Earlier today I wrote up a quick post about the fact that the GOP is in a state of disarray. It may not necessarily be coming apart at the seams exactly, but wires are most definitely getting crossed, and it’s almost impossible to grasp what exactly is going on.
David Brooks’ piece in the NYT only pushes the point further:
He describes a party lost in the wilderness, a party enslaved by the most vehement and bloated portions of its own ideology. Of far too many in today’s GOP, the good of movement conservativism, that special brand of conservative ideology that fits so well on bumper stickers, sells so well on the airwaves, and has that uncanny ability to win elections, is more important than that humble yet vital act of actually governing.
Matthew Yglesias, however, thinks Brooks is a little misguided in his disillusionment:
As expected a move as this might be, I am obliged to side with Matt on this issue, though I don’t think it’s unfair to give Brooks his credit. Both are ultimately correct.
For Brooks’ point, one thing that may have been forgotten in the past twenty years since liberalism became the dirtiest of political dirty words is that conservatism is just as suspect and fallible in its most extreme forms.
Contemporary Republicanism has made demonizing liberalism a point of standard doctrine, while at the same time, through media outlets, particularly on conservative talk radio, extolling the virtues of conservatism. The trick here, though, is, as the Anonymous Liberal drudged up in a post from the past, the rise of conservatism does not equate to the testing of true conservatism. Not until Bush came into power with a Republican congress has modern Republicanism been allowed to govern largely unfettered by an opposing viewpoint.
And we have continued to see how that turned out.
I bring this up because of an observation I have made several times in the past during the prolonged presidential election season. While Democrats continue to run away from the their liberal base, Republicans catered and pandered shamelessly toward their conservative base. In the context of this day, it is a remarkable epiphany that such an observation brings.
In the past, I, like many others, believed this was a fault of the Democratic party, a fault of principles, and a lack of belief in the strength of their base. I had gone so far as to have operated over a working theory for the past years regarding the relationship between the party and its more ideologically motivated factions.
But the reality, from a political standpoint, could be far more clear; conservatism never managed to build up the stigma that liberalism currently owns because up until this moment, conservatism had never been able to fall so fabulously on its face–not until these past eight years.
Which brings us, in a round about way to Matt’s point.
Contemporary conservatism/Republicanism, is an amorphous construct designed for mass retail. It has many faces, each of which specifically sculpted to appeal to certain demographics to ensure prolonged political power. This concept in turn was born from rebellion; rebellion from the young, from the culturally unfamiliar, from the backlash of dirty hippies and pesky political correctness. It was woven together like a security blanket for any person who couldn’t fathom a difference between the scholarly study of communism, and the evil Red Scare, for anyone who saw “free love” and equated it to the destruction of America’s morality, for anyone who saw two men holding hands, and thought that God would therefore punish the nation.
I do not intend to demean, by the way. I am by no means a moderate, but neither have I ever been an extremist, and my own personal belief is that no government of the people and by the people can ever prevail without the thoughts and sometimes even the obstructions from both.
But the underlying governing principles of movement conservatism, and perhaps on the broadest scale in this generation, America is becoming disillusioned with Republicanism the way it once did with liberalism.
And it is in that context that Republicans find themselves. They must find a way to continue to sell a once popular brand that nobody seems to want to buy anymore. The original plan was to pretend the sitting president doesn’t exist, and keep the elections as far away from the issues as possible. But the thing about this economy, and perhaps this is the one good thing that has come from the despair on Wall Street, is that at this moment, America seems immune to the kinds of Rovian distractions that have won the day for Republicans in the past.
If Matt’s right, and I think he is, Republicans tried to come out of this bailout mess ditching the responsibility of governance on the Democrats whilst appearing to crusade for Joe and Jane Taxpayer, and they ended up failing fabulously at it.
yeas and mccain has to hold his VP hand to cross the street too lol