You, Charles Johnson, and Andrew Sullivan (have you posted any David Frum today?) will not be missed.
(btw: climate change IS (and always has been) a hoax.)
Posted on 12/03/2009 9:32:22 AM PST by steve-b
It's an odd formulation in some ways as "the right" is not really a single entity. But in so far as it means the dominant mode of discourse among the institutions and blogs and magazines and newspapers and journals that support the GOP, Charles Johnson is absolutely right in my view to get off that wagon for the reasons has has stated. Read his testament. It is full of emotion, but also of honesty.
The relationship of a writer to a party or movement is, of course, open to discussion. I understand the point that Jonah Goldberg makes that politics is not about pure intellectual individualism; it requires understanding power, its organization and the actual choices that real politics demands. You can hold certain principles inviolate and yet also be prepared to back politicians or administrations that violate them because it's better than the actual alternatives at hand.... But there has to come a point at which a movement or party so abandons core principles or degenerates into such a rhetorical septic system that you have to take a stand....
For these reasons, I found it intolerable after 2003 to support the movement that goes by the name "conservative" in America. I still do, even though I am much more of a limited government type than almost any Democrat and cannot bring myself to call myself a liberal (because I'm not). My reasons were not dissimilar to Charles Johnson, who, like me, was horrified by 9/11, loathes Jihadism, and wants to defeat it as effectively as possible. And his little manifesto prompts me to write my own (the full version is in "The Conservative Soul"). Here goes:
(Excerpt) Read more at andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com ...
I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.
I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.
I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.
I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.
I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.
I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.
I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.
I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.
I cannot support a movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified and duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.
I cannot support a movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.
I cannot support a movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.
I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.
I cannot support a movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.
I cannot support a movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.
I cannot support a movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.
He'll swallow camels and strain at gnats.
I cannot read a columnist who is totally obsessed with Sarah Palin’s reproductive system despite being homosexual.
}:-)4
c-ya.
Too bad that he wasn’t really ever on the “right” to begin with and this is just publicity for his dying blog.
IMHO, promoting Andrew Sullivan(?!) and Charles Johnson(?!) on FR is way worse than promoting Romney.
There are some legitimate points in that list. Unfortunately those problems were Republican problems, not conservative problems. In fact, the whole list is a smear on Republicans and not conservatives. The other things he lists are byproducts of his personal demons and have nothing to do with the role of government.
You’re more than welcome to join them ,’steve-b’.
Actually, he could just leave and quit talking about it.
Hes gone, is he really gone? Good. He is gone.
Now, who cares?
In the end, homosexuality trumps all. Too bad. He has a good mind, but prefers to think with his *****.
Are Andy and Charles dating?
I’ve never even heard of the guy, but good riddance to him.
I think Sullivan needs a new goat.
“There are some legitimate points in that list. Unfortunately those problems were Republican problems, not conservative problems. In fact, the whole list is a smear on Republicans and not conservatives. The other things he lists are byproducts of his personal demons and have nothing to do with the role of government.”
Nailed it.
The list of politicians Sullivan claims to have supported suggests that he really doesn't understand politics, ideology, or the Constitution. Or, more bluntly, he's either stupid or psychotic.
Well, then, you and Sullivan are in complete agreement:
I found it intolerable after 2003 to support the movement that goes by the name "conservative" in America.
Steve, Charles Johnson NEVER WAS a right-winger, so he cannot be said to have “left”. Back in a 2004 interview, he characterized himself as “center-left”. His only point of congruence with the Right was that he was opposed to militant Islam.
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