The Politics of Defeatism

What is the greatest dynamic in American Conservatism today? It drives the decision of third party voters and major party primary voters, as well as those who don’t vote. Mo< It is the idea that fundamental change is impossible. The idea of winning key battles such as school prayer and abortion has long been thought impossible, now you’ll hear some talk about the idea of arresting the growth of government or even eliminating the income tax and beyond the realm of the possible. Dennis Kucinich holds more hope for the Department of Peace than most Conservatives hold for even cutting the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts.

I heard Michael Reagan, the former Chairman of Campaign for Working Families, a PAC that is dedicated to promoting family issues say flatly we will never see Roe v. Wade overturned, period and end of sentence.

Those once elected promising limited government are voting for the massive expansion of Medicare. Gone are the days of Ronald Reagan who declared that “Government isn’t the solution to the problem, government is the problem,” Republicans believe the only way to win is by being a better Santa Clause than the Democrats.

In essence, many are saying that Conservatism is a defeated and indefensible ideology that will be rejected by the voters in any nationwide campaign. Government cannot be reduced in terms of the most bloated and intrusive departments. There were always be Federal Departments of Education, Commerice, Transportation, and Energy.

The mammoth tax code is also not going to be reformed. The best we can hope for is individual retirement accounts for Social Security.

The message is clear: those of you who want to get back to the constitution can forget about it. The Federal Republic of the founder’s dreams is dead and never rising. We will not spend as much as the Democrats, but forget about cutting anything.

The logical end of all this is conservative defeat, because it is inevitable that someday Democrats will win an election and they’ll increase government. Republicans will get back in and declare all of the programs the Democrats created to hot to handle and the end of this will be the subjugation of the American people under European style Socialism while ineptitude in dealing with social issues leads us down the road to Gomorrah.

The largest group of Conservatives today is pessimists and it is fast determining the shape of our country.

Giuliani Voters, Howard Phillips, and the Rapture Babies

If Conservatism is doomed for defeat and we are on the downward slide towards greater and greater government, what is the reaction?

The first is to delay the moment of national downfall as long as possible by keeping Democrats out of White House as much as possible. This brand of pessimism leads people to always back the candidate that the establishment views as most electable in every race, whatever their personal views happen to be. These are the people who will back Giuliani for president despite his pro-abortion and pro-gay stands because they think he can win.

It’s the dynamic that led people to take a gamble on George W. Bush in 2000 in the primaries. These pessimist practice the prevent defense, trying to stop the Democrats from scoring. Perhaps, they hope to delay the end of freedom in America until they’ve gone to their graves in peace.

Either way, they vote out of fear and not of love. They stand for nothing, but against many things.

The second group of pessimists are made up of many third party activists. Like those who merely hold the line against the Democrats advances, they believe that the country is headed for doom. However, the attempts to extenuate the manner seem silly and pathetic. In a 1992 US Taxpayer’s Party document, they said the Democrats were taking the country over a cliff at 55 MPH and the Republicans at 35 MPH, neither are acceptable alternatives. To cooperate with either party is to take part in the destruction of the country.

Yet, as I look at the Constitution Party, I see little effort to really become a national party, a threat to the major party structure. Instead, they offer purity. If you vote for a Constitution Party Candidate they will never vote to raise taxes, increase the size or scope of the federal government or compromise on the pro-life agenda. There’s good reason for this: they’ll never get the chance. The CP asks if you believe America’s heading down the tubes, why be party to it? Instead let history record that while “The Republicrat Party” was busy destroying America, they stood firm for less government.

A third group concludes that if this country is irrevocably headed down the tubes, why bother taking part in the complex and convoluted world of American politics. There are far better things to do with life like spending time with your family, enjoying your hobbies, and going to church. The latter is especially important if you take a pre-tribulation rapture view point which conveniently allows for the fact that the world is getting worse and worse.

Analysis

Is America hopelessly on the road to socialism, cultural degradation, and the end of personal liberty? No. She’s in danger but the ship can be righted. As George Grant detailed in his book, The Third Time Around. Christians have defeated the scourge of abortion time and time again throughout history, from pagan Rome to the humanist renaissance and in America’s 19th Century.

As for Economic Policy, we got to one point where the top bracket was paying 70% and managed back up. Yes, it’s going to be hard but victory is achievable.

I would add that that conservatism has not been defeated or repudiated at the ballot boxes. In fact, the two Republican Candidates that lost to Bill Clinton ran as centrists. Though, people blame the 1992 Convention for the GOP loss, that’s a load of non-sense.

The Prevent Conservatives will unite against any candidate on the right who has a chance of winning the primary because they will surely be slaughtered in the general. Upon this, they have no firm basis in fact. President Reagan won two national elections on a Conservative platform.

As for the members of the Constitution Party, let me blunt. Politics is not church. We cannot afford to sit in a corner and say, “If you don’t agree with us on every point, you’re a socialist and traitor, and we want nothing to do with you.” If you want to see political change in this country, the Republican Party or one like it is the only thing that will work.

No one’s going to agree on everything. That seems to be the expectation of the Constitution Party and that’s why they failed to garner 1/10 of 1% of the vote in the year 2000.

Finally, those who declare the eminent rapture as a cause for abandoning the political sphere, I must challenge you to exam your theology in light of scripture. For those with short-term memory, my mother became a Christian in the early ‘60s and people believed Jesus would come back in 1962, ’63, ’65, ’67, ’69, ’70, ’72, ’75, and ’80. There were 88 reasons He was coming back in 1988 and He didn’t return.

I believe that He will someday return but no one knows the day or the hour. As I look at the spiritual science fiction that passes for eschatology I’m reminded of extreme Trekies and Star Wars fans who bury themselves in fiction to escape reality.

The rapture for many is not about the real coming of the Lord, but rather spiritual escapism from an unpleasant reality. While I know there are good Christians who believe this theory, for many it has become an excuse to shirk their duty to their country and society, to ignore their call to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.”

Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour. Yet a thousand amateur eschatologists declare it will be “any minute.”

In the end, whatever the reason for pessimism, it must be banished from our conservative movement or it will fast become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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