, the general election campaign began months ago -- and presumptive nominee John McCain has spent much of that time tacking toward the center. He praised multilateralism in a March 26 speech in Los Angeles and in general is trying to appear more like an Eisenhower Republican than a Reagan Republican. True, every four years all major-party presidential candidates race toward the center. But in the last decade, even during the seven-plus years of the Bush presidency, the center of American politics has moved considerably to the left. Whether Obama or McCain wins the White House, liberalism has already won the national debate about the future of the country.

For 40 years, the radical right tried to destroy the domestic and international order that American liberals created in the central decades of the 20th century. The people who are known today as "conservatives" are better described as "counterrevolutionaries." The goal of Barry Goldwater and the intellectuals clustered around William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review was not a slightly more conservative version of the New Deal or the U.N. system. They were reactionary radicals who dreamed of a counterrevolution. They didn't just want to stop the clock. They wanted to turn it back.

Three great accomplishments defined midcentury American liberalism: liberal internationalism, middle-class entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, and liberal individualism in civil rights and the culture at large.

[forkinsocket]

.

[unkus]

It could still be McCain vs Hitlery.

[ken21]

dat’s true.

i have a democrat-tv-watcher friend who would vote for fidel castro,

and she’s ok with mccccccain, if obama, her choice, loses.

si.

[I see my hands]

Beware Liberals.

[cripplecreek]

It could still be McCain vs Hitlery.

And the result would be the same.

[Old Sarge]

Now that Hillary Clinton has conceded the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama

She Who Must Not Be Named has NOT conceded, She has only "suspended" Her campaign, and is retaining all Her delegates, in addition to Her 900+ FBI files.

[roses of sharon]

IT IS TIME TO UNLEASH HELL.

[unkus]

I think we are going to see a >small< wake-up call.

[M203M4]

Big government abroad, big government at home, socially moderate. Just like a 1960’s Democrat. Of course the modern mainstream GOP (neocons like McCain and Giuliani) is agreeable to an American-second internationalist like Lind.

[x]

For 40 years, the radical right tried to destroy the domestic and international order that American liberals created in the central decades of the 20th century. The people who are known today as "conservatives" are better described as "counterrevolutionaries." The goal of Barry Goldwater and the intellectuals clustered around William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review was not a slightly more conservative version of the New Deal or the U.N. system. They were reactionary radicals who dreamed of a counterrevolution. They didn't just want to stop the clock. They wanted to turn it back.

What he's saying doesn't correspond to real electoral politics in the US. Sure, people may not like the UN or the Federal Reserve, but there was never any serious effort in electoral politics to get rid of them.

I'm also not sure that there was ever any "attack" on social security. Think tanks discussed alternatives to reform or replace or supplement. That's the sort of thing they're supposed to talk about.

Lind seems to have bought into the idea of a Reagan or Gingrich "revolution" which was never in the cards. One of the comments compares his view to "Rove's Permanent Republican Majority" theory. So now he's seized on a similar notion of the dawn of a new liberal era. It's the same dizzy, blurry-eyed exaltation in what may be a moment of success.

I guess liberals will have their moment, their chance, but that's different from saying that it's the end of an era.

[org.whodat]

The republcrats Vs. the democrats, who cares.

[Rebelbase]

“Three great accomplishments defined midcentury American liberalism: liberal internationalism, middle-class entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, and liberal individualism in civil rights and the culture at large.”

And with it we got an entire spectrum of society totally dependent on Government for their survival via food stamps, welfare, medical care, and public housing.

Along with the nanny state we gained a litigious society ready to sue at the drop of a hat.

Then there’s that whole removal of prayer from school thing........

[Rebelbase]

I always feel slimy after visiting Salon.com. Is it just me?

[HappyinAZ]

“No self respecting CONSERVATIVE can vote that ticket, consequences be damned.”

Bologna.......... it’s an election...vote for the better (most conservative) of the two canidates and move on to the next election.

And no responsible adult....should be saying “conseqences be damned”......

[dforest]

Yep, no matter what, we are still going to get a socialist.
So be it, my vote will be missing this time.

[RetiredArmy]

But in the last decade, even during the seven-plus years of the Bush presidency, the center of American politics has moved considerably to the left. Whether Obama or McCain wins the White House, liberalism has already won the national debate about the future of the country.

Yes, Americans have gone liberal. They want free food, free sex, free drugs, free medical, free TV, free porn, free gas, free health care and all the at the same time as they sit on their fat asses and watch TV. America has destroyed itself in the past 10-15 years. We have destroyed the greatest Republic in the world in that time span, something the Soviets could not do in 60+ years. Basically, forget it. America that you used to know is gone. It is now the new liberal slimeball America. Conservatives are going to feel like and be treated like a North Korean dirt farmer. Its coming. Hang on for the ride. Because the garbage has just started to stink and the crap has flies all around it. America is rotten to the core. Maybe the Islumics had it right in the first place, America is RUN by Satan. America has forgotten God and its religion. America just reeks of liberal garbage. And, for if it is free, Americans will fall all over themselves to get THEIRS!!

[what's up]

Are liberals going to get their end to the WOT under McCain? No.

Are liberals going to get and end to the partial birth abortion ban under McCain? No.

Are liberals going to get the Bush tax cuts killed under McCain? No.

Corporate tax cuts? Yes, under McCain. A big NO under Obamanama.

There's some BIIIIIIG differences between the 2.

[cripplecreek]

I’m voting conservative. A democrat will win this state anyway so I see no point in wasting my vote on a RINO.

[Reeses]

I’d vote for Carter II if I thought it would bring in Reagan II in 4 years. Hillary and McCain are not stepping stones to electing a conservative next time.