Is Conservatism Dead?
Betsy Simnacher, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, asks a question that has been much hashed over since the Democrats took over Congress in the 2006 election. The simple answer is no. The country is still split about evenly between conservatives and liberals. Maybe it's reached a tipping point that leads to electoral victory for Democrats, but the even split still exists and could easily tip back the other way, given the right issues and candidates.
Not only is the question, is conservatism dead, simplistic and somewhat tired, the answers are, too. Conservatives more and more fall back on Rick Perstein's observation of conservative intellectuals who claim that conservatism never fails, it is only failed. That's Phillip Hubbell's argument:
"The Republicans will lose this year for not adhering to their doctrines and instead embracing the big government spending of the liberal Democrats. They aren't losing for being too conservative but for not being conservative enough."If Republican voters are upset that Republicans aren't conservative enough, why would those same Republican voters choose to vote for Democrats? It makes no sense.
More likely, that's not what's happening. The electorate is nearly evenly divided and even a few disillusioned Republican voters staying home is enough to tip an election to the Democrats. Even a few moderate independents switching their vote could tip an election. They might switch, not out of political partisanship, but because Republicans have proven to be incompetent at running government.
If the country remains divided, then conservatism isn't dead. It's just lost its electoral majority, perhaps by only the slimmest of margins. And getting it back doesn't require getting more conservative. Just more competent at running government.
Why Do We Call Obama Black?
Rodger Jones, also in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, asks another question, "Why do we call Obama black?" That question does not interest me, but I do have my own question. Why was I not surprised that Rodger Jones was the editorial board member who asked this question? (Rod Dreher would have been my second guess.)
No comments:
Post a Comment