Nov 08 2006
The Physics Of Purity
The anger at the American peoples’ verdict on the Republicans is understandable – but it is causing Rep and Cons to miss the lesson here. I have heard a lot of normally smart and observant people conclude the right was not far enough right! Wrong answer. As I posted this morning, the country turned their backs on the Reps because the reps have been on a ‘purity’ binge the last year or so beating up on Bush for not being conservative enought. It first raised its ugly head on Myers. And no, I could care less whether Myers was confirmed – my point has always been she deserved to be heard before we rejected her, not because David Frum had a personal ax to grind. I don’t care about that either.
The purity effort results in deroguetory comments like “RINO” and “True Republicans”, like there is some requirement to agree with a single dogma. It was really bad in the immigration debate when the House would not allow those conservatives that wanted to document and background check the workers here already and instead would only build a fence. And this was after the tone was set by claims we should round people up and toss them out of the country if they don’t have a work permit. The penalty for the lack of a permit was back taxes, a background check and no break for applying for US citizenship. I would have added a processing fee as well to fund the effort. But those penalties were considered amnesty. And if you challenged this view you were a RINO or a moderate. Whatever the name, you were impure.
Not being a Republican this meant nothing to me, but it took a toll on people who share 50-80% of the Republican vision and who were willing to work on those aspects. For those who couldn’t stomach the liberal solution working with Reps on common ground was fine – as long as it was respectful. Well the purity police are out again, because they have been rejected at the polls. There answer – move farther right, become more pure, cede more of the middle to conservative Dems (or at least people dressed up as conservatives)
Because folks, that is how the Reps got beaten. Democrats fielded candidates that represented those aspects of the conservative philosophy that have broad agreement. They highjacked conservatism from the Reps. Let me use an example. The country agrees on parental notification and partial birth abortion, but doesn’t accept making abortion illegal. They just are not there yet. So Reps were doing fine when they were not only making progress, but outlining why the next step was also good policy. Until they get impatient and start calling those who want to step towards the goal less than pure, not true conservatives
So the dems tapped these people on the shoulder and said “we see what you are thinking, we will work with you”. And they may. Mark Levin was commiserating with Delay on the radio tonight saying the Dems will let the facade drop and the voters will get buyer’s remorse. I don’t think the dems will. I think they will start stepping America leftward in small, acceptable steps building confidence as they go. At least they should if they want to hold power. And we all know they want to hold power.
There is something about purification that is unavoidable. The process is widely used to remove impurities and create a monolithic product with no variations or imperfections. The problem is, in all purification processes, the amount of material you end up with is a fraction of the material you start with. The more you purify the less you have at the end. If the Reps decided to go farther right and eliminate diversity so they don’t have to expend the effort to debate, convince and – yes – compromise. Then they will be sitting comfortably in a small echo chamber talking about what ‘could be’. There is blame to go around, but the first thing is to understand the left stole a part of conservatism. They had to give up some liberalism in the process. Look at Bob Casey! He is pro-life and supports the NSA program. There is not enough distance between Casey and the commonly supported conservative principles to make it a big penalty to oust a fine man – Santorum. I think Santorum is the better of the two, but if Casey respects diversity and is willing to look for common ground he will win over someone who won’t (and I am not talking about Santorum – I know he was not like this). But Reps earned a bad reputation every time they tried to impose purity standards. Every call of RINO violated Ronald Reagan’s 12th commandment. Lincoln Chafee may have little common ground with us, but at least he voted for Rep control of the Senate. Insulting Olympia Snowe and John McCain insults everyone who finds these people to be honorable, reasonable, good Americans (not good Republicans) through implication. If the Reps think purification is the answer, then they really have totally missed the point. If you find Americans to be the best people on earth, then don’t insult their verdict. Work to change that verdict and again work with them to find common ground. Where there is no common ground, instead of purity-insults try being patient and allowing adjustment time and steps. Be flexible when the right path is being taken and don’t get too frustrated the pace is not to your liking. Leaders of large groups sometimes have to allow the pace to be set by those who walk the slowest – if they want the group to stay together.
AJ,
Well said!
But what is the answer, what does the Republican party stand for going forward? That’s a debate that the Republican party needs to have, and needs to have it soon, before Hillary gets her stuff in in one sack.
I’d probably sum that up as where is the “New Contract with America”?
“But what is the answer…”
Suicide?
Party before principal, that’s the Strata keynote.
But AJ, what defeated the GOP was the symbiosis between
the “icing on the cake”Bush betrayal on immigration and the cake itself,ignominious defeat in Iraq.
Your idyllic projections about what will occur in America
in the future when the Latino numbers suit your policy, is,
technically ,conjecture (though not to the ethnically aware)
but your fantasy about what has unfolded in Iraq ,and why,
is off the charts.
The American voter understands Iraq is a debacle with no
political victory possible. The regime whose inept leader you
idolize engineered the bloody fiasco which led to the
inevitable GOP defeat.
Ken,
“Bush betrayal on immigration, got some news for you.”
Two of the hardest core practitioners of the point of view that the Presidents comprehensive approach to illegal immigration was the NOT the correct one, JD Hayworth and another were dumped by the voters of Arizona.
You may have not been listening, but the American people have rejected any sort of draconian “Round Them Up, Send them home” claptrap promoted by those that express your approach to the problem. The American public wants something done, not an obstructionist position based on some theoretical purity of position that forestalls a rational discussion and resolution of this critical issue in a humane way.
By the way, I hope the President pushes ahead and gets this issue solved before it becomes an even more corrosive issue for the Republican nominee for ’08.
