Americans and Republicans, remember: You asked for this. Given the choice between a dozen solid conservatives and one Clinton-supporting con artist and game-show host, you chose the con artist. You chose him freely. Nobody made you do it.
Americans and Republicans, remember: You asked for this. Given the choice between a dozen solid conservatives and one Clinton-supporting con artist and game-show host, you chose the con artist. You chose him freely. Nobody made you do it.
Let’s give the other side some fair play here. Members of both political parties have chosen candidates with authoritarian personality types and thus the general election will be between Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Though I know that conservatism is the concern of this post, what these two choices illustrate is that democracy in America is dead. We are looking for “heroes,” for that is how each party will market their nominee, to lead us instead of vying for a more democratic government.
Curt,
My concern is less for “democracy” than for a constitutional republic and the preservation of natural liberties.
This is in part the evil of conservatives falling on their own heads. They helped things go this way before and during the current election. It includes politicians in Congress (like Ted), conservative talk-radio, local tea-party people, ministers, elders, deacons, soccer moms, “patriots”, etc. Nobody may have made them, but their entire conservative political structure was geared towards propping up the man.
http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2016/05/02/i-lied-to-myself-for-years/
I don’t know about Kevin Williamson, but all those former defenders of that man can’t come out and simply wash their hands of what they helped create. I have no intention of helping “true conservatives” in regaining power. Let a wilderness experience of 40 years purge them, then we can talk; maybe 40 years will not be enough?
So now I have to rely on Democrats as our only hope for SOME sanity this year. In general, I will be actively attempting to convince family and friends to not support the Republicans (vote Democrat) and some of their conservative refugees.
Alberto,
The platform of the Democratic Party (e.g., support for abortion on demand and even late-term abortion) should be problematic. Human beings are created by God with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I’m not saying that one must vote Republican. I don’t know what I’ll do but the Democrats have moved so far, that’s hard to imagine. Where are they on religious liberty and other basic civil liberties? I’ve seen little evidence that since the 1908s that they have much regard for the constitution as written.
I am also very disturbed by the GOP choice–won fair and square according to the rules of the game–but to go Democratic also bothers me. Hillary Clinton has said that religious bodies must be made to support homosexuality, abortion, and the rest. This is a clear threat to First Amendment liberties. I also have a very queasy feeling that when she blamed the Benghazi attacks and other 9/11/12 actions in the Arab world on an obscure video by an obscure Coptic immigrant, she was casting a straw into the wind to see if Americans might be willing to surrender the Free Speech clause (or, to imply that Freedom of Speech and the Press are a little too dangerous to be entrusted to the masses when there’s a [supposedly] benign, nurturant nanny state on hand).
I did not support Trump, and in my deep indigo state my conservative Republican vote will probably not make a difference, so I might very well vote Libertarian or Constitution Party, or write-in. But I would be extremely hesitant to vote for either of the Democrats (I can see Bernie Sanders engaging in some nasty demagoguery and calling out the confiscatory machinery of the state when he finds that taxing the churches won’t be so lucrative after all).
The least one can say about Trump is that he makes no pretense to piety or higher morality–and I am afraid to say that Mrs. “Lose”-the-Whitewater-Files-until-the-statute-of-limitations-runs-out Clinton is that she fairly drips sanctimoniousness.
Abortion is not an issue with the same potency for this year, at least at the presidential level. Republicans will continue to pull on the heartstrings of people, particularly Christians, by bringing up abortion while simultaneously promoting the pro-PP man.
I’m only voting because of how BAD that Abomination is. I’m a real independent that doesn’t want to vote. I was hoping stay home in Nov. Now I am compelled to vote so as to ensure his defeat. I’m not waiting for others to do it. The man would be in charge of the military, weapons, war, diplomacy, etc. Those social issues are out the door with him. As for freedom of speech, that man has clearly shown his disregard for it by desiring to make it easier to sue certain critics.
The Right has neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, white-supremacists, etc. Many cannot admit it, and they only point to the bad they see on the Left. The Right has allowed moral rot among them, as that article from Red State admits.
