Logic Times
Betrayed Conservatives
Commentary by Aslan, 4/29/06, 6:00pm. Comments (0)
The Left’s hatred of George W. Bush has no rival...
...or so it once seemed. But not so fast. There is a new breed of GWB hater: the Betrayed Conservative, a creature of surprisingly intense emotions for a member of the rational Right. The Betrayed Conservative is good news and bad news for the conservative movement. The good news is that there are vocal, passionate conservatives out there – large numbers of them – unwilling to accept anything less than sound conservative policy out of Washington. They are angry and active and have imposed some measure of discipline on that exasperating collection of spineless Republicans in the nation’s capital. At the drop of a bad Supreme Court nominee or immigration bill, the Betrayed Conservative explodes with the sort of colorful epithets that would make Al Franken blush. And make no mistake, Bush is their whipping boy, and they rarely stop at forty lashes.
The bad news is that Betrayed Conservatives are a political disaster. Betrayal involves a breach of confidence, but in the history of American conservative politics there has never been any confidence to breach, never been a reliable tradition of conservative policy in Washington implemented by principled public servants. Such animals have rarely walked the halls of the Capitol Building, and when they appear, they are hunted down by both the rabid Left and vacillating Right with the viciousness of ritual murder. Such creatures of principle – Newt Gingrich for example – threaten all pure politicians.
The revolution that began with Ronald Reagan, continued with Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America and had breathtaking potential under George W. Bush is a revolution that most rational conservatives have always understood to be about incrementalism. Draining a swamp is a slow process.
Ronald Reagan was special – a vanguard visionary who took the stumbling disaster of the 70s and infused new life into America. Even so, he presided over a doubling of the size of the federal government, signed a bill granting for the first time outright amnesty to Mexican illegals (2.7 million of them) and appointed such marginal legal minds as Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, his ascension was a triumph for conservatives seeking a place in the public square for God, family, economic liberty, and American strength, values in stark decline in the 60s and 70s.
Perhaps the Contract with America whetted the appetite of the Betrayed Conservative, representing as it did the promise of principle over politics, principles that had popular appeal and reigned in a disastrous and morally bankrupt Clinton co-Presidency. Yet even that crowd had its leader pulled down and many of its members assimilated as they grew comfortable with the tenure that government largesse could buy. Power corrupts and all that.
George W. Bush has turned out to be a politician when conservatives hoped he would be an ideologue. He has produced great things and dismal things, and, while disappointing, such political behavior should hardly be a surprise. The rational Right understands that it is time to bank the gains and make the next incremental effort in the conservative revolution.
Here is where the naiveté of the Betrayed Conservative clumsily intervenes and, like a large, witless boy in a brawl, head down and arms swinging wildly, strikes friend and foe alike. By adding their shrill voice to the debate, the first accomplishment of the Betrayed Conservative is to immolate all Republicans, paradoxically jeopardizing the opportunity for conservative government because of their exasperation with liberal government. I have yet to witness a Betrayed Conservative differentiate between a solid Republican conservative fighting the good fight and a crying, squishy waste of life like George Voinovich. In letting emotion rule the day and failing to make distinctions, the Betrayed Conservative functions more like a typical liberal and, at the same time, serves them very well indeed.
Tom "The Hammer" Delay is a perfect example of how the defection of Betrayed Conservatives has emboldened the scavenger media. The Hammer built his career as a political enforcer, most notably as the man who compelled Newt’s freshman and sophomore Republicans to toe the conservative line. It is this type of man Betrayed Conservatives need roaming the halls of Congress, and it is this type of man they have helped bring down with their blanket withdrawal of support. If nothing else, liberals know a good attack strategy when they see one, so look for character assassination of important conservatives to continue.
The second accomplishment of Betrayed Conservatives is that they have become pessimists – relentlessly negative, doom-and-gloom relatives of Chicken Little. Conservatives traditionally embrace life, opportunity, the entrepreneurial spirit, and a fundamental belief that Man is both good and capable of overcoming all obstacles. That we are endowed – endowed, not burdened – by our Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty and, yes, the pursuit of happiness. Instead, spend an evening with a group of Betrayed Conservatives and you are likely to find yourself on a ledge somewhere eager for the pavement below to deliver you from the impending geopolitical Tribulation. Are there problems in our world? Of course. Are they serious? Absolutely. But they are no more serious – and arguably less serious – than the problems faced in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s or any other decade, let alone in the early days of our country. Spend a few hours reviewing the hardships faced by George Washington’s revolutionary army retreating through New Jersey during a bitter December in 1776, ill-clothed, ill-equipped, demoralized and vastly outnumbered by seasoned British and Hessian soldiers. Then honestly evaluate America’s plight today. If Washington – with a list of legitimate complaints a mile long – was a Betrayed Conservative, he would have angrily rode back to Mount Vernon instead of crossing the ice-clogged Delaware at night in a sleet and hail storm with 2,400 exhausted men using blankets for coats and shoes, and then marching 9 miles in the dark to attack and defeat an experienced Hessian army at Trenton without losing a single man in battle. His attitude that long, painful year despite moments of personal despair was a refusal to abandon hope for the cause. Conservatives should take note.
The final accomplishment of the Betrayed Conservative is to undervalue George W. Bush. Given that Bush is the focal point for their outrage, such a statement in likely to make them sputter in disbelief, but George W. Bush has displayed more conservative courage where it counts than any modern president, including Ronald Reagan. Reagan defeated the Evil Empire, it is true, but that cold war – as a test of conservative courage – pales in comparison to the politically hot War on Terror underway today. The greatest hope – the only hope – of winning this state-less, amorphous war is the Bush Doctrine, a policy deeply rooted in conservative principles that survives intact only because it is guided by someone with astounding commitment to principle, someone with total disregard for political calculation in this most important of matters. Such should be mother’s milk to conservatives.
Do we give up on these "betrayed" conservatives? No, but a little advice wouldn't hurt: be optimistic, continue to demand good conservative policy, support true Republican conservatives, and remember the end game of your current strategy:
President
Vice President
Defense Secretary
Speaker of the House
Senate Leader
Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee
Supreme Court
Copyright © 2006 Dan Hallagan. All Rights Reserved.