Wrong...
Posted on 12/30/2010 3:23:16 AM PST by Scanian
Back in June, Indiana Gov. Mitch Dan iels, whom many think would be an attractive 2012 presidential candidate, was quoted by Andrew Ferguson in The Weekly Standard as saying the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues."
That quickly attracted some harsh criticism from opponents of abortion and same-sex marriage. But Daniels has declined to back down, telling the Indianapolis Star the other day that such issues are secondary to the economy and foreign policy.
I think both Daniels and his critics have missed the point. The fact is that there is an ongoing truce on the social issues, because for most Americans they have been overshadowed by concerns raised by the weak economy and the Barack Obama Democrats' vast increase in the size and scope of government.
Those with strong positions on both sides of the abortion and gay rights issues don't like to hear that. They -- on both sides -- base their views on strongly held moral beliefs that are intellectually defensible and not vicious in character.
And for more than a decade, they had gotten used to a politics in which the demographic variable most highly correlated with voting behavior was religion, or degree of religiosity, and in which positions on abortion were very highly correlated with partisan preference.
Our politics in the years from 1995 to 2005 or so was like a culture war between two approximately equal-sized armies fighting it out over small bits of terrain that made the difference between victory and defeat. In that context, abortion and other cultural issues were litmus tests in the contests for both parties' presidential nominations.
I don't think that's likely to be the case in the future.You don't hear potential contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination talking about cultural issues...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Given the current economic situation, I personally emphasize fiscal conservatism — but I will not turn my back on social conservatism. But “conservative” organizations like CPAC are extending a hand to homosexuals, and that is a bad move. I don’t see it as a truce when some “conservatives” are trying to help homosexuals.
The reality is that government needs to do less. We need less special legislation for special groups, and we need drastically less government spending. That kind of fiscal conservatism will lead inevitably to social conservatism. We can get there, but not if organizations like CPAC try to act like Liberal Democrats.
He’s right about gay marriage and anti-gay bias.
But you do hear Palin speaking out for life. I also think illegal immigration is something of a cultural issue that is becoming more and more acceptable to speak against.
What really puts people over the line is when supposed economic issues, such as Obamacare, threaten to change the character of the country and the continuance of the Constitution.
Wrong...
Seeing this editorial being widely disseminated in Republican/conservative fori I can only conclude that in the name of expediency the erstwhile right has capitulated on it’s defining issues. It’s all about bean counting now. Add that to Hugh Hewitt and Jonathan Goldberg bending over in praise of Repeal and Gay Marriage (As gay becomes bourgoise.) Why would anybody west or south of New Jersey even bother showing up at the polls?
One issue does not make speaking out against social issues. For example, what is her take on gays in the miltiary?????? Chirps. Chirps. Nothing. Not a Facebook post to be had.
Barry Goldwater didn’t lose because of the daisy add, he was the least Social Conservative in the field. Bob Dole, said that no one ever reads the platform, implying that the abortion plank didn’t mean cr@p to him.
If you think you can win with a Libiterian candidate, you will go down worse than you did I 2008. But do keep trying to convince all the Chtistian right that your candidate is better than nothing, it has worked so well in the past.
They're inextricably intertwined. Cultural Marxism is the means by which the constituency for economic Marxism is created.
Every single mother, every divorce, every illegitimate child grows the ranks of our opposition. This was the prescription of the Frankfurt school. They pulled it off brilliantly.
Now we can fix the fiscal problems quite quickly. Those are just a matter of law changes. But how do you rebuild a culture?
Given that we’re spending absurdly huge sums on those “Social Issues” I don’t think we can “afford” to ignore them.
The Social Issues and the Fiscal issue are one and the same.
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