That Abomination need not claim he is of high moral character. His own perceived greatness is repulsive enough. He is a shameless man. People with shame will at least change their ways to some degree, but not the shameless. He has been the most blatantly insincere man to refer to his faith of which I know. I remember him clearly say how he has not really heard of Cubans being evangelical; it was an obvious attempt to depict his running mates, along with those of the same heritage, as somehow lacking Christian commitment. There is so much more that could be said.
I’m dealing with the world as it is, and not with what I wish it to be.
Alberto,
I share your dismay and even disgust with Trump, who is about to become the most vulgar, ill-informed, irresponsible, Narcissistic, GOP candidate in my lifetime. He is not a conservative and never has been. He’s been mouthing a few conservative platitudes but his insincerity is palpable. In truth he is a Euro-style nationalist strong-man without a grasp of the GOP’s history or platform. Like Obama in ’08 he has clearly signaled, to those willing to see, that he does not believe much (if anything) of what he has said in the primary campaign.
Thus, I don’t think it is fair to say that “the right” has neo-Nazis et al. Trump. who ran as a populist-nationalist has dallied with neo-Nazis and indulged in Fascist rhetoric (e.g., promising to deny first amendment liberties to those with whom he disagrees). It was William F. Buckley who chased off the John Birchers and others from the GOP in the 60s, in the wake of Goldwater. I’ve seen much more anti-semitism, Nazi-like behavior on the left than on the right. It is the left that silences dissent, who punishes dissent. The anti-semitism I’ve seen comes from the left. It wasn’t Reagan but Jesse Jackson who called NYC “Hymietown.” More recently Roger Cohen exposed the anti-semitism of the Left in the NYT.
As for abortion and heartstrings, substitute slavery or human trafficking for abortion and the reality becomes more obvious. The Dems supported slavery (the original “human trafficking”) and they use the same arguments today to support abortion that they used to defend human trafficking in the 19th century. This is an objective problem, a crisis, not a subjective problem of human emotion. Yes, the GOP has too long talked more than acted on abortion. Reagan failed in that regard.
This is not a plea to vote for Trump or even to support the GOP but it is to say that the new Left (post-1968) and the Dems are not the civil-political answer either. They gave up on the American principles sometime during the McGovern campaign and they’ve never looked back. The difference between Kennedy/Humphrey and Obama/Biden is stunning. Today, Kennedy/Humphrey would be regarded as moderate (or on foreign policy) right-wing Republicans. The Dems once opposed Marxism, now they are Marxists.
We may have reached a place in American politics where it’s time for a realignment. In historical terms we’re past due. Prior to the mid-19th century American political parties regularly came and vanished. It’s probably time for a new set of parties.
No doubt that there is some anti-Semitism among liberals. I think even Alan Dershowitz would agree with that (the article by Cohen emphasizes college campuses and younger liberals). But I think it is fair to say that neo-Nazis and others are among the Republicans at the moment; Ben Shapiro and John Podhoretz have had their encounters with them in the rise of DT. PBS did a story about a family that was part of the grassroots for DT, and they struck gold; they tried to not notice the obvious at first, but they were forced to by many viewers who noticed certain things. The difference with Repub’s is that they have the man who has been willing to revitalize and give them a place in his campaign, while the Democrats have not done this. And as it stands, Jews are mostly liberal in the US, so I don’t think liberalism is too hostile for them yet.
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/17/pbs_airs_segment_with_trump_supporting_family_doesnt_notice_mothers_white_supremacist_tattoos/
I think it is with good reason that black Christians have many times voted Democrat up to the present; they are looking out for themselves in light of their history. And the former support of Democrats for slavery is NOT representative of the current Democrats.
On abortion, the gov’t is not forcing women to have abortions. Abortion and slavery are NOT the same. Parallels can be made, but they are vastly different. In the majority of abortion cases, mothers (along with parents and male partners encouraging) are choosing to destroy the lives of their offspring, not Democrats or the gov’t. Anger is being directed at the wrong people (pro-choice politicians). I’m against funding abortions using my money and taxes, but for the moment I am not interested in talk of passing laws on abortion. Pro-life talk from Republicans is a trap to get votes they don’t deserve.
