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Conservatism is Dead

Guest post by: Matt Harrison

Article Overview: In the 1990s, conservatives were vehemently opposed to nation-building. Wisely observing its gross failure in Vietnam, conservatives rightly objected to President Clinton's use of the American military to "liberate" Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans. Even George W. Bush campaigned against "nation-building" in 2000. Here are "Five ways that the Conservative movement has lost itself."

Conservatism is Dead

1. Foreign policy

In the 1990s, conservatives were vehemently opposed to nation-building. Wisely observing its gross failure in Vietnam, conservatives rightly objected to President Clinton's use of the American military to "liberate" Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans. Even George W. Bush campaigned against "nation-building" in 2000.

Now, for the sole reason that their Republican president changed his mind about the idea, conservatives believe that America can simply bestow human rights on the world. In a stunning case of Group Think, conservatives effectively deluded themselves into abandoning the quite logical position they held a short nine years ago. Today, Sean Hannity smilingly speaks of Mr. Bush's noble mission to "liberate" the Iraqi people, without any apparent logical discomfort.

The new foreign policy "conservative" is also quite liberal with Constitutional interpretation, asserting unlimited Executive war making power (which doesn't exist) and phantomgovernment agencies. It's a shame liberal representatives are too politically spineless to challenge conservatives on this unconstitutional arrogation of power.

Now, thanks to the new American imperialism piloted by "conservatives", nation-building, regime meddling, and other forms of political intervention have inflamed hatred that is now is boiling over, serving only to continuously inspire Islamist stump speeches and recruitment videos around the world. How's that keeping us safe, Jack?

2. Drug policy

The reason William F. Buckley, Jr. is the greatest American political thinker of the 20th century is his ability to recognize the error of mainstream thinking. Buckley (whose lack of a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary, while Maureen Dowd somehow received one, is a tragedy next to King Lear in its grievousness), exemplified the true public intellectual.

To make an educated decision about the Chronic, WFB realized he could not, in good faith, form an opinion of a substance he didn't understand. So he acquired some Panama Gold from a friend (police officer), steered his yacht into international waters, and sparked the broccoli. He came out for legalization in the following column. It wasn't because he liked it (he said he didn't), but that he couldn't fathom why such an innocuous narcotic (Buckley was a noted fan of wine) was so criminalized. This is the intelligent realization of a free society, and Buckley nailed it.

Observing the absurdities of the War on Weed, noting that marijuana is more easily acquired than alcohol for the average college freshman, Buckley continuously advocated legalization to this day. Later, he would announce, "[I] recommend the legalization of the sale of most drugs, except to minors." Of course, most conservatives - the intellectual forerunners of today's "neoconservatives" - heavily criticized Buckley, accusing him of "abandoning" the movement. Sadly, some conservatives would rather disparage their godfather than recognize their own policy fallacies.

3. Fiscal policy

What does limited government mean? In the 1990s, a conservative was someone (like N. Gingrich) who promised to rein in federal spending and help reduce debt. Now, Big Government Conservatism, an oxymoron by any reasonable definition, says deficits don't really matter after all. The new era of conservative pundits, with the enthusiastic support of the cyber-lemmings over at FreeRepublic, et. al., believe that spending is now wonderful whenever it's for something they happen to like, such as the maintenance of Cold War-era military strategy and Vietnam War-era military technology, or the political prosecution or internment of any undesirable class, especially Arabic, Gay, Immigrant or Drug User.

To others, such as this organization, limited government has always meant the same thing, namely, decentralized authority. Live and let live - and stop using the people's purse to fight your personal demons.

4. The market

Once upon a time, free-market advocacy was the distinguishing feature of conservatives. As the movement's early development spanned from the New Deal to the Great Society, conservatives were consistent in leading the intellectual defense of market competition, privatization, and deregulation. Many of the greatest achievements of the conservative movement can be partially or wholly credited to Milton Friedman, the brilliant Nobel-prize winning economist.

Now, whatever market-friendliness is left among many mainstream conservatives is either a) predominantly overshadowed by social concerns, such as the imagined "threat to marriage" or "indecency"; b) replaced by trade protectionism, found most commonly in Midwestern and Southern Republicans; or c) represented only by crony capitalism, exemplified through lobbyist influence, corporate bailouts and tax breaks. M. Friedman is rolling in his grave.

5. Morality

The conservative has always been the champion of Judeo-Christian morality and a chief critic of the movements and ideas that contributed to its popular decline. This belief in morality is elemental to nearly all forms of modern conservatism. But it's one thing to bemoan the erosion of national morality, and it's quite another to use the government to stop the devolution.

Social conservatives have had their social preferences wholly disregarded by a growing segment of the population. Unfortunately, that's their problem, and it's not one that the state should be solving for them. Conservatives don't want government telling the people what to eat or what to buy, but they think it's a fantastic idea to have the government tell people what to believe. Come again?

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Article Tags: conservatism, conservative movement, conservatives, matt harrision, the prometheus institute
Referred by: http://www.westwindcos.com



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