By popular demand:
Wait, I thought Rove was teh eeevil genius?
Republicans lost because they lost some of the hawkish Dems and a bunch of the libertarians. Social cons are often every bit as nannystatish and moralistic as leftistsâ€â€though for the most part, they have the good graces not to try to settle everything through the courts.
Had the MSM been even modestly disinterested over the last several years, Repubs would have held both houses. They wouldn’t have deserved itâ€â€many of them have acted like the worst kind of Kennedy Demsâ€â€but the country is far more conservative than it is left-leaning.
Here in Colorado, many Democrats won, but progressive ballot initiatives almost uniformly failed. There’s a message in this. The Republicans had a chance to embrace South Park conservativesâ€â€who are really classical liberals with libertarian tendencies and a belief in a strong national defense and a strong sense of national identity, manifested by a belief, ironically, in rugged individualism.
These elections were a cautionary tale to the Republican party, but they were by no means a repudiation of conservatism, nor do they suggest any kind of mandate for progressivism.
Just ask Ned Lamont.
America better get used to being alone, for the time being.
IT was so good you just had to post it twice.
I heart you, Dan Collins.
…PW….they come for the pithy analysis and stay for the double vision….
I hope Mark Steyn’s demographic pessimism is as off-kilter as his optimism was for GOP success in the mid-terms. As our great and only lady leader once said, “It’s a funny old world.”
But thanks for making the best of a bad job, Dan.
Keep on truckin’.
It’s embarrassing enough to double post in the comments…this is going to me mortifying when Dan wakes up and notices.
I guess I could fix it for him.
Naaaaaaaa.
Heh….Dan must wake up every day thinking how great it is to have such a pack
of backstabbing hyena’sof supportive PW friends…..Looks like some other kind soul fixed it. I was looking forward to rubbing his nose in it. Oh well.
We are the rugged individualist country, we thrive on it.
It’s interesting. I wonder why, of all the world, we have not succumbed to this madness. Maybe it’s religion. Maybe people can’t exist on a rock, in space, all alone.
Here in Colorado, many Democrats won, but progressive ballot initiatives almost uniformly failed.
Except for the minimum wage one. Hmmm…minimum wage passed, gay marriage and pot legalization fail…those Coloradans sure do have libertarian tendencies!
“The Republicans would have won if only they expressed the same beliefs I have.” A comforting thought, to be sure.
“And we would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that meddling MSM!” Comforting as well.
These elections were a cautionary tale to the Republican party, but they were by no means a repudiation of conservatism
That depends. Does initiating ill-conceived and costly wars for dubious reasons count as “conservatism” or not these days?
I think they were also an attempt by the Dems to retake their party from idiots who say shit like this:
There are sane people among the Democrats who realize they are fighting for their lives on a couple of fronts. I don’t think they can pull it off, but I retain some hope.
I learned the most from getting my ass kicked. It hurt like a motherfucker when it happened, but I won the next fight I was in.
Get the fuck up and stop acting like pussies.
I think it’s time to disabuse ourselves of the notion that conservatism = classical liberalism. Conservatives do not believe in your moral right to live for yourself. They believe it is your duty to live for God, and that morality consists of following the precepts of the Bible. Whatever lipservice some of them (and only some of them) pay to the value of maintaining the separation between Church and State, their moral beliefs will ultimately trump their residual commitment to freedom. The Left has paved the way for them by tearing down the public’s resistance to collectivism, and they will capitalize on it, unless prevented by those who still value liberty. Those who consider themselves classical liberals need to take one giant step away from conservatism, and realize that it is not an allied philosophy.
Ask yourself this: What would change about the Left if they dropped Marxism and adopted Christianity as their guiding philosophy?
The answer is: Nothing of import.
Conservatism is on its way to becoming the Left plus Christianity, and so is the Left. When they join hands, we’re screwed.
I think that? Well, learn something new everyday. Thanks for the lecture, Ardsgaine.
I draw a clear and consistent distinction between social conservatives and conservatism, Ardsgaine. Track back through the history of this site and you’ll see it.
At some points I call myself a legal conservative (see the Harriet Miers posts); and I’ve been very tough on many social conservatives, as well (see the Kid Rock inaugural dustup, Schiavo, etc.).
As to Josh’s snarky mewlings: 1) I didn’t say that all conservatives have libertarian tendencies. There are plenty of social conservatives, especially here in Colorado, home to Focus on the Family. What I did say was that Republicans had a chance to embrace South Park conservatives and did not, and consequently, many in that demographic stayed home this election day, or else voted for moderate Dems like Bill Ritter (precisely because they are averse to the scolds representing social conservatism). These were, in my estimation, the real swing voters—and the tendency of the right to moralize is as offputting to them as the Left’s nannystatism.
For the record, I supported benefits for civil unions and the marijuana initiative—both of which I believe will pass in the next 3-6 years.
The minimum wage initiative is a concern—though I’d bet that it was Denver and Boulder counties that carried it. Denver has a large Hispanic immigrant population. And the Democrats in Denver and Boulder tend to have no real concept of how economics works; profit, at the expense of higher wages for workers, is anathema. And so consequently we’ll see higher unemployment, the need for more social welfare, and so an excuse to raise taxes.
2) Ever notice how people like Josh wish the US weren’t so “unilateralist,” and yet when it comes time for the UN, whom they defer to, to act, these same folks excuse its every miserable failing? Curious, that.
As for the “dubious” reasons for the war, well, I’ll let the bipartisan Congressional vote speak to that.
3) Finally, I don’t even know what to make of this nonsense:
Uh, “gotten away” with what, Josh? A fair airing of the facts? The simple truth is—and even the press, in its more candid moments admits this, though they don’t quite see their trespasses as negatively as I do—the MSM leans left, and such is often reflected in their reporting and the way they frame and craft their stories.
For those who rely on these media organs to form opinions, this has a measurable effect. To believe it does not is to look at the obvious and deny it.
But then, that seems to be a hallmark of many “progressives,” who continue to believe they not only can but should WILL into existence their failed utopian ideas.
Imagine that. They take a different side in the allocation of income between labor and capital.
Yeah. Apparently they think they’ll get their next job from a poor guy.