Many conservatives are disillusioned with the Republican Party. Yesterday, on the NPR program “Fresh Air,” the subject was as follows:
“During the election season, David Kirkpatrick profiled Republican presidential contender John McCain in a series of articles in The New York Times. He shares his thoughts on the McCain campaign, and on the future of the Republican Party.”
You can listen to the broadcast at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96811878 . But I just want to mention one point that struck a chord with me, since I share the same viewpoint.
Mr. Kirkpatrick described two factions in the GOP today: “high conservatives” and “low conservatives.” “High conservatism” is committed to intellectual thinking, and fundamental principles regarding the role of government. Subscribers of this philosophy don’t whine endlessly about the “liberal, intellectual elite from Ivy League school” or the “media elite.” The Republican base today and since the time Newt Gingrich led the conservative sweep into Congress, on the other hand, has been talking “low conservatism.” This is more of a populist and more divisive approach to politics. In this case, the party tries to appeal to what Sarah Palin called “real America,” i.e. rural & small-town America and its largely blue-collar population. I don’t think there is anything wrong with populism per se. However, when the populists claim a monopoly on social/moral values (”Good Christians”) and on patriotism, and scare the electorate about those intellectual elites and their supposed inability to protect our country from our enemies, we have a problem. Initially, it helped the party win elections. But after so many years of the conservative wave, there seems to be a backlash.
Let’s see how long the new, Democratic wave lasts. The White House and both houses of Congress are under their control, and all our worst nightmares theirs to solve — or royally screw up. How they do, under the leadership of Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, will determine the outcome of the next election. Americans appear to be sick of incompetent leadership. It’s time we saw some positive results coming out of Washington D.C.!
