I do not think there is nothing particularly wrong with conservatism but that everything is wrong with Conservatism. Neither version has much to offer towards positive growth. We are all conservative to some degree or another. Bob Dylan caught this a long time ago:
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degreeWe always need that voice of criticism urging prudence and caution that is conservatism. Too bad the Conservatives lacked conservatism when Bush invaded Iraq.
I want ev'rybody to be free
But if you think that I'll let Barry Goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think I'm crazy !
I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in Cuba.
Many years ago I agreed with Walter Karp and Gore Vidal that the Democratic and Republican Parties were working together, that they were that different wings of the same political party. They certainly differed from political parties in other countries. Somewhere I changed my opinion. Probably sometime just before or after Reagan's second election.
The Conservatives took over the Republican Party and perpetrated a fraud on those who are susceptible to the GOP's advances. We saw the curtain falling away as Newt Gringrich brought the government to a standstill. Then all was there to see when Karl Rove pushed for his "Republican" hegemony, the Republican Congress' hijacking of the Schiavo case, and was so eloquently stated when Rush Limbaugh declared McCain defective because he worked with Democrats.
Now, the Conservatives find themselves disenchanted with the Republicans. Bush disappointed some of the Conservatives but McCain has truly tested them. The following comes from The Boston Globe book review section:
Not doing the right thing: "Edwards believes that true conservatives - like the ones who rallied behind Goldwater - have been crowded out by an ever more heterodox collection of castoffs from the Democratic Party, who once supported the likes of Governor George Wallace and Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson. Specifically, Edwards writes that neoconservatives and the religious right have wrecked the conservative movement by driving it away from its core beliefs in individual liberty and divided government, in favor of an activist, mostly sectarian, social agenda, and an imperial presidency bent on global adventurism."I read Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed from The New York Times as another indicator of this disillusionment.
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To "reclaim" conservatism, Edwards wants first to restore the primacy of the Constitution, and its emphasis on individual freedom and limited government based on three autonomous and equal branches. Second, he argues for prudence and incrementalism in all things, from fiscal policy to foreign affairs. And finally, Edwards calls for cleansing the conservative movement of all religious (especially fundamentalist Christian) influences.
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Instead of expelling the neoconservative and religious-right interlopers, as Edwards seems to want, conservatives should focus on redefining their movement to mend the growing internal breach and establish a firmer basis for effective governing, post-Bush. Taking the Constitution seriously is step one, and Edwards deserves great credit for putting this document at the center of his plan. But the Constitution is primarily about how government should be run, not what it should do. It is not enough for conservatives to say that government should do nothing or act cautiously. In the face of consistent pressure from the left to expand the scope of government to suit its purposes, such an approach would lead at best to an inexorable, albeit gradual, retreat.
The conservative group Freedom’s Watch, headlined by two former senior White House officials, had been expected to be a deep-pocketed juggernaut in this year’s presidential election, heralded by supporters on the right as an aggressive counterweight to MoveOn.org, George Soros and the like.So why can the Conservatives not be honest for a change? Why do they not start their own party and leave the GOP?
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