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Jewish World Review Nov. 2, 2005 / 30 Tishrei, 5766 Principled conservatism By Tony Blankley
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last week, the conservative movement had its Rosa Parks
moment — we refused to give up our seat on the bus even for a Republican
president. Regarding that event, liberals, mainstream mediacrities as well
as conservative movementistas all shared a common impression: Something
important happened last week for conservatism — and thus for the broader
political scene.
The successful opposition to Miss Miers was not a triumph for
just some faction of the conservative movement. If it used to be said that
the Church of England was the Tory Party at prayer, then it also could be
said that the conservative opposition to Miers was the entire conservative
movement on the hunt — at full regimental strength.
From the market-oriented Wall St. Journal to my own Washington
Times' classic Reaganite conservatism, to the social conservative opposition
of Phyllis Shlafly and so many others on the social and Christian right, to
the neoconservative opposition of The Weekly Standard and Charles
Krauthammer, to the paleo-conservatism of Pat Buchanan, to the high Toryism
of George Will, to the popular talk radio titans Rush Limbaugh and Sean
Hannity and their legions of regional voices, to the lawyer-turned-hip
radioist Laura Ingraham, to the iconoclastics Michael Savage and Ann Coulter
to most of the conservative blogdom (with the prominent exception of the
always magnificent Hugh Hewitt who rode heroically and almost alone with the
fox rather than us hounds) — this was a never before seen moment of
comprehensive conservative opposition to a Republican initiative.
Of course, conservatism has often stood almost equally united in
support of a Republican or conservative issue (e.g. Reagan, anti-abortion)
or in opposition to a Democrat or liberal issue (e.g. Clinton, raising
taxes).
But such broad, shoulder-to-shoulder conspicuous conservative
opposition to a Republican president advocating a not liberal nomination or
position is, I think, without precedent.
Of course, elements of conservatism have often been disgruntled
with the actions of conservative presidents. When Reagan first reached out
to Gorbachev, national security conservatives muttered deep concern. When
G.H.W. Bush raised taxes, the House conservatives rebelled and beat his
proposal on the floor, initially. But those were responses of only factions
within the conservative firmament. Other factions may not have liked such
initiatives, but they didn't move into loud, direct, public opposition.
Whenever a seminal political event such as this happens,
politicians and activists rush in to try to publicly explain and exploit it
in a manner useful to their political objectives.
The first to arrive at the scene of the fire with cans of
gasoline were the ever politically resourceful (if substantively barren)
Democrats and their dutiful echoes in the mainstream media.
From the unctuous, faux-humble, faux-everyman Sen. Harry Reid,
to the ever clever, ever-striving Sen. Charles Schumer, to their automaton
stenographers in the mainstream media, this event was characterized as the
triumph of the hard-right, extreme, radical, fundamentalist Christian,
anti-abortion, doctrinaire, out-of-the-mainstream right wingers.
Now, I will concede that they may well be sincere in making such
characterizations. These days, the Democratic Party spokesmen and
spokeswomen tend to see anyone much to the right of Joe Biden as falling
into the category of out of the mainstream right wingers, if not actual
lumpen proto-fascists.
Poor old Joe Lieberman — a classic moderate from the
unconservative state of Connecticut — could barely get 7 percent of the
Democratic Party vote for president.
But in fact, the conservative coalition that defeated Miss
Miers' nomination last week is the same broad based movement that has
elected its candidate president in five of the last seven elections, elected
28 currently sitting governors and a Republican congress for the last
decade.
Today, 34 percent of Americans are self-described conservatives,
while only 19 percent are self-described liberals. When one adds only the
most conservative third of the remaining 47 percent of self-identified
moderates to the self-proclaimed conservatives, one has a voting majority in
an American election.
So when they say we are out of the mainstream, they are using
words in a manner inconsistent with reality.
If there was a uniting theme to the conservative opposition, it
wasn't anti-abortion, or any particular substantive issue.
Rather, conservatives respect the law. We have deeply resented
its misuse for the last 70 years by clever and willful liberals who would
usurp the law for their own policy purposes. We want its rectification, so
the true constitution can return from its exile (somewhere in the Wyoming
Rockies, along with John Galt, I think).
This was a revolt for excellence. It was a revolt for a faithful
scholar of the law. It was a moment of high faith in reason, and in the
blessings that will flow from a fair and wise reading of our founding
document.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
© 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
