Where are the ELITE in THIS picture??
Posted on 11/07/2011 9:02:47 PM PST by guitarist
**For every Southern boy 14 years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armstead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a 14-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose and all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago . . .
—William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust
For every American conservative, not once but whenever he wants it, it’s always the evening of November 4, 1980, the instant when we knew Ronald Reagan, the man who gave the speech in the lost cause of 1964, leader of the movement since 1966, derided by liberal elites and despised by the Republican establishment, the moment when we knew—he’d won, we’d won, the impossible dream was possible, the desperate gamble of modern conservatism might pay off, conservatism had a chance, America had a chance. And then, a decade later—the Cold War won, the economy revived, America led out of the abyss, we’d come so far with so much at stake—conservatism vindicated, America restored, a desperate and unbelievable victory for the cast made so many years ago against such odds.
But that was then, and this is now. Now is 2012, and it seems clear that 2012 isn’t going to be another 1980. The reality seems to be that we’re not going to have a chance to replay that election, with (at least in the hazy glow of retrospect) a compelling conservative leader of long standing but ever youthful, a man who stood tall and spoke for us and for America, riding gracefully to victory over the GOP establishment in the primaries and over decadent liberalism in the general election. Assuming the presidential field stays as it is, 2012 won’t be a repeat of 1980.
Which is not to say that 2012 can’t be a good, even a very good, election for conservatives and for the country. There are other models for victory. In 1992 an incumbent president was soundly defeated by an impressive though flawed candidate who emerged from a weak field, after leading lights in his party refused to run (Cuomo, Bradley, Gore, Gephardt). Bill Clinton doesn’t provide a model of successful governance for the next Republican president—the next president is going to have to lead, not accommodate—but he does suggest another, less elegant model than 1980 for the defeat of an incompetent incumbent.
And then there’s 1932, when a not particularly distinguished four-year governor who’d zigged and zagged back and forth to be acceptable to large parts of the Democratic party, and whose political career was at first based partly on his last name, defeated another incumbent. Franklin Roosevelt did turn out to be a consequential president—because of the nature of the challenges he faced, because the country was ready for fundamental change, because there was a movement behind him (or ahead of him) that was full of ideas and energy, because there were strong representatives of that movement in Congress and in statehouses, and because he rose to the occasion.
These other models for conservative success in 2012 need to be studied for their lessons and adapted to our times. Reversing Obama’s weakness abroad, repealing Obamacare, restoring solvency and prosperity and limiting government at home, these are tasks too important not to be achieved because of our nostalgic disappointment that we will not, in 2012, replay a moment that is not to be again—and that perhaps never truly was.
Still, for every conservative of a certain age, there is the instant when it’s Election Day 1980, and the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out. . . .
I’d settle for another March 1968!
Don’t let *mmmmf* *mmmmf* hear that or you’ll get e-lynched.
Truth be told he DID solve some of the problems, be he didn't solve ALL of our problems. Back in those days I thought “it couldn't get any worse”. Boy did I have a lot to learn.
We will never have a perfect candidate. Mr. Reagan was about as close as we have come in my lifetime. I will be happy to see the guy currently destroying our country out. I would have said the same thing in 1980. I do hope we are able to nominate a Conservative! Oh Sara, Oh Sara, where art thou?
I'd be more open to that plea if I thought we the people were having any say in who is nominated. I've come to the conclusion that the GOP liberal elite are going to put Romney in the seat and the hell with the voters.
They are going to ram Romney down our throats, knowing that he can't win after they do that. The bastards would rather lose the election than permit a conservative to become the nominee.
The GOP leadership is going to reelect Obama, not the Democrats. There should be a new circle in hell for them.
Ok Ok. .stop with the moralizing. . screw Kristol. . .the true conservatives are being assaulted BEFORE THE PRIMARIES. We don’t want Romney and, by God, we are going to work to get a genuine conservative in the White House. FULL STEAM AHEAD! Hand-wringing while the game is in the second quarter is what losers do. . “oh God, we’re behind by a field goal. . that’s it WE CAN’T WIN”. . .geez. ..go curl up on a blankie will ya. Remember. . .IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL ITS OVER. and it’s not over for Herman Cain. . .he can be the next Reagan. I don’t give a damn about the media circus and I sure as hell don’t give a damn what Kristol thinks.
Man, I hope a new conservative jumps into the Republican primary soon.
Somebody young and fresh and not sleazy or goofy.
As it is, anybody but Romney (or Huntsman or Paul) is going to have to do, but it could be so much better. Jim DeMint? Sarah Palin?
Scott Walker?
I guess at this point I’m hoping for Perry. I guess.. (shrug)
I’ve had this feeling,looking at the numbers from the Ohio polls on Kasich’s bill, looking at how the flame fired by taxes and the debt has dwindled as people fear loss of their entitlements, that conservatives really lost this fight in Nov. 1936 when America reelected Roosevelt, almost by acclamation. Americans really want the goods that a govt can dispense with tax dollars, and many if not most seem willing to take from others to do it while willingly surrendering their liberty to the state that provides. If I am wrong, how is it that no GOP candidate, save Goldwater, ran on the promise of repealing the New Dea? And President Reagan, victor over the USSR, never effected one significant victory in dismantling the New deal?
Not Mittens. The GOP Rinos picked the wrong socialist, conservative hating horse again. I’m an independent.
Its a weird mixture for me of politics and prophecy; I know how it ends but exactly where are we in that mix? I keep a foot in both camps.
Evangelical Patriots.
Push come to shove..
Romney Never. He’s no better than Ford or even Carter.
It’s true. In the end Reagan wasn’t able to do much on entitlements. But his appointment of Scalia was worth all the effort of getting him elected. Anyone who’s interested should read Scalia’s dissents from the many idiotic Supreme Court rulings of the last 25 years.
I think it’s crazy to say that the establishment is forcing Romney on us. It’s up to us to decide. Vote for the best candidate in the primary, and vote for whoever is the Republican alternative to Obama in November.
If this madness doesn’t turn around, we could be headed for another 1865. As volatile as things are, that would be very bad news.
Perry is on record as opposing the New Deal.
Not this time. Remember that Appomatox was time out, a long one, but time out just the same.
0bambi thinks he can subjugate us by pitting one against the other. He and his fellow travelers think that they can control the mobs of malcontents and America-hating scum. St. Paul exhorts us: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap.” Galatians 6 True then, true now.
All that remains is THE spark.
Where are the ELITE in THIS picture??
You tell ‘em!!
Wake up and smell the VICTORY!
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