On and On With the Way We Are Now
When it comes to be once understood that politics is a game; that those who are engaged in it but act a part; that they make this or that profession, not from honest conviction or intent to fulfill it, but as the means of deluding the people, and through that delusion to acquire power . . . the people will become indifferent to the greatest abuses of power, on the ground that those whom they may elevate, under whatever pledges, instead of reforming, will but imitate the example of those whom they have expelled. —John C. Calhoun, 1835
I am not surprised that foreign countries don't want to be bossed around by George W. Bush. I don't care for it myself and I am not even foreign.
The Bush boy is speaking out almost every day now on "the economy," sharing with us his wisdom. Aren't we lucky.
It is endlessly repeated in recent times that Americans are willing to give up some of their freedom in exchange for safety by allowing the government greater powers to interfere in private affairs. This seems to me at best a half-truth in the same category as "9/11 changed everything." First of all, giving the government more power makes the law-abiding less safe, not more so. Also, although there are plenty of incipient fascists out there, I think the number of Americans who really want a police state is exaggerated. What we have is panicked congresspersons and clueless media.
My Bushite congressman is now presenting himself as the hero of "conservative reform." I doubt if he knows what Edmund Burke would have meant by this term. In my brief foray into politics over forty years ago in callow youth, one of the first things I noticed was that Republican election slogans are NEVER sincere. The are ALWAYS advertising gimmicks designed by p.r. technicians at the top and sent down through the ranks as official party material. Their purpose is to win elections, and they have no relationship whatsoever to the reasons for wanting office or intentions after getting office. In fact, it never even occurs to most Republican aspirants that campaign discourse in anything other than an advertising campaign. At least some leftists actually believe the stuff they say.
A major turning point in American politics, noted and lamented by a few historians but never acknowledged by politicians and media, came in the 1960s when George Wallace forced the "social issues" into the national agenda and showed their vote-getting potential. The Republican Party of Dewey, Wilkie, Earl Warren, Nixon, Ford, Rockefeller, and Dole had neither the understanding, the inclination nor the courage to do what Wallace did. However, they saw the p.r. potential, and the Republicans were soon able to sell themselves to millions as the "conservative" party. This has continued to the present day, despite the fact that the party leaders never cared about, did not agree with, and have never done anything to forward the conservative agenda on the social questions. The popular movement that Wallace had started carried Reagan to the top, but even before he moved into the White House, "conservatism" had already been converted to Kristol-Bennett-Kemp neoconservatism and Republican patronage has supported neoconservatism (and sheer opportunism) and suppressed conservatism ever since.
I have voted for Constitution Party candidates in the past, and I have to admit that I know little about its current presidential candidate, the Reverend Mr. Baldwin. However, I deserted the ranks when I learned that a significant part of the party supported Alan Keyes, the black Harold Stassen, for President—indicating that they are even dumber than Republicans and know even less about the Constitution.
Seems this is just one more meaningless popularity contest between the dumb jocks and the clueless nerds, just like the last five presidential non-elections. Since the jocks have won the last two, the nerds will probably be allowed to win this one, especially since their candidate, though a nerd, is an exotic one.
It looks like I'm writing in Calhoun again this time. Not that it matters.
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Another good post Mr. Wilson. Thank you.
I would like to point out that Mr. Baldwin is, so far as I can tell, a competent and serious conservative who defeated Alan Keyes for the Constitution Party presidential ticket. Admittedly it does not speak well for the CP's character to have any sizable faction that supports Keyes, but they are the minority.
Dr. Wilson,
Great article as usual, I am a "reformed" Keyes supporter who had enough of him as he shelved a true conservative candidate in the Ill Senate campaign that gave us Senator Obama. He ran a god awful campaign, only talking up abortion. He practically gave the race to Obama by default. Seems like he has a nasty habit of knocking off true conservative candidate in primaries and then can't win the "big" one. Like Bob Barr with the Libertarian Party, I believe Keyes was put up to running under the Constitution Party banner by his pal Bill Kristol to disrupt and derail the party unity and end any chance of it becoming a force for true reform. I think a lot of Constitution Party folks were enamored, as with the the Libertarians with Bob Barr, with a big name candidate that could garner a lot of votes. Most folks at their convention were not suckered in with that and stuck with the principles of the party platform. That in itself is a small victory, and I think maybe you shouldn't jump ship just yet. WE know the GOP is a bunch of lies, the Dems are commies, and the Libertarians sold their souls just to maybe top the million vote mark. We need to back anyone that has the guts to stick to their guns and at the very least get the message out about what liberty really is.
"...they saw the p.r. potential, and the Republicans were soon able to sell themselves to millions as the “conservative” party. This has continued to the present day, despite the fact that the party leaders never cared about, did not agree with, and have never done anything to forward the conservative agenda on the social questions."
