Back to conservatives finally becoming disenchanted with Bush...
In A possible reason why it took so long for some conservatives to become disenchanted with Bush, I theorized that Republicans have become far more interested in getting and keeping power than pursuing true conservative policies. Today, on the second hour of "The Glenn Mitchell Show" I heard a great description of that theory. Glenn's guest was Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper's Magazine. Lapham noted that in the 70's many of the great liberal ideas had lost momentum and that the insightful analysis and commentary was coming from conservatives.
When Glenn asked about the "conservatives" of today, Lapham said, "I think they gave up the excitement of thought for the pleasure of power."
When Glenn asked about the "conservatives" of today, Lapham said, "I think they gave up the excitement of thought for the pleasure of power."
posted by WCharles @ 10/27/2005 02:58:00 PM
4 Comments:
"I theorized that Republicans have become far more interested in getting and keeping power than pursuing true conservative policies."
To a large extent that is true. Etymolically (and I'm not an English expert which should emminently evident), the root of conservative is conserve. Conserve means to judiciously maintin what you have - status quo. A true conservative wants to do things the old fashioned way. A liberal is always tinkering, trying to change things, make it better - better based on their definition of goodness. So, a liberal politician will be continually introducing new bills and laws - trying to change society. A conservative won't. So, what's a conservative to do to maintain interest in their cause while in power? Work on maintaining power. In other words, political status quo.
Seriously, your observation is exactly why many conservatives are no longer enamored with Bush. Actually, I'm not sure we ever were enamored, more like hopeful he would rise to the task and push the conservative agenda. He has not done so. It has been speculated that the more conservative elements of the Republican party may bolt and form a new party, one that is more in line with their world view.
After writing the above post I came across this blog entry. Check the post on Christians and Republicans. http://cranach.worldmagblog.com/cranach/
That was a very interesting post. I particularly liked the term "miered down." I'll have some substantive response later...
Someone borked is destroyed by the opposite party. Someone miered is destroyed by their own party.
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