Apr 14 2009
Not A Conservative Anymore
People talk about tipping points. Today I have reached one with regards to the conservative movement and the GOP, due in no small part to the debacle started on the far right blogs regarding the DHS report I posted on earlier.
To my chagrin two things happened with this story which ended my desire to be associated with ‘conservatives’ (no matter how much sense their policies may make). The first was the unbridled and unsubstantiated attacks on the good people at DHS by folks like Michelle Malkin (who I rightfully called a ‘drama queen’). Malkin made some serious allegations today which crossed the line.
She claimed that the DHS report PROVES the good people at DHS are not only negligent in their duties to protect Americans, but that these civilian employees are also involved in an illegal activity to use the powers of the this nation’s security apparatus to oppress the political opposition of the sitting President and current Congressional leaders. These are serious charges involving serious crimes.
I have as much respect for the civilians spending their careers and lives attempting to protect this nation as I do for those in uniform doing the same thing. There is no excuse to slander the people of DHS by accusing them of crimes of negligence and abuse of office without solid proof. No matter how well these false charges fit the warped conspiracy theories of the paranoid and deluded
The second aspect of this incident that pushed me to this point was the fact just about every conservative site let these false charges against these good people go by. Instead, I got heat for the “drama queen” comment for supposedly attacking ‘a good person’. Well, that so-called good person slandered the real unsung heros of this war on terror. Her and her enablers are more concerned about getting their feelings hurt than about the mud they are slinging at those who stand guard over this nation.
That’s the end of that for me. I could never fathom the venom spewed by the far left against Reagan, and that is what forced me to leave the Democrat party for life. Now we have a similar problem in the depths of the conservative movement. I just cannot associate myself with people who would slander hard working people at DHS to fulfill some wild conspiracy fantasy  – and not see a damn thing wrong with it! Their only cries of outrage are when someone calls them on their slander.
A line crossed which cannot be uncrossed. Ever. I wash my hands of these slanderers and their supporters who would sell out the people standing watch over all of us without any thought or regret. As someone said to me – see yah! And good riddance.
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oh, and one other thing. I am not so worried about that DHS report so much as what I believe some zealous partisans on the left will use it for. People who are, lets say, enthusiastic supporters of an agenda a bit more than a little left of center might use it as justification to intimidate and harass people. Sort of like the Gladys Kravitz’s of the world.
My fear is that some people on the left are going to use that report (and some will actually be genuinely scared by it) to “report” someone like, say, me … who might be a veteran, might have a (gasp) Republican candidate’s sign in my yard, and who might see a bumper sticker that opposes “big government” or promotes fiscal responsibility and somehow think I am a threat to their security or something.
This report is going to further divide people and rather than promote conversation and encourage debate about the role of government, seems to cast anyone who doesn’t favor “big government” as a potential public enemy. At least it could be read that way by your average Joe.
The report seems divisive and polarizing and could give idiots of extremes reason to ratchet up the level of lunacy.
Well put Crosspatch.
I’m not a Conservative, and was a Republican until the right forced me out due to my lack of “purity.” But this DHS report is an insult to veterans and Conservatives and a waste of the public money. Who ever the political hack is that wrote this seems to believe that the atrocities committed by a wacko veteran named Timothy McVeigh should be used to paint a very bad brush.
But, at the same time, the reception it has received is a bit excessive, IMO. The report focuses on the far right, not the Conservatives that work 9-5 and raise families. It’s not as if this report is the start of political oppression. There is a difference between conservatives and the “far right.” Just as there is a difference between liberals and the extreme left.
“There is a difference between conservatives and the “far right.†Just as there is a difference between liberals and the extreme left.”
I think a major part of that difference is that one can be conservative without feeling a need to make everyone else conservative. Or one can be liberal in their own judgement without the need to try to force everyone else to adopt their judgment as “correct”.
We have a situation where people seem to feel a need to “convert” the country to their standards. That could be for a variety of reasons. You might have people who are afraid of the world and feel a need to be “taken care of” or you might have people who are bitter about never getting any help in life and don’t want others to have what they never got. And I think both lines of thought pisses off the more well adjusted who neither fear life nor feel a need for vengeance. Seeing someone else live a different lifestyle doesn’t make me feel diminished in my own. But I believe there are people out there who are actually very insecure and seeing people making different choices makes them question their own choices and that might cause them discomfort. So they strive for “order” and want to make society “correct”. There is too much “black/white” (as in contrast) thinking.
It is as if politically we have become a nation of borderlines led by narcissists.
Conversion of convenience. You’ve looked at the polls and Obama’s performance and you are jumping off the sinking ship. I guess we’ll take you, maybe.
