Where we’ve gone wrong
So, the Obama Administration is about to get a “black eye” by GOP takeovers of the Virginia and possibly the New Jersey governorships. With the official Republican candidate dropping out of NY-23, the Conservative Party candidate looks like he’s going to win and thus retain the seat for the right-of-center.
2003 was the first State of the Union Address I had watched that I really cared about. Two months earlier, the GOP won a dozen seats in the House and picked up a few in the Senate. President Bush was well-respected nationally but better than that, he was feared internationally. America meant fucking business. Iraq was in our sights-thousands of troops were already in Kuwait, waiting to end the decade-long farce and show the Arab world that they weren’t the only ones that can fundamentally change the security paradigm. What struck me about that speech was the hope in the future it delivered. And this wasn’t mindless hope based in one man that could deliver my sinning self and my sinning nation to salvation, it was based on some real policies. Yes, it was all soaked in rhetoric. Yes, such hopes don’t translate well into policy. But to hear that America was going to do its damnedest to help combat AIDS in Africa, new funding for cleaner fuels, the promise of further tax cuts to expand the economy and most importantly of all, the unapologetic stance that America was just and right in its pursuit of individual freedom for all.
Something has been lost in the six plus years since then. Bush had a fairly terrible second term but in true fashion, he got right the one foreign policy decision he had to get right, and now Iraq looks to be a bastion of freedom despite its imperfections and complications. Bush was never the “full conservative” that fought to scale back the role of the state, though he showed his character by trying to take on social security. The GOP and the conservative “movement” can blame him all we want for failing and thus forcing Americans to back the then-Senator Obama’s candidacy, but we need to be real about three things.
1) In democracies and Presidential systems in particular, it is insanely hard for the electorate to support a candidate or his party for more than two elections in a row. Being in power means being rated on an imperfect record full of defeats and compromises.
2) Bush did a lot of good. Yes, not of all it is stuff I like, sitting here about nine months after his term ended. But the majority of it, on average, made America a better place. Children get better education, the military is more adept and better led. American aid to those who have nothing was greatly expanded. Most of all, he put American support solidly behind those who have, are and will risk everything for freedom the world over.
3) President Obama ran as a centrist and ran on little more than “hope” and “change.” My worst fears have been confirmed about his ability to lead and command and now America is paying the price. The GOP put forth Senator McCain, who is a great man, able legislator and would have made a better President than Obama in terms of leadership, but he was hardly the man to bring ideological coherence and accomplish conservative goals. Yes, he could have won. No, he wasn’t a terrible candidate. But his candidacy brings up my main point:
Conservatives need to be more sure of our convictions and our elected officials need to keep their head in the game. The Republican Revolution of 1994 did a lot of good, but we never sealed the deal. Too many congressmen reneged on their promise to only run for three terms, too many of them compromised rhetorically and ideologically with statists within the GOP and without. Legislation will also be the product of give-and-take and compromise, but when congressmen that advocate a smaller role for government can’t find the stones to back a President to privatize Social Security (and a President re-elected less than a year earlier), that’s an issue.
I’m all about running candidates who “fit” the districts or states they are running in and whose political will they are supposed to represent. But there needs to be at least an agreement amongst those who claim the mantle of the right-of-center that their chief goal is to ensure that the state’s role in society is limited and the chief question for existing and potential increases in the role of the state is not “Why not?” But “Why?”
The GOP is in the business of winning seats and enabling right-of-center candidates to bring to life their vision of a better tomorrow through limited government. The opposition has proven over the past nine months it cares only for retaining its control over the government, which it wants to have a more complete grip on society. They are still just “adversaries” and not “enemies” but their political and ideological goals are mutually exclusive with ours.
So, lets win in Virginia and New Jersey and NY-23. But let’s remember that we’ve fallen far and the goal isn’t these relatively small races or races, period. It’s enabling well-meaning people who turn to politics because its the key to limiting government.
Not sure why I wrote this.
