To Those Who Jumped Ship
To the Douglas Kmiecs, Peggy Noonans, and Christopher Buckleys of the world, and other Conservatives large and small who have embraced Obama or refused to embrace McCain, I would like to say thank you. I would like to say thank you for this liberal moment in America.Thank you for a man willing to sit down for a chat with the evil dictators of the world. Thank you for defeat in Iraq. Thank you for ending the chance to overturn Roe v. Wade. Thank you for higher taxes and wealth redistribution. Thank you for a Congress which will institute the Fairness Doctrine, strike religion from the public square, gut the military, and enact socialist healthcare.
Thank you for compassionate, caring justices. Thank you for gun control. Thank you for giving Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers an opportunity to be heard in the White House. Thank you for the AMT. Thank you for radical environmentalist energy policy. Thank you for state economic planning.
I have heard all of your arguments, and found them woefully unconvincing. Obama has displayed an even temperament. He has an intellectual quality Bush does not. He makes campaign decisions by committee. He speaks eloquently of bipartisanship and compromise. You hope that he will act on his present words, and not his past deeds. Your opportunistic cowardice is overshadowed only by your naivete.
Obama’s record is clear. It provides ample evidence of both his predispositions and his motives, neither of which are conservative. Your hope in him is ill-founded and foolish, he will not realize the dreams you have for him. He will not ally with you because he does not need you. By siding with Obama you have sealed your own irrelevance.
It is my sincere hope that after this liberal moment is over you will not be welcomed back, that your dishonorable deeds will be remembered and held against you. I hope that your mea culpas fall on deaf ears, that conservatives turn their backs, rather than their cheeks.
This post was written by Archimedes on November 4th, 2008.
Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from cargosquid
Time: November 4, 2008, 11:57 am
Well Said.
Comment from J. Tyler Ballance
Time: November 4, 2008, 3:15 pm
It is exactly the self-righteous, “You are either with us or you are a terrorist” propaganda that has cost our Republican side this election. Rather than drive more wedges between potential supporters for future battles, let’s examine what there is to salvage. Here are some common ground areas upon which to build:
1. America needs energy independence, so let’s have a goal of National Energy Independence by 2012.
2. Constitution-based governance: Americans still overwhelmingly support keeping constraints on government power (even though some want growth in some areas of support). Our candidates can gain ground by pledging to reign-in government agencies back to before the over-reach that happened in the post 9-11 hysteria.
3. Let’s be the Party that prevents future undeclared wars, buy codifying into law, greater limits to the President’s ability to wage war without the prior approval of Congress.
4. Economic Development: Provide incentives for the restoration of America’s strategic manufacturing base. Let’s be the Party that will bring jobs back home.
In general, repeal extra-Constitutional acts by government, such as the Patriot Act and others, that were passed in the post 911 period of hysteria and ENHANCE individual liberty.
There are hundreds of common ground issues upon which the GOP can rebuild a winning strategy. It all comes down to BUILDING coalitions, instead of alienating the citizens. As Tip O’Neill and other old political sages have said, See where the People are going, then get out in front and lead them there.
If we allow the oracles of xenophobia and spewers of hatred to govern the GOP (as has happened under the McCain-Pain team’s guidance) then we can expect an EIGHT year Obama term followed by many more Democratic Presidents for the foreseeable future.
If on the other hand, we re-group and return with candidates who are more libertarian-Republican and who advocate ENHANCED liberty for our citizens along with real solutions that pave the way back to economic prosperity, then after a few election cycles, the citizens just might forgive the Bush error and again trust the GOP to lead.
The first step: No more xenophobia and no more Palins.
Comment from Bert
Time: November 4, 2008, 10:33 pm
Uh, right Archimedes. Thank President Bush and a reckless republican congress for profligate spending, the destruction of a party and a record of horrendous, unconservative governance.
Comment from Archimedes
Time: November 4, 2008, 10:40 pm
I agree there are areas where conservatives can and must lead, see my previous post “Opportunity in Dem Takeover.” However, building coalitions will be all but impossible if people like Kmiec, Noonan, etc. abandon ship at the first sign of trouble.
I understand where they’re coming from, and I disagree. They dislike the slash-and-burn politics of Bush and see in Obama a chance to end that. I think they’re foolish and wrong. Obama may well stop the wedge-based politics of the past, although he didn’t seem to have a problem using Bush as a wedge issue.
But even if he does stop it, at what cost? If it is liberty you’re worried about, Obama should terrify you. Spreading the wealth? That is precisely one of the things the Founders feared, that an ambitious demagogue would use mob jealousy and greed to justify the seizure of private property and wealth.
Comment from guy
Time: November 24, 2008, 4:20 am
I think the only one here being naive is Archimedes.
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