Check this out. While some might notice that Republicans and Democrats are tied for the generic Congressional ballot, what I noticed was that both the Democrats and Republicans LOST ground. The Republicans just lost less. 38% would vote Democrat, 38% would vote Republican. That leaves 24% looking for a party.
“She claimed that the DHS report PROVES the good people at DHS are not only negligent in their duties to protect Americans, but that these civilian employees are also involved in an illegal activity to use the powers of the this nation’s security apparatus to oppress the political opposition of the sitting President and current Congressional leaders.”
How “good” did you think certain people in the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc were when they were regularly leaking sensitive sources and methods information to the New York Times?
You don’t think that was a politically motivated effort to damage George W. Bush and his efforts to fight terrorism and win wars?
This document is not an indictment of your average Joe/Jo working at the DHS. But somebody there obviously has an agenda that goes far beyond their every day duties to “protect Americans”.
Gosh AJ I hope you rethink this after you cool off a tad. I am conservative and I am just fine not having Michelle Malkin be the end all of what Conservatives are
The report today was unfortunate because it will have just the opposite reult. That is increase the anxiety. Jonah Goldberg had some good calm posts on this at the Corner regarding the problems. Also the Powerline report I thought was pretty good. It was not just all crazy stuff. Again it is the nature of the web that things get shot around till they become clearer
Anyway I was noticing the conversation in the comments and I again it is depressing as both a Conservative and a Republican to see different factions of the party want to excommunicate each other from the party.
You know if social conservatives like me were not here it would be electoral Nivernia. Or if we coul djust get rid of those Libertatians, or the paleo conservatives, or those moderates etc etc etc.
It all gets tiring. You got 6 kinds og conservatives factions calling each other RINOS, moderates calling social conservatives extremist and everyone putting everyon else into some nifty little box
No wonder we lose and have lost the last two cycles. Everyone and I think we are all guilty of it have not been civil to each other and think it must be our way or the highway.
I really don’t know why we can’t just fight this out in a primary and then all come together. Like it is how it is suppose to work
“There is a difference between conservatives and the “far right.â€
marksbbr , I gues the problem is the term far right is now used in such varying ways that it used by everyone that happens at that moment to oppose X’s views
I have no idea what the far right is anymore. It seems on forums that are poltical in nature I can be accused in the same day by some conservatives as being a moderate and by some liberals as being in the scary far right.
I used to think the far right were people like the John Birch society and we sort of went from there. Now it seems it includes a whole of groups that are all to the right of Senator Snowe
I think most of you have missed the timing and if you miss the timing
you miss the purpose. This how the Left operates. I know this.
I believe that today, 15 April, is supposed to be your Tea Party Day. I
guess there are maybe 2000 separate events scheduled across your
country to protest your President’s rapd dash toward the hard Left.
Now if I was in power, I would want to make sure that the news people
do not report on these events. So what I would do is throw up some other
big noisy issue. Here in London, whenever Tony Blair was in trouble,
he would raise the issue of the ban to hunting the fox. It worked every
time – until the law was passed and now cannot be used anymore, not
that trick anyways.
I think this DHS report is the big noisy issue to soak up the
attention of your press.
And even better, it has got you all fighting among yourselves. I know they
will be laughing in the white house this night.
And now anyone who turns up at a tea party can be called one of these
right wing conservatives.
See, it is simple. This is how the information control works. I think
you need to get used to it.
I agree with many here – Crosspatch – your my newest hero – spot on in many ways. In fact, I think Crosspatch is more indicative of the non-Obama voter (using an example) than many would suspect. I also spent time reading Jonah Goldberg as well as sights like Legal Insurrection and others. Sure, some like Ace make it black and white and funny but, I am watching Morning Joe right now and they have the headline on the screen REPORT WARNS RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM MAY BE ON RISE, then Mika reports it is due to an African American being elected , joe laughs, interrupts then it is suggested veterans could be vulnerable to recruitment… Joe is laughing, but Mika is serious (so far). ABC’s Stephanapolous reported seriously last night in his column- so I think some of us have a valid reason to be nervous, including Michelle et al. Mike Barnicle just said re the veterans – “I don’t believe that” see… THEY DON’T EVEN READ STUFF!!! HOW CAN THEY COMMENT IN STUFF? Joe is trying to turn it around – What would you have said if Bush had done this?
I live on a college campus. I get stuff in my yard when I put out my flag. I never put out political yard signs. This makes me re-think the flag.
