Posted on 10/21/2005 9:24:54 AM PDT by churchillbuff
Here's our old friend, John Derbyshire, even crankier than usual:
All the windsocks are now pointing in the direction of more socialism. As the population ages, Americans will want more leisure, drugs, health care, nursing homes, security. As the Jihadist threat continues to metastasize (from the MidEast to Indonesia, Thailand, Africa, the Caucasus, Europe), we shall want the state to have more police powers, more scrutiny of us and our lives. The trend of the last 40 years away from the old Anglo-Saxon rights and liberties -- private property rights (google "tobacco settlement," "Kelo," etc.), freedom of speech, contract and assembly ("speech codes," anti-discrimination laws, etc.), limited government (is Washington DC shrinking? looking poorer and shabbier? not that I've noticed) -- will accelerate. And everybody will be fine with all this, because that's what everybody wants, except for a few freakish intellectuals like ourselves.
I can see Derbyshire's his point. But when Americans and Brits are actually presented with genuine conservatism - the kind exemplified by Reagan and Thatcher or Gingrich in 1994 - they respond. Explain to people that freedom matters, and why, and they will back it. The culprit here is George W. Bush. What he has done is provide a form of Christianist socialism, and glibly presented it as the continuation of the conservative tradition. He has thereby in one stroke delegitimized conservatism itself by falsely claiming its mantle, and also done the damage that socialists normally do to a society's self-respect, governmental functioning, public finances and individual liberty. It will take a generation to recover. Jonah Goldberg, in a moment of candor last year, predicted that Bush's re-election would be terrible for the conservative movement. He was right. But he voted for the guy. And that was part of conservatism's suicide as well. They finally told the truth about Bush - but only after it could make a difference.
Andrew Sullivan is wrong on many, many things -- starting with the gay perversion obsession. But he's right on this: George Bush is a big-spending liberal who has curtailed our freedoms with atrocities like campaign finance reform. Bush's assault on conservatism is exemplified by the freepers who now define "conservatism" as "whatever Bush does." So big-spending liberalism is now "conservative," because Bush practices big-spending liberalism.
No. I won't read Andrew Sullivan. You can't make me.
Cute, but what precisely is inaccurate in what Sullivan said? Bush spends more than Clinton did -- to call that "conservative" is to twist the word beyond recognition.
I will credit Bush with one thing: Tax cuts. But how can they be maintained in the face of Bush's spending?
Come onnnnn. Everyone's doing it. I'll give you the first hit for free. ;-)
I find myself in agreement with this assessment of Bush. I have no interest in the kind of government the Republicans are giving us.
Agreed completely - Sullivan is right on the money on this one.
More accurately, how can they be maintained with the CONGRESS's spending?
I agree, Bush is a big spender, but I think Sullivan's got an axe to grind.
YEs he does. But if he says the sun is up - and it's noon - then the fact that he's a pervert doesn't mean the sun isn't up. Bush is a liberal in much of his policy, and Andrew's perversion doesn't negate that truth.
Nope, it's Bush's spending - because his signature is on the spending bills. Otherwise they wouldn't be law. The GOP-controlled Congress shares blame, but the buck stops with the guy in the Oval Office.
Sure it does, but to wholly blame him for domestic spending is disengenious. But thats ok the point is clear Bush is the devil incarnate.
Nevermind the fact that the deficit as measured historically isnt as high as Reagans who didnt have a war to pay for. This isnt to forgive him, of course, but a little history is in order before we call Bush a socialist(which he isnt).
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