For too long, conservatives have allowed their regular opposition to most policy proposals, and now their vehement opposition to President Obama, to be painted as angry and pessimistic – when, in truth, our fundamental ideology is rooted in confidence, optimism and happiness with our American way of life. This, I believe, is the conservative conundrum.
This became particularly clear to me this week as I engaged a dear friend of mine about the current state of affairs. He is the father of one of my best friends in the world, and someone who is much like a second father to me. He is British-born and American by choice. We have been debating, generally, this issue of how to handle President Obama. I, of the persuasion that the President, regrettably, is a real danger to all that we believe, and that he must be stopped from doing the things he wants to do – my friend, while frustrated with many of Mr. Obama’s policies, of the persuasion that he is our President and we must hope that he succeeds.
In an email exchange with my friend last night – after a particularly funny one about the ridiculous Obama “gift” gaffes (DVD’s, Churchill, etc…) with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown – he wrote the following:
Speaking of Sir Winston Churchill… here is one of his many famous quotations: “The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity” — Winston Churchill. Cheers!
Now, there’s not much to argue with in the quote. I agree. But, my friend sent this as part of his ongoing attempt to convince me not to “rubbish,” in his words, the President – and came with the implication that by attacking the President and his policies, we conservatives are no longer “the optimist.”
This, of course, raised some questions for me about those core issues of how you carry yourself and what you stand for.
I know what I stand for. I stand for God. I stand for freedom. I stand for self-reliance and personal responsibility. I stand for the Constitution and limited government. I stand for preservation of life and the values necessary for civilization to prosper. And I am proud of these things – because these are the things, coupled with family and friendship, that make me optimistic about the future of America and the opportunity we all have.
But these are not things that usually show up in the form of legislation. Unless they involve repeal of previous mistakes, these are not things that lend themselves to activist legislators in Washington who have to “be for something” (for the sake of it) and who have the worst disease of all, “do-something-itis.”
For me, this is what I believe is the conservative conundrum. We are built – as Rush Limbaugh talks about regularly – to be happy and to have fun in this world by focusing on what we can accomplish through Faith, freedom, hard work and self-reliance. This, as opposed to the liberal – who wants to focus on all that is wrong and bad in the world, and what government needs to do to “solve problems.”
Accordingly, we are also built to be against virtually everything that Washington does – the thousands of bills, the rampant expansion of government, the spending, the waste and the non-stop trampling of freedom – most occuring beyond the Constitutionally limited purpose of our national government. As a result, we get painted as “angry” or “pessimistic.”
Indeed, our opposition today should be as high as it ever has been. We all know what is happening. The unprecedented and ill-conceived spending that mortgages our nation’s future and risks runaway inflation… the many irresponsible nominees… the nationalization of many American businesses… the large steps toward nationalized healthcare… the massive taxation… the rampant disrespect for the unborn… the damage inflicted on our national security… the meddling in local schools… the attack on guns… the attack on religion in the public square… the hysterical and illogical reaction to so-called climate change… and the list goes on and on… all leading to a potential disaster for our nation, for our families and for the literally billions of people around the world who depend upon a strong, free and prosperous America.
So how do we maintain our inherent optimism as conservatives in the face of this onslaught against everything we hold dear?
In my view – we conservatives need to do three things:
1. We need to be better about focusing first, even from a policy perspective, on those things we know are enduring – as we know those are the things that give us our optimism. Our Faith, our families, our friends, and our belief in freedom – from individual liberty and belief in the free market to the fundamental right to govern ourselves… these are the things that get us up every day, uplift us and encourage us. These are the simple things, but these are the things that matter and that endure;
2. Stop apologizing for being conservative and quit being scared to oppose terrible ideas and harmful policies. It’s ok. Be proud and, even, happy in our opposition. Our nation was founded in opposition to the Crown and its oppressive regime, and for freedom. Republicans today are running scared – looking for something to be “for,” when what we are for is pretty simple – to preserve and protect our largely successful and healthy American way of life (see #1); and
3. Be realistic that our way of life is under attack, embrace it, and then unabashedly and unapologetically fight those who are attacking us. Fight to protect those things that matter, and to oppose with everything we have all those who undermine our ability to live free and to enjoy those things, including the President, his Democrat cohorts and the weak, pathetic Republicans who enable them.