I have no illusions about Democrats, but Republicans (particularly that Abomination) have become too much this year. Republicans may be getting new voters, but so are Democrats; I’m one of them.
Alberto,
Trump isn’t “right,” i.e., he’s not a conservative. I don’t think it’s fair to associate him with social/economic conservatives. He’s going to be the GOP nominee but that says more about the state of the party than it does about social/economic conservatism.
Fascism and racism have no place in conservatism.
The African American/Black disenchantment with the GOP goes back to the early part of the 20th century. Wendell Talley has pointed me to W. E. B. DuBois’ struggle with Hoover’s racist policy to shun black voters. Hoover abandoned conservatism in significant ways. Teddy Roosevelt (who was no conservative) also alienated African Americans/Blacks. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” was only the last in a line of insults to Black Republican voters. Rand Paul seems to be the only Republican reaching out to Blacks. It’s a mystery to me. The Democrats have done little for decades but take them for granted. They’ve sided with teachers unions over decent schools. They’ve funded programs that have decimated the black family.
Freedom is the way forward for all of us.
As to abortion and slavery, no one, as far as I know, in the South was required by the government to buy, own, or sell slaves. The analogy holds. The slavers said the same things about Africans that the abortionists say about human infants: they’re not human.
I almost forgot. I’ve heard about the alt-right and the attempts by conservatives to distance themselves. As things are now, I simply view them as a faction of the right/conservatism. Let’s see where things go after this year. So yes, white nationalism is a part of the right.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433650/alt-rights-racism-moral-rot
Alberto,
In my view “alt-right” is a misnomer. They’re populists. They’re “alternative” but they aren’t conservative by any classical definition. NR quite rightly wants to distance classical conservatism from the self-described “alt-right.”
It all comes down to definitions.
My one observation on Dr. Clark’s reply to Alberto is that Democrats have been very solicitous about First Amendment rights for their own clients, but quick to sponsor hate speech codes and other things they might use against their opponents.
Dr Clark,
Actually, if you want a Constitutional Republic, the only liberties we have are those recognized by The Constitution directly as being spelled out in the Amendments or recognized by the SCOTUS as being derived from The Constitution. So you will have to elaborate some on what you mean by ‘Natural Liberties.’
But more than that, our individual liberties must be balanced by our group liberty as exercised by our democracy or Constitutional Republic. Though the Founding Fathers saw only one form of democracy, democracy can come in the form of a republic. And the Republic will be democratic so long as the representatives represent all of the people so that no group receives a privileged place in society. Otherwise, the Constitutional Republic becomes nothing more than a tool that will be used by an elite subset of people to allow them to rule over all others. This is what is happening now (see http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 ).
Curt,
That is profoundly wrong. It is a complete misreading of the history of the Constitution. One of the major reasons why founders were reluctant, originally, to stipulate specifics was precisely because they knew that eventually people would try to say that the only liberties we have are those that are expressly stated.
The liberties articulated in the Bill of Rights are not exhaustive.
Your argument is that is exactly why the Second Amendment is so important.
Color me unimpressed. (Hayek already told us that in a democracy the worst rise to the top.) Mr. Williamson doesn’t get to wash his hands so fast.
Like it or not, der Donald is at least an honest fascist who has blurted out a few things about immigration aka politically correct multicultural diversity, the economy and the morass in the Levant that may not be mentioned in polite “conservative” company. Like, you know. The faux conservative Natl. Review that Kevin writes for.
The rest of the candidates? Well, they’re not quite so honest.
Beginning at least with Bush 2.
So now Kev’s gonna throw a hissy fit.
Cry me a river.
Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
IOW the Grand Old Party did it to themselves, the recriminations are rife and now the rats are leaving the burning ship.
For the USS
HitleryHillary? . . . .Methinks though, that the Monster Drumpf Truck is running big enough swampers to crush her too, whatever the (supposedly omniscient) polls say.
Yet our hope is not in politics or this world and for that we are thankful.
cheers