A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was. Since its very beginnings as a movement, conservatism has bought into liberalism’s dominant place in the American political process. They controlled all the major institutions: the media, academia, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, large segments of the Republican Party, and consequently, the government. Liberalism’s image of conservatives in the ’50s and ’60s as paranoid Birchers gave birth to a conservative movement self-conscious of its minority status. As in any tribe that is small in number and can’t fully trust its most natural allies (i.e. the business community or the Republican Party), the meta-debate of who is inside and outside the tribe is magnified exponentially.
The legacy of that early movement — alive and well at CPAC and in the conservative institutions that still exist today — is one driven inordinately by this question of identity. We have paeans to Reagan (as if we needed to be reminded again of just how much things suck in comparison today), memorabilia honoring 18th century philosophers that we wouldn’t actually wear in the outside world, and code-word laden speeches that focus on a few hot button issues that leave us ill-equipped to actually govern conservatively on 80% of issues when we actually do get elected.
This culture of identity politics means we get especially defensive about the Liberal Majority’s main lines of attack, because we think of our position as inherently fragile. The one that spawned the Cult of Joe the Plumber was the meme that Republicans want tax cuts only for the rich and that we don’t stand for working Americans. When find a highly visible figure who contradicts this notion, we swing into action. And we go on to press the argument to the point to absurdity, replete with plungers and custom “Joe” yard signs to prove our working class chops. These are the not the marks of a movement that assumes it operates (or should operate) from a position of political and cultural supremacy.
–Patrick Ruffini. Or to put matters more succinctly: Joe must go.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Daniel Horowitz
Jake Walker
Victoria Coates
Maybe we shouldn't call ourselves Conservatives.
Uma Richie (Diary) Thursday, February 26th at 8:29AM EST (link)Frankly, almost everything I read about here — personal responsibility and freedom, strict interpretation of the Constitution, minimizing the role of government, etc — is common sense. We may be on the right of the academic political spectrum, but I think our views fall near the “median” of adult American citizens.
We’re the moderates. Those other people are the radicals and the out-of-touch elites.
I agree with Patrick Ruffini a 1000%!
ZootSuit (Diary) Thursday, February 26th at 8:40AM EST (link)Pejman, from the way you write your commentary I do not know whether you agree with Patrick Ruffini.or not but I musr say that he is absolutely, spot-on correct. Conservatives — not just Republicans and not just RINOs and “so-called” conservatives — do not seem to have any true faith in their ideas. Not that they don’t believe their ideas themselves but that they have to somehow camoflauge them to make them acceptable to Americans.
An example of what I am trying to say is that George W. Bush had to sell his conservatism as “compassionate conservatism.” Now I have said that I believe that George W. Bush was a pro-life liberal, pure and simple but even aside from that there is the issue that the idea of “conservatism” had to be modified as “compassionate.” Why was that?
Liberals would never think to describe or modify their liberalism as “compassionate liberalism” because they make the assumption that their liberalism is compassionate. They assume (erroneously in my view but still) that their liberalism is by its very nature “compassionate.”
What we conservatives need to do is start making the argument that “conservatism” is by its very nature (and unmodified by adjectives) “compasionate.”
And that’s just the idea of “compassion.” As Patrick Ruffini wrote, it goes to a whole host of other ideas. Conservatives seem to be petrified by the idea that their ideas do not resonate with others. Consequently, we seem scared to sale them.
***** Unrepentant African-American nationalist, Unapologetic African-American conservative!
And just to "Kowalski" myself
ZootSuit (Diary) Thursday, February 26th at 8:42AM EST (link)I do not think Patrick Ruffini was saying tha the problem is with “Joe the Plumper.” He is saying, quite correctly, that the problem is with us.
***** Unrepentant African-American nationalist, Unapologetic African-American conservative!
These comments fail utterly to "get it"
robmikpet (Diary) Thursday, February 26th at 1:21PM EST (link)How about “A movement confident in its majority would not have ATTACKED a simple plumber even going so far as using government agents to release private personal information”.
That’s what the left did. Someone came close to “telling America what Obama was up to” and they used government power to try and discredit and destroy him, anyone care about that.
The long quote in this post IS PURE CRAP! Another “so called” conservative that says we have to be Democrats. It is condesending and puerile at the same time. So if I wear a “Jefferson was a patriot” button I live in the past and don’t get it, what a disgrace. Why not just add “The Constitution is soooo old I mean the men wore wigs back then”
This country is still right of center. What the left has done in the last two election cycles is go to war against us and we are still playing nice. With the help of the media we are fighting against a strong popular culture current.
It may be easier to JUST GIVE UP to the left, not me I am in it to win it! Thank God WWII is long in the past, because giving up to the Nazi’s would have been easier to. Quit being cowards and fight like your freedom depends on it…….cause it just might.