We as conservatives should be greatly concerned about the state of affairs today. But the strength in our ideology comes from our underlying optimism, faith and confidence in our beliefs and the American way of life. What we have in America is awesome. It’s inspiring, and it’s damn sure worth the fight – so act like it.
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
Finally......
texas214 (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 12:36PM EST (link)Finally, I’ve been posting on here for several months and the one thing that has been bothering me is the lack of optimism. The GOP under Reagan, who everyone likes to compare to, came to power with a message of optimism; not just bashing the other side.
Positive ideas and beliefs are what will get the GOP back into power. Reagan came to power not because he bashed Carter, but he spoke of the “shining city of the hill”.
People follow leaders not the complainers (see Ron Paul, quick to point out the problem but short on leadership).
The shining city on the hill has been sacked,
Achance (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 2:40PM EST (link)and Republicans in large measure enabled and even participated in the Sack of America. Even those who knew a bad thing was happening when the bailout frenzy started under GWB were so morally compromised by the Republican spending orgy of the last few years that there was little they could say. Hard to be optimistic when you’re searching the rubble for the remains of your net worth.
In Vino Veritas
Achance I think we need to sack those who sacked our city....kinda like this..
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 2:52PM EST (link)I am sorrrry Art…I know that video slow at first…but I hope the payout out the end gave you a chuckle.
FWIW I completely agree with you. But hold out the faith to 2012….either we win and can change things….or we lose and try again…or the Mayan calendar indeed predicts the beginning of the apocalypse. My money is on us winning…I believe this because we have a lot of great people here on RedState and they are from a variety of states….we really do surround them Art…and more and more people are starting to realize it.
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
Follow @Aaron_RS
Ahhh....bad tag....nt
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 2:53PM EST (link)I hope that worked
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
Follow @Aaron_RS
I get depressed everyday over the current events.
phxg (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 1:57PM EST (link)But it will change, politics always does.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
Reagan was always optimistic.
Old_Crow (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 3:00PM EST (link)Even when the liberals were snarling and angry. It is often easy to surrender to the darker side of our personality and it takes work to stay positive when the Country is accelerating towards chaos.
Doom and gloom, however, is not attractive at our most basic core level. We were built to be positive and hopeful. As a focus, honey is a far more effective than a club – but honesty and truth must underlie it all.
Let Obama be the happy-go-luck fool while shooting hoops and giving other people’s speeches. Let Rahmbo curse the public and continue his mafia management style. Paloozi, Reid, Dodd, Frank and Schumer will self-destruct along with the economy during the next two years.
We just need to optimistically remind the public that there is a better way. There is a high road that doesn’t involve corrupt government thugs running private businesses.
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” — James Madison
Great Post!
franklinslocke Friday, March 20th at 3:06PM EST (link)You are absolutely right! I have been writing about Conservatism, Capitalism, Socialism, etc. But, I have not even mentioned being optimistic. This is such a great point. All these principles lose their effectiveness without it.
We need to keep up the opposition and present better ideas. By the next election, more people will know what Conservatives are about and why our ideas are better.
http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/
Happy Warriors
Beaglescout (Diary) Saturday, March 21st at 12:10AM EST (link)Nothing gets on the nerves of a socialist elitist more than having his or her clock cleaned by a happy warrior who dismantles every argument and laughs at how easy it is. Sure they laugh a lot. But it is sarcastic, cynical, mocking laughter: not a joyful, positive exaltation of inner happiness. Angels laugh one way; devils another. The conservatives’ part will be to laugh as angels laugh. That will be enough.
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
In part it's a trap
katesmith (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 3:09PM EST (link)They won by constant negativity. Not saying to emulate that. But we can’t say one word without it being labeled as an attack. They put forth a circular argument that keeps us chasing out tales. Not a way to spend our time. Focus on mechanics.
Just follow up every frustrating rant at every
redware Friday, March 20th at 3:46PM EST (link)hypocritical,extreme left wing thing they do with a reminder just how conservative principles will promote more freedom,security and prosperity and voila-no more conundrum.I think both our visceral responses to the incredulous mistakes of the SCROTUS,er I mean POTUS, and his congressional minions and a reasoned advocacy of an alternative conservative solution can easily coexist.The former serves to awaken the electorate,the latter to educate them.