This is surely the most frustrating aspect of the political landscape today. I am wont to be very critical of Evangelical Christians who mindlessly support the Republican party, but I am equally astonished when I turn on EWTN and Fr. Richard Neuhaus is revered as an authority on politics from a "Catholic perspective," or when I listen to Catholic Radio and those who debate the morality of U.S. foriegn policy are shouted down and told that abortion is the only issue. Even if abortion were the only issue, Republicans are useless in doing anything about it. How can a serious form of conservatism make any inroads if Evangelical and conservative Catholic leaders continue to be wedded to the Republican party?
"It is endlessly repeated in recent times that Americans are willing to give up some of their freedom in exchange for safety by allowing the government greater powers to interfere in private affairs. This seems to me at best a half-truth in the same category as "9/11 changed everything.""
"9-11 changed everything" is not a half-truth, it's a whole falsehood. When the good Lord sends His Son back here to take His people home and wipe the earth and its wretched refuse out of existence, THAT will "change everything." When a bunch of thugs drive a couple of planes into two skyscrapers because they're stark raving mad at the American government for planting American bases on their land, the only thing that should change is the American way of thinking, especially on the topic of the leadership of their government.
But I guess I'm asking for too much.
Dr. Wilson,
As I have said before, I will say once more: young men, what is to be done?
Why stand by and watch your opportunities evaporate? Why stand idle as your resources are transfered to American sub-cultures?
If only we could journey west. . .
"I have voted for Constitution Party candidates in the past, and I have to admit that I know little about its current presidential candidate, the Reverend Mr. Baldwin. However, I deserted the ranks when I learned that a significant part of the party supported Alan Keyes, the black Harold Stassen, for President—indicating that they are even dumber than Republicans and know even less about the Constitution."
And ironically enough, Mr. Keyes appears to have hijacked the aforementioned George Wallace's old party, the American Independent Party. This is how Keyes was able to rob Chuck Baldwin of his place on the ballot in California.
Although at the time I did not exist, my father protest-voted for Wallace in 68 - the first election he was old enough to vote in. Wallace simply made himself too controversial to make it very far, though.
I suppose all kinds of faults can be found with the Republicans, Conservatives and Libertarians. But this is gonna be the good old days once the SDS alumni start running everything. I can't wait to read the upcoming texts.
@Skepsis (#4):
"If only we could journey west. . ."
Sorry, but California is full, unless you are a Mexican with no respect for immigration laws (or laws of any sort, for that matter).
The Dixiecrats saw clearly and accurately what the Democratic Party’s abandonment of conservatism meant. Unfortunately, they could gain no support and were instead penalized as traitors. Naive trust and gullibility on the part of the masses has a long history.
I wish I had some advice for the young men, but I fear they will have to find their own way. I pray for them.
I will be voting for the last ccongressmen worth a damn, Davy Crockett
Alan Keyes supports neocon wars of agression and post-1965 race-replacement immigration policy. His daughter pursues a homosexual life style just like honest Abe Lincoln did.
Nothing has really changed. You would have thought that 9/11 would have a transforming effect on post-1965 immigration policy. You would have thought that muslim imigration would have been shut down completely along with the mass deportation of the "good" muslim "Americans". No Sir. The muslim "American" population has grown by leaps and bounds-over a million have entered since 2001 and this doesn't even include their "American" born children.
America is a joke nation. Evangelical Christian Zionist such as Sarah Paliin who give their allegiance to the State of Israel are traitors.
And I have it on very good authority that Abe Lincoln was a model of honesty and moral integrity. You did see the episode of Star Trek where Captain James T Kirk fought along side honest Abe against the evil rock creatures on a far away planet? I mean come on Professor Wilson you gotta trust Captain Kirk.
My daddy told me to always beware of a man with a silly grin, particularly those men who look like jackasses eating briers. I have learned over the couse of my life the wisdom of my father; therefore, I must abjure and forswear any truck with those species known as politicians, pundits, and media personalities.
Mr. Skepsis, may I recommend reading Chronicles as the first step in what is to be done? (And attendance at their summer schools if, unlike me, family obligations and geography prohibit you). The magazine gives a fairly clear idea of what course can be taken by a serious and sincere conservative in our time. But there are no quick, clean, and easy solutions for anything so cumbersome as to how to reverse an entire culture, barring divine intervention (see Roy F. Moore's comment about Fatima in another essay's writeback). This is why nobody answers your question in detail. At very least one should keep the faith and pass it on to his progeny. This is about all that can be asked of most common men. And bear in mind the motto of The Rockford Institute that one should never put one's trust in princes; there are no political solutions to cultural problems.
Daniel Maxwell said:
>> And ironically enough, Mr. Keyes appears to have hijacked the >> aforementioned George Wallace’s old party, the American
>> Independent Party. This is how Keyes was able to rob Chuck >> Baldwin of his place on the ballot in California.
This true the Keyes faction in the AIP hijacked ballot access in California. This was due to a legal technicality. Chuck Baldwin is a certified write-in-candiate in California so votes for him WILL be counted by the Secratary of State.
