Gods of the Copybook Headings, 1; American People 0

I have always liked Kipling’s poem because of its sobering, yet wryly humorous, message concerning the consequences of ignoring the natural law. A majority of my fellow citizens have done precisely that, by heaving a flashy, but dangerous, poseur into the White House, apparently in the belief that what the ship of state really needs, as it navigates the perilous seas of a dangerous world, is a captain who is the rankest landlubber. So, in the midst of economic chaos that has nearly battered the global banking system to its knees, and foreign intrigues being hatched by lunatics who either have, or are developing, a nuclear weapons capability, we have elected Mr. Barack Obama, exclusively on the strength of his affidavit that he does not share the anti-capitalist and anti-American prejudices of practically everyone with whom he has been professionally associated for the last 20 years. I can only pray that Kipling’s home truths sink in quickly, and that the people begin educating themselves in time to return Mr. Obama to private life after one term.

Will he be another Jimmy Carter, or will he be the George McGovern that we were blissfully spared in 1972? I tend to feel that neither one of these comparisons really hits the mark; Obama doesn’t strike me as being as utterly vacuous as Carter, nor as naïve as McGovern. I think he is more of a Lyndon Johnson: potentially thuggish in his exercise of power, an enemy of genuine transparency in government, a machine politician to the core, but with more polish than LBJ, and with a strong, underlying commitment to leftist ideology that the Texan probably would have abhorred. There is at least the possibility that Americans have elected, for the first time in my life, at any rate, not a leader, but a ruler. As one of William Faulkner’s characters said, “God have mercy on us, poor sons of bitches.”

The tectonics of the American political scene reveal a dangerous shift in ideology and in the perceptions and understanding of historical reality. The liberal fascism so admirably described by Jonah Goldberg is setting down roots everywhere: no longer just in Hollywood and in the mainstream media and in the fever swamps of academe, but among the clueless millions who have come to take their freedoms for granted and are willing to give them up, one by one, in exchange for the comforting, but false, assurances that their government knows what’s best for them and not only can, but should, protect them from pain and suffering and angst – the state as psychological and political womb.

Well, we shall see, we shall see. I confess that, for purely selfish reasons, I see an upside to this electoral result: with Obama in the White House, we conservative bloggers have hit the mother lode of source material. In fact, there is so much gold to go around, I am considering the possibility of setting up another blog that will serve as a clearing house for information on the crimes, frauds, misdemeanors and low comedy of this administration and its parent organization, the Democratic Party.

I believe it is necessary for everyone who can, to sound the alarm about what is happening to our country at the hands of unscrupulous power mongers, and to grab the lumpish part of the electorate by the lapels and make them think. Lionel Trilling wrote that we have a moral responsibility to be intelligent, i.e., the consequences of intellectual indolence, of a distaste for the sometimes hard effort involved in thinking clearly, and acting accordingly, can lead to the ultimate destruction not only of an individual, but of a society, a country, a civilization; thus, since we are all at risk, we are all responsible, in some measure, for what we do, and for what we fail to do.

So, time to get cracking. A few lessons to apply going forward.

1) The Republican Party needs to get back to first principles. We are (or should be) the party in favor of individual liberty, personal responsibility, smaller government and a strong, consistent foreign policy. We should completely reject the notion that listing to port is ever going to enable us to become the majority party; when it comes to government handouts dressed up as “compassion”, populist demagoguery, rants against Wall Street, and a pusillanimous foreign policy, we can never be anything but a “me too” party. But far more importantly, power for the sake of power is not the goal, anyway. This is not about putting people in office solely for the reason that they have an ‘R’ by their names; this is about ideals and noble traditions and historical memory and maintaining our status as a free people.

2) It’s fine to complain about the bias of the mainstream media; it’s a moral obligation, in fact. But Republicans have to realize that the media will always be against them. We have to find ways to go directly to the American people, to do an end-run around our self-appointed “gatekeepers”. In this, the media are unwittingly beginning to provide assistance; both television and dead-tree organizations have so utterly undermined their credibility that their influence is waning. The rise of the blogosphere is important in this connection, and is likely to become more so, as people look for alternative sources of information. The challenge for bloggers is to develop stronger networks among themselves, and to engage in closer cooperation with grassroots organizations on the Right. The Republican National Committee needs to wake up and see the blogosphere for the gold mine of information and original investigative reporting that it is. And finally, right-wing bloggers need, collectively, to take a more activist role in engaging with the MSM, politicians (at the state, as well as the national level), and government agencies. If we wait around for someone to send a link to one of our posts to, say, the Washington Post, we may wait a very long time if we’re expecting a response. We need to take a leaf from the Obama playbook, and “get in their faces”, let them know that we’re watching and reading and that we’re going to call them out when they show bias or ignorance (yes, this is a 24/7 mission).

3) Things got nasty this election, particularly with the guerilla tactics used by the lefty blogs and by the proliferation of radical organizations (e.g., Code Pink) that are now playing a bigger role in mobilizing opinion. These tactics were aped by the MSM, vide the hunt for dirt on Joe the Plumber and Cindy McCain. In fact, this has been the most savage election environment I’ve seen in my lifetime. Well, guess what: it’s going to get worse. The Left is making up its own rules: dishonest reporting is acceptable for the good of the cause, the use of the law as a tool to intimidate both conservative politicians and citizens is de rigueur, “astroturfing” – the list goes on and on. I’m not advocating the use of smears and lies and threats. I am, however, going on record as stating that those who want to change America into something that most citizens would find repulsive, and who are not shy about using foul means to do so, are fair game for the kind of “vetting” they’re doing to everybody else.

4) Think ACORN and voter fraud are going to be on the front-burner of the new administration? I don’t either. It’s up to activist citizens to keep bringing these attempts to undermine democracy to the attention of the appropriate national, state and local officials. And to the MSM, as well; there are still some honest reporters and newspapers out there, and we’ve always got Fox News (at least until the “Fairness Doctrine” is legislated).

5) We need new blood in the party at both the local and national levels. Sarah Palin is a great start. Bobby Jindal has a bright future. But as I mentioned under item #1, it is essential that the Republican Party develop a set of ideals around which a core of passionately committed would-be representatives, senators and presidential candidates can coalesce. The American people need to be offered a vision; if not, they’ll settle, as they have this time around, for a hallucination.

Oh, and by the way; to Peggy Noonan, Christopher Buckley, David Brooks, et al…


“Bien fait, mes collègues!”