The point is, the left is willing to jump in and start the innuendo…
I’m sorry you had bad email exchanges, AJ. I hope you have a better day today…
Make that “Crosspath You’re my newest hero “- it’s 6:20 am!!
lacegr,
Let me fill you in here on something – there may be truth behind that headline.
I’ll leave it at that
Why couldn’t the headline read “Political Extremism on the Rise?”
Tempest in a tea pot.
Because this is an alert out to law enforcement and they needed to point to those groups of concern.
Why can’t conservatives think before they speak?
Here is the deal – there is a REASON it is vague, and it is not to go after malkin. She’s just not worth anyone’s effort. There are ongoing activities inside the government which caused this report to be made less specific.
The report needed to tip off law enforcement and not tip off others and impact these activities. Guess what – the drama queens made sure that failed. Now certain groups are aware of certain interests. Let’s hope this doesn’t screw things up.
Want to know something? These facts are well known by the same conservative bloggers I broke ranks with. Malkin has been made aware of this, she is hiding it from her readers. She slandered the good people at DHS, accusing them of negligence and abuse of power, and she knows her claims are false. She just is not going to apologize for her mistake. So far none of them are, but I am not surfing their sites today.
She was even admitting she has no idea who was behind this report and was asking those with contacts to find out (probably to stalk them into confessing to be democrats or Obama voters). The fact is she threw out those charges against the people at DHS without any evidence or thought.
So I ask you, why can’t conservatives think before the react?
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I dunno AJ. What I seem to be hearing from you is creeping acceptance of Obama’s policies because you don’t like the tone on the right.
I’m a classical liberal, not a ‘conservative’ in the traditional sense, but my enlightenment values, which coincide pretty closely with those of the Founders, put me in decidedly ‘conservative’ company these days because ‘conservatives’ — for all of the (what seem to me) idiotic emphasis on social policy — are the only ones who seem to care about economic liberty, without which political liberty cannot exist. Speaking of political liberty, I sure don’t see much sign of support for that on the left either. What I see there are people who are much more into more control of other people’s lives and more control of other people’s money. I also see people on the left, and that includes almost everyone in the Obama administration, who are not seriously concerned about America’s defense.
A bad combination. I think you’re making a very short-sighted choice. I think you should reread (or read if you haven’t) The Black Book of Communism, Alan Bullock’s Hitler and Stalin, the Chang and Halliday biography of Mao Zhedong, Amity Schlaes’ The Forgotten Man, Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies, and Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. Toss in a little Locke, Adam Smith, de Toqueville, and both the Federalist Papers and the opposing Anti-Federalist.
If you do, I think you would see that the problem really is not about ‘conservatives’ but about liberty. The modern left in this country, and that includes the current Democratic Party, is about control and power, and they have been corrupted by its vision at least since Wilson. Prohibition was mostly a Democratic cause, after all. Control. And, much of the New Deal was about control – many of its architects were socialists, even Marxists. Power corrupted the Republicans to a degree, as well, and because their principles included economic and political liberty, they have (rightly) been slammed for it.
Today, I think we indeed stand at a cross-roads between liberty and, ultimately, tyranny. It will begin as a soft tyranny, in which only the “far right” you despise are attacked, but it will end no better than any other tyranny; especially as those who support the left also support weakening of the United States and increasing the power of international institutions which are run by the corrupt and power-hungry. It’s human nature. And, power tends to fill a vacuum.
Well, good luck with the left.
Yeah right Cato,
I just recently supported finishing the job in Iraq and keeping the NSA-FISA changes in place that Bush established after 9-11. Until Obama showed up I never saw the light in these issues!
GImme a break.
Today I break with people who use words they do not understand. The tyranny I experienced was from conservatives who cannot admit they were wrong and lash out at anyone who disagrees.
You’re unreasonably dismissive of my fundamental point. There’s nothing wrong with finishing the job in Iraq – though it is unclear Obama really wants to – or keeping the NSA-FISA changes in place. Where the disagreement in foreign policy lies is in attitude towards the United States and the rest of the world. Even if you can, as I do, support policies the administration undertakes that are consistent with policies you supported under the previous administration, that does not mean that the overall foreign policy posture is acceptable — as I would argue given the debacle of the recent apology trip to Europe and the weak response to Iran’s imminent acquisition of nuclear weapons demonstrate it is not.
Moreover, while defense and foreign policy are critical – if we are to maintain our liberty – the greater issues with the current administration revolve around economic liberty, taxation, and, ultimately, political liberty. I would love to find some common ground with the Democrats on any of these issues, but there really isn’t any any more.
If you think the ‘tyranny’ of conservatives who cannot admit they were wrong is crushing, you have no idea what tyranny really is.