After the election there will be a court battle for control of the State Party as there is a dispute over whether the state chairman is Markham Robinson (Keyes faction) or Jim King (Baldwin faction)
I know that many of the stalwarts of the state party, many who have been active since the Wallace days, support Jim King. The Keyes faction has the control of the ballot since out going chairman Ed Noonan is in the Keyes camp.
While this is a major setback for the Baldwin campaign, I think the CP loyalists will eventually regain control over the California AIP.
When a government passes a million laws, everyone will be a law breaker. I don't know if our police state has actually passed that many laws, but I think they're well on their way. And you can bet the farm on this: all those law-enforcement officers (they used to take pride in being called peace officers) out there are itching to enforce all those laws.
Must we continue to hesitate? Do the post-modernists hesitate? Do the rabbit Strausians hesitate at the prospect of power aggrandizement?
Reading Chronicles, First Things, Taki, Mr. Buchanan--all of these advance the mind and further the cultural movement that seeks truth rather than justified passion. However, what good has it done, young man? Will you continue to couch you passion, young man? Will you continue to refuse to, "go under"?.
You see, just as our great friend--and nemesis--Nietchze predicted, we have become the last men. We see injustice, we see the rule of the inferior, and we blink. We stand idle as the tide of the mass men, "penetrate into inmost nooks of rocky cliff," expose the great treasures of our civilization--and spray over them.
Young men, we blink as the ubiquitous, "bug men" cashier our future.
How is it that the most unjust now have all of the gumption? Evil can triumph, my friend--although it is never an infinite reign. Nevertheless, we ought not stand still and "blink" as it penetrates into our citadels.
In the words of Burke, evil will triumph if, "good men do nothing."
Young men, if we do nothing, are we good?
I am loathe to close--to quite our great American Caesar--but only because our time is nigh.
Rather than vote, I will toast Mons. Calgues with a special wine--"a tad too tart."
Et Pourquoi Pas?
It could be argued, Dr. Wilson, that as Southerners (I'm a Georgian, from Lagrange), we ARE foreigners. I certainly consider myself a Southerner first, as in the bumper-sticker slogan, "American by birth -- SOUTHERN by the Grace of God".
Mr. Hill I do believe your org. posited the thought that our empire is collapsing yet here you insist that the empire will be about enforcing those "million laws." Perhaps America is nothing more than another peasant nation that can be ruled by a central government, but perhaps not since it spans a continent and its citizens perhaps not as dull as TV portrays them as.
Mr. Wilson,
I hope you don't allow the Keyes entryists in California to sour you on the entire Constitution Party. The Party's platform is almost a carbon copy of the positions you just described, and Chuck Baldwin's own views seem to adhere pretty strictly to that platform.
The Keyes faction of the party is made up almost entirely of outsiders attempting to use the CP's California ballot line, which makes them quite irrelevant. Putting them aside, a vote for the CP is a vote for the best of traditional conservativism, and I think that's a worthwhile thing.
I have been told that Bob Barr was one of the meanest members in the House of Representatives. In my humble opinion, that's enough to get my vote. At least he'll do the pushing around rather than playing the puppet. He's hoping for 10%. Let's go voters!
There's a good article on LRC addressing the duplicitous nature of our political system. C&P this url to read it:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/dilsaver1.html
Keyes, a perpetual Neo"conservative" blabbermouth and candidate, somehow foisted himself on the ballot out here in Taxifornia, displacing Chuck Baldwin for the American Independent Party nomination, the state's Constitution Party affiliate. Well, it'll increase Keyes' speaking fees before Neocon groups. "And now...former presidential candidate Alan Keyes!!!!!"
Keyes was Bill Kristol's roommate at Hahvahd. He's also a chickenhawk, strongly supporting the Vietnam War, but getting out of Nam service through deferments. (See the Wikipedia entry.) Can't have our delicate boy getting dirty in a foxhole.
The last time Keyes ran against Obama was for the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 2004. Result: Obama 70%, Keyes 27%.
In California, at least, that's likely to be the Obama-McCain result this year.
@24 John
Borat had only one redeeming feature and that was when they punked Keyes. My priest had booked him for a morning speaking engagement a few years ago, Keyes called a half hour before the event saying he had to cancel and go to the White House to grovel for a plum job. He has never had my respect since.
@23 EE
I was once told by a history student that every civilization that has begun the practice of child sacrifice has never recovered. The examples began as Biblical cases in Egypt with pharoah's decree to exterminate Hebrew children, to Israel doing the Molech routine and Herod's massacre of the innocents. In Sparta the weaklings were left to exposure, Romans dumped the unwanted in the Tiber, and Saint Peter himself condemned the sorcerers and the women who consulted them for abortions. Louis XIV tolerated it, and we will be a different nation as a result of our own short-sightedness too.