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Jewish World Review Oct. 28, 2005 / 25 Tishrei, 5766 How the conservatives crumble By Rod Dreher
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
William F. Buckley, American conservatism's gray eminence, was
recently asked by a writer for The New Yorker what he thought about
the state of the movement he helped found 50 years ago. Said Mr.
Buckley, "I'm not happy about it." More and more of us on the right
feel his pain.
Conservatism, said Buckley, is "to a considerable extent, the
acknowledgment of realities. And this is surreal."
He was talking about President Bush's grandiose wish to frog-march
liberal democracy around the globe, but he could have been speaking
of any number of unconservative things foisted upon the country by
an ostensibly conservative president and a compliant Republican
Congress.
American conservatism is in crisis at the moment because the bizarre
Harriet Miers nomination imposed a surreality check on the right,
forcing us to consider just how much nonsense we had gone along with
for the sake of party discipline.
Where to start? With the LBJ-level spending? The signing of the
McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, which candidate Bush had
denounced as unconstitutional? The race-preferences sellout in the
University of Michigan cases?
There was also the cynical use of the federal marriage amendment,
which the administration dropped after turning out the social
conservative vote in 2004. And grass-roots conservatives cite the
president's intent to liberalize immigration policy with Mexico.
Then there is the Iraq quagmire, which, even if initially a worthy
cause, has become a rolling disaster.
On top of this came the Katrina debacle, which further damaged
conservatism's claim to competent governance.
Conservatives, consciously or not, looked the other way for far too
long, mostly because we felt it important to back the president in
wartime and because nothing was more important to the various tribes
of Red State Nation than recapturing the Supreme Court. For the
first time in a generation, a conservative Republican president and
a Republican majority in the Senate made that dream a real
possibility.
Whatever else Bush might fumble, we trusted him to get that right.
Instead, he gave us a crony pick of no special talents or
discernible vision, except for love of Our L-rd and George W. Bush,
and support for racial preferences. This is what we drank the Rovian
Kool-Aid for? The Miers selection was no isolated incident, but the
tipping point in a series of betrayals.
Can this marriage be saved? For Bush's sake, it had better be. His
approval rating is in the ditch, and most Americans are rightly
uneasy about the future. If special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
delivers an indictment of Karl Rove this week, this presidency will
be close to flat lining — with three years left to go.
Movement conservatives have issued a rude altar call to the
backslidden president. He has to replace Miers with a conservative
jurist of the first intellectual rank (Michael McConnell, say).
Result: a unified base, fired up to rally for battle behind the
president on this and other fronts.
He should also push Congress for big spending cuts. If framed
correctly — as acts of courage and responsibility in the face of
mounting fiscal adversity — they would signal bold leadership in
changed circumstances and remind conservatives what we are supposed
to be for.
He should also surprise us with a get-tough policy on illegal
immigration, including securing the southern border and imposing
tough penalties on businesses that employ illegals. This will make
his corporate backers and establishment elites howl, but would be
popular, as Americans — even Democrats — oppose by wide margins
policies coddling those in the country illegally.
Will the president do any of this? Well, what choice does he have?
Bush has alienated both a significant portion of his base and all of
his opposition, so he cannot hope to triangulate his way out of this
one. With his political blood in the water and toothsome challenges
making ever-tighter circles around his presidency, Bush should give
his mutinous mates a reason to toss him a life preserver.
Conservatism is in an unhappy place now, but the movement is still
bristling with intellectual ferment and ideological confidence and
is beginning to look past the Bush era to new leadership.
Truth to tell, Bush needs conservatives a lot more than
conservatives need him.
Back to basics, Bush. Show us some love.
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Rod Dreher is assistant editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News and author of the forthcoming "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum). Comment by clicking here. © 2005, The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. |
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