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. . . .
“.....and I sure as hell don’t give a damn what Kristol thinks.”
Good post, and that line highlighted all needed to be said. Thanks for that.
Ohio Issue 2 will lose because of union demagoguery as opposed to a true addiction to entitlements.
It’s up to us to decide!
I will not vote for Romney.
His election will do nothing to advance our interests.
At the risk of showing my age...I was a senior in highschool, too young to vote by a few months. But, Reagan was President during my flight into the 'real world.'
Funny, I did not and still do not view him as our solving problems. I view him and inspiring me, our country, to solve our own problems. He didn't just give us hope that 'someone' would rescue us, he inspired us to rescue ourselves.
November 6, 2012 will be the Picket’s Charge of the GOP if Romney is the candidate.
His speeches made me want to stand up and CHEER! He was INSRIRING and made me proud of my Country. When I read anything he had written, It caused me to think.
Ronald Reagan was a GEM and a truly GREAT man.
Your point is well made and I should have said as mush when I posted. Thank You
We are ‘his generation.’ Right now we have the children of the 1960’s-70’s running things. The generation of the 80’s had two roads. One group was the children of the ‘me generation’ the other was the generation of Reagan.
I like Cain. I like Perry. I like Santorum. I like Bachmann. Romney or Gingrich only if we must, and if we find we must, it is only becuase our other guys didn't have the staying power for the whole race. We will face that fact only IF we must!
That said: every one of them a damn site better than the Carter II that we have there now.
Onward to victory in 2012!
FReegards!
Based on who his advisers and co-workers are now, it would be expected that his supreme court appointments might be as good as W’s (Roberts and Alito), and almost certainly would be nowhere near as bad as Obama’s. To someone who understand how the country works, that’s enough reason to crawl over broken glass to vote for any of the current Rep’s over O.
Screw the RNC! I want a CONSERVATIVE not a REPUBLICAN!!!
I am sick and tired of being told by the Republican party that we conservatives had better support whatever liberal piece of trash RINO they throw at us or else. Well, or else what, dipshits??? We’ll get the RINO liberal or the DNC liberal?? What the Hell is the difference???
Romney?? Liberal, Obama like Romney??? Romney gave Taxachusettes Hillary Care, and gave power to the rise of Obamacare. All the same crap! Is that crap what the RNC thinks we are supposed to support?
This is not an 8th grade girl’s club whose only job is to “win”. This is our country the RNC keep playing around with. This isn’t party-over-country. The RNC had better step up and stop playing around.
I’ll ONLY give my vote to a candidate I can support. If neither candidate is anything but a liberal, I’ll write in a name.
If I wanted to take Bubba and FDR as role models, Bill, I’d be a Democrat.
And again, Kristol doesn’t get it. Ronald Reagan wasn’t perfect, either. No candidate is. Yes, 1980 ::was:: amazing. Morning in America.
If you’re trying to convince conservatives that Mittens should get our vote if he is the nominee, you’re you-know-whatting in the wind. It’s not happening.
Therein lies the problem. Now. The person he's running as now is not the same Romney before he decided to run as a conservative candidate. What'll he change into next? He's not trustworthy.
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