Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Conservative Dilemma







Liberals who've reviled Anne Coulter are now in the midst of a veritable love fest over her inane threat to "vote for Hillary if McCain is the GOP nominee." I've heard others say that they'd rather see Hillary push through amnesty and tax hikes, because "At least then, the Republicans and Conservative Dems in Congress would fight to block those things."

It's idiocy.

Conservatives on both sides will always fight against those things.

On the larger issue (some have said that "the electorate is not as Conservative as Conservatives would hope"), in light of evidence such as "The number of Americans who believe that government should help the needy even if that means greater debt has risen from 41% in 1994 to 54% today," but I
still think Margaret Thatcher was right when she said something along the lines that "The facts of life are Conservative." That seems to be the case, as according to the facts from the last election (2006) where nearly EVERY Conservative Ballot initiative won the day, from Michigan voting to end race/gender-preferences by nearly 2 to 1, to Eminent Domain being struck down in 11 of 12 States, to Gay Marriage going down on 8 of 9 Ballot Referendums and Americans voting 66% to 33% AGAINST Gay Marriage.

I do believe that the vast majority of people (Americans and everyone else) are apolitical and hold to no fast internal ideological mandate.

Ironically enough, the prosperity that Conservative principles and market-based economic policies create, is often that ideology's own worst enemy.

When people are "fat, dumb and happy," they feel more secure, they desire more leisure time, rather than more productivity and they feel more charitable - both charitable to those who fail and more kind toward criminal screw-ups.

After the enormous post-WW II prosperity of the 1950s, America went through one of its worst fits of socialistic mischief. Violent crime was seen as "the natural reaction of the poor to deprivation," drug use was regaled not reviled and an expensive and doomed "war on poverty" was launched under the banner that "Everyone deserved a good life regardless of their ability to produce."

Those Keynesian policies imploded in STAGFLATION during the star-crossed Carter presidency and since then, we've had about a quarter century of unprecedented prosperity, thanks in large measure to Supply Side economic policies and Conservative principles on the domestic front.

The people have once again become too "fat, dumb and happy."

There are dolts on the Left who openly rail against the FISA laws that have allowed the government to listen in on calls between Americans both TO & FROM various "suspect foreign portals." Others have compared the militant Muslim terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq to our own "Minutemen."

And the idiotic idea of "giving people commodities" (like healthcare and housing) has become more popular than at any time over the last half century.

The thing is that Thatcher was fundamentally right. Idiotic economic policies inevitably lead to economic dislocation and a self-correction BACK to Conservative ideals and market-based economic policies.

Conservatism has yet to figure out how not to be it's own worst enemy...at least in the eyes of the gullible....and those who become too "fat, dumb and happy."

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