Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Mark Schmitt is very smart:
- If Bush loses, serious conservatives, with the possible exception of extreme social conservatives, will have to ask themselves what they gained from four years of unfettered power, and ten years of domination of American politics. Government is "bigger" by every measure, and more intrusive. A pet idea, Social Security privatization, was actually discredited by their president's incompetence. Younger voters are increasingly turned off by the social conservatism, so the movement is not expanding its base. A huge new entitlement was created. The federal role in education expanded. And poor planning and dishonesty over Iraq weakened our defense, our credibility, and made it impossible to set a clear standard for when we would intervene and when not.
All the tax cuts have done is to postpone the day we pay for these things.
And if Bush wins, all this will still be true. Especially after a vicious campaign that offered no clear and persuasive conservative vision, it will be no easier for Bush to enact a conservative mandate. The corrupt short-term political bargains will only continue. If Bush wins, Karl Rove may be deemed a tactical genius, but the chances of a significant ideological realignment of American politics are lower than at any time since 2000. A smart conservative would surely prefer Bush to lose, if only to get the long process of intellectual rebuilding started right away.
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I agree with a lot of this (though not the foreign policy characterizations). The GOP has gotten fat and happy and has been terrible ever since Newt left. Problem is, the DEMs have yet to prove to me that they are the better alternative.
In related news, I was speaking to a GOP friend of mine last night about the election. This is a guy with a picture of Bush and Laura on his fridge. He admitted to me that if if Lieberman or Gephart was running, he would vote for either over Bush, but just can't vote for Kerry.