Free Markets work, Socialism doesn't
Chieftain1776 (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 4:28PM EST (link)My approach to all this is that I really believe that socialism doesn’t work. I echo NR’s Rich Lowry’s post A Little Perspective, Please “Barack Obama and the Democrats have the initiative. Until such time as their policies are perceived to have failed, it doesn’t matter too much what Republicans do.” Not very optimistic? I disagree. If you believe in the overwhelming evidence that free markets work then you’ll find that Obama will fail. We just need to ensure that when he does we put in real proponents of the free market in their place. That imo includes recruiting private citizens who will pledge to a term limit like many did in ’94
Does anyone believe that if we had a booming economy we’d still be in this mess politically? With the exception of Iraq (which I opposed) and the corruption scandals (which are an effect of big government and career politicians) in 2006 there was nothing stopping Repubs from winning another set of terms. If the Repubs would have had the courage to make Fannie/Freddie truly private, reigned in the easy money of the Federal Reserve and knee capped the CRA, we’d have a growing economy today.
And as for Ron Paul he tried to do all this in 2002(!) by introducing Free Housing Market Enhancement Act. Read his statement …it’s just amazing and frankly makes me angry: http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/cr071602.htm
There’s a lesson in this. On his TV show, Joe Scarborough enthusiastically gives Ron Paul credit and shows why the Repubs didn’t support the reforms. They didn’t want to endanger their Fannie/Freddie contributions and wanted to feel good about increasing the home ownership rate. They sacrificed the long term for the short term and now those Repub congressmen are out of a their seat but probably have cushy lobbying jobs. We’re holding the bag as citizens and politically as conservatives/libertarians. Check out Scarborough’s TV interview with rising star Rep. John Shadegg @5:45 for the exchange. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#29753179
That’s why when I hear the leftist economic “solutions” from the Frum’s, Douthats, Kristols, etc it’s really frustrating. Not only b/c we tried them and failed (see above) but b/c there’s an inherent pessimism in the belief of free markets. That we have to compromise at every step and that markets can be tinkered with without consequences.
As for optimism…do look at the resurgence of Ron Paul, a 72 year old with no charisma but rooted in principle. Look at ’94 and this 1993 NYT article that RedState posted months ago and just laugh. It’s the same b.s. from “moderates” saying limited government is dead. We’ve been here before with no Fox News, RedState’s, etc and triumphed. So let’s prepare for the next battle by recruiting our most principled soldiers and I think we’ll be fine politically when socialism fails again… this time without Republicans promoting it.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/05/nyregion/1992-elections-world-analysis-dawn-new-politics-challenges-for-both-parties.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Excellent piece and points
peg_c (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 8:05PM EST (link)I’m of the same mindset as you – we have to fight this tooth and nail. How to do it and retain and project optimism? For our family, we are taking refuge in humor – all the sites, videos and Photoshops of TOTUS, the Banking Queen, and all the other loons, liars, thieves and Marxists in the WH and in Congress are helping us maintain sanity.
The difficulty for those of us who now despise government on principle is maintaining any equilibrium and sanity. If we are accused of being the Party of No, we have to explain exactly what NO entails. No tyranny, no confiscatory and punitive taxation, no abridgment of our rights and freedoms, no trampling of the Constitution, etc. Then we have to outline all the positive principles of conservatism. After you do this proudly to a liberal colleague, friend or relative one time, it gets easier, and your spirit will rise. I’ve done it. It is truly liberating.
Government cannot be the solution when government is the problem.
Good post.
itrytobenice (Diary) Friday, March 20th at 10:42PM EST (link)It is easy to get discouraged when we can see that the democrats are proposing policies and passing them that will mean harm or destruction for people of our nation. It’s easy to get discouraged when we see the people’s lackadaisical attitude saddling our children with an unwieldy, corrupt government and a mountain of debt.
But we have to remember that good people are overcomers and there have been many people in far worse straits than this who have survived and thrived. We’ll pray that we do so and count on God’s blessing for our endeavors as we try our best to live in His way.
Proper grammar saves lives.
Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.