Ken,
Please stop posting – my sides are hurting I am laughing so hard!
JD Hayworth was a slavish Bush War supporter which diluted his
appeal on immigration. This past election needed a non-interventionist, protectionist , “come home”take-care-of-America’s-domestic concerns-party, hard line on immigration , similar to the Perot movement. It would have captured 20% of the vote and springboarded to permanency on the political scene.
It will happen eventually as both parties are corrupt and decadent,
domestic problems will grow dramatically and Russia and China will reduce the Empire in size dramatically,but it might be too late to save the Southwest.
AJ,
Why don’t you take a stab at writing that first draft of the “New Contract with America”.
Here’s your first topic “Fiscal Conservatism”
The Republican party will actively seek to pass legislation to give the President of the United States the line item veto.
Ken,
So Black is White, Night is Day?
J.D. Hayworth was on FOX at every opportunity going on about illegal immigration, it was his signature issue.
But you one funny guy as AJ mentioned above.
So am I a RINO?
Voted:Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush.
Taxes. Keep em low as possible.
Entitlements. Keep it fair. Keep it simple. Protect those who can’t not those who won’t.
Immigration. Control it/ration it.
National ID. Yes. Everyone. One card fits all.
Child Support. Pay it or go directly to jail FOREVER.
Death Penalty. Absolutely. States Rights Issue.
Gun Control. Never.
Gay Marriage. No. Gay unions. Yes. States Rights Issue.
Abortion. No. Life of mother vs life of child….child wins.
GWOT. Not fought hard, fast, or bloody enough.
Ok there. There is the RINO Texan Limerick. Would I vote for a Democrat? Yes, but highly unlikely due to my experience with their party over the last 40 years.
Ok you guys can kick me out of the club now. RedState bags me like I bag Ken. Screw em.
So come on libs. Come on cons. Here is me layed out, tied down, ready to assault.
Strrata one would believe you’d stay near-mute for about a week in
recognition of your grossly erroneous election predictions.
Then again you have Cheney “The Iraq war is going remarkably well” as your worshipful example, so one can expect more outlandish mis-readings of political reality and my comments from you in the future.
But it will have to wait cause wifey is calling………Yes Dear!
Lim…
I’d be real careful over there at RS. I think they just had a very large truck load of true believer “Flavor Aid” delivered and they don’t like to be told that the Emperor has no clothes right now.
I think the new term to go with KnownFacts, is GroupThink.
So Limerick would rob several young kids of a mother to save an unborn kid, while killing hundreds of thousands of “collatoral”
innocents in a WOT free for all. Nice ethics, rhyme without reason.
First,thanks for creating this blog. Second how can we exile Ken to Siberia?
You are absolutelly right about the Contract with America. The conservative revolution of 1994 was based on lower taxes,fiscal conservatism and moral values that we all held like being against abortion etc. That lasted about 2 years. They defeated a corrupt Democratic held house . Remember when they were stealing money from the house post office?
Within years the Republican congress forgot all the principles that brought them to power. Fiscal conservatism went out the door. The reps even created entitlement programs just like the old dems. Corruption (Abramoff) was everywhere. Even the hammer with his grin on the face of serious allegations destroyed the confidence the American people had in them. There is a lot of corruption in the dems but we are different from these people. That’s what the contract said.
I think it’s time to dustoff a copy of the Contract with America and adhere to the priciples that made us the party that the people trusted.
Limerick,
Why do you call yourself a RINO? More specifically, on what issues do you disagree with the conservative base in the Republican party.
AJ,
Same question to you, sir.
Apache IP
Lim,
One of the mantras of the anti-abortion crowd has been that it’s a states rights issues, fair enough.
The legislature of SD passed a bill to ban all abortions, no exemptions, not even for the life of the mother nor rape/incest.
Whooopsie, the people of SD rejected the new law, not the people of NY, the people of a very red state, South Dakota.
So focus on parental notification laws, focus on improving and fully funding adoption so there is an option for women who don’t know where to turn. Focus on crafting laws that end late term abortion. In general, work on some speed bumps that make abortion something that a woman has to think about at lest a tiny bit before having one, maybe in collect statistics on how many are preformed while respecting HIPA so we can have an honest discussion of the issue. But at the end of the day, realize that most in the middle may not like abortion, but they are not supportive of an outright ban.
I assume the good doctor is also anti-Iraq War? Because low taxes and war don’t much go together.
Ken we have a war and low taxes now.
Every time I quit laughing, i read another post by Ken.
At this rate, Ken, you may be able to quit your day job in about 4 more years.
See good doctor, you had to tell Ken we have a war and low taxes now.
See why he’s high up on the dumb list?
Excellent commentary. Right now I am so angry I am not thinking streight. I am furious with this bunch of self-righteous, sanctimonious, self-serving, obnoxious, toxic little spoiled snits who call themselves ‘conservatives’. Right now I never want to hear that word again – and never want to hear it applied to me. I have never felt such shame with a ‘movement’ before today. They are giddy because they’ve ‘taught those nasty RINOs a lesson’. When did the GOP tent constrict to the point where only these chose few are acceptable to promote their narrow minded view of what the Republican Party is. On O’Reilly this PM I heard some Heritage Foundation Twit just giddy – I keep using that word – about how they are going to remake the GOP in their own ‘chosen people’ image.
Do they not have the brain power to comprehend that the whole political scene is made up of give and take. No one gets everything they want – ever. Why do these RINOconservatives (because they are truly not real Republicans) think they speak for the voice of God on High?
Sorry, that’s not my Republican Party.