[quote=briansd1]….I have conservative leanings especially when it comes to financial responsibility. But it’s hard for me to support current conservative ideology.
Conservatives have rejected intellectualism and they have embraced crass populism. They are appealing to the lowest common denominator.
What about lofty ideals and the hard choices and sacrifices necessary to become a better person and create a better society?
What’s the conservative plan? I doubt we’ll get a plan from that cast of uneducated characters.[/quote]
I concur, Brian. But while I can fault the nature of the actions of some of these political bottom-feeders, I can’t blame them completely for the results. People do what they believe they need to do to survive, and, to them, this is political survival (and more, to some of the extremists).
I might be repelled by their actions, but that does not excuse me for ignoring said actions, or for failing to spot their potential negative effects, or for choosing to do nothing about them.
For years, I thought that there were intelligent and skilled people running the political machines. Either I was completely wrong about that perception, or else it’s that their arrogance and conceit has clouded their judgement and dulled their intelligence.
The Democrats have been screwing up for years. Decades. They are completely out of touch with their base, and the range of people within it (or that there even *is* a range). They’ve failed to detect changes in the sociological landscape. They’ve been convinced that the electorate would never fall for the “tricks” of the GOP, and they are still under the impression that it’s only ill-bred, illiterate folks from the South that are against them, and that the remainder of the middle-class sees them as the “friend of the working man”. They’ve refused to address the GOP’s smear tactics, adopting a moralistic tone while declaring their certainty that Americans would be ethically and morally repelled by the lies and hypocrisy of the extreme right, never realizing that Americans aren’t repelled by statements that they believe to be the truth. And they used up any political capital they had from two years ago by fighting among themselves while smugly declaring that they had been placed in their seats on a mandate from Americans who trusted Democratic rule (rather than the truth which was that Americans could simply no longer face voting Republican).
The Republicans are also guilty of the same hubris. They sat by and watched the rise of group after group of (for the most part) extremists, each referring to itself as the Tea Party. They sat back, saying and doing nothing while many of the leaders of this movement made false and morally reprehensible statements, and consciously worked at widening the divide among our nation’s people. They were confident that, at election time, they would reap the rewards of the labors of the party leaders, and step in to take over the reins while gaining access to millions of voters seething with Democrat-centered antipathy. What actually happened was that they had their collective GOP asses handed to them at primary time. But rather than turn away from unqualified candidates they knew could be harmful to America, they threw their public support behind them in an effort to remain in power.
I have my own ideas about why the members of the Tea Party movement chose to organize. However, I believe that neither they nor the GOP can survive without the other. The Tea Party chose not to centralize their rule, thus weakening their significant voting power. The GOP needs the voting power of the Tea Party, and its power structure *is* centralized AND experienced. Far more savvy than the Democrats, and absolutely unfettered by a sense of ethics and moral outrage, they’ll insinuate themselves into the Tea Party, and own it lock, stock, and barrel 18 months from now.
The Democrats have a chance to put up some competition in 2014, but it will require a top to bottom house cleaning. There are many people who want no part of what the extreme far right and current crop of Republicans who are aligning themselves with them are offering. But there has to be a clear-cut recognition of this, followed by a circling of the wagons and a rallying of the troops. Believe it, or not, I think that Obama recognizes this. His major problems are his lack of experience/young age and his placing too much faith in his advisors while not following his own instincts. There have been many other very good Presidents who were initially similarly afflicted, and who proved that lack of experience could be overcome. He needs to stop worrying about being re-elected in 2012, and concentrate solely on re-organizing the masses he managed to gather and persuade in 2008. Even if it does not result in his re-election, it is absolutely essential for the survival of the Democratic Party. And even if I am not particularly fond of Democrats these days, I am partial to a (at the least) two-party system. And I don’t want those two parties to be Republican and Tea Party.
