[Bill,
June 21, 2009]
Remember what I said about the liberal narrative?
Well, here it is in all its self-congratulatory glory.
"Liberals ended slavery, liberals got woman [sic] the right to vote, liberals created Social Security, Medicaid and a minimum wage, they wrote the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, they have done all of those things in at every moment, for every one of those things in this country, what did conservatives do, they opposed every one of those things, including your right to vote (pointing at Mika)."
See? To a liberal, it's constant emancipation ... A liberal would read the above paragraph, and say, what's wrong with that?
Well, the abolitionists were devout Christians, for starters. The exact sort of people who are cursed today for opposing abortion-on-demand. Liberals fear people like the abolitionists and follow the arguments, unwittingly, of the anti-abolitionists. So, no, liberals don't get this one.
Liberals got women the right to vote, indeed.
Social Security — a multi-generational Ponzi scheme. Privatized, it might've had a chance.
Medicaid and minimum wage ... yep, liberal ideas and good ones, depending where you put the minimum wage.
Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were geographical disputes more than liberal/conservative, and in fact, more Republicans supported these bills than Democrats.
Clean Air Act — first one signed by Eisenhower (R). Second one signed by Nixon (R). Third one signed by George H.W. Bush. So shut the fuck up.
Clean Water Act — first one signed by Nixon (R). Second by Carter (D). Third by Reagan (R).
Note also that today's liberals would be unrecognizable as such in the 1960s, much less today. They are far to the left of Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson and similar folks. And let's not pretend Woodrow Wilson would be recognizable as liberal in today's world. OSHA and EPA, btw, that was Nixon.
But to many liberals, this emancipation narrative is what's in the back of their mind. Anything they like that happened — that was progressive. Anything not — that was conservative.
And where the conservatives right about anything. After all, we conservatives have apparently lost every battle.
Cold War — liberals wanted unilateral disarmament. Ronnie Reagan was going to kill us all, liberals solemnly opined. And then the wall came down.
The cities — decades of liberal rule and welfare statism made them hell holes. Then voters elected folks like social liberal/economic conservative Rudy Giuliani, who turned the NYC around despite constant vilification from liberals.
Supply-side tax cuts and Friedmanesque economics. They worked, until both parties got cute and decided to create a credit bubble that inflated the price of housing to unrealistic levels. But let's be fair — the idea to force banks to lend to folks they didn't want to lend to — that was a liberal idea. And conservatives tried to reign it in, and were called chicken littles by Barney Frank. Then conservatives tried to exploit the bubble, and it blew up in their face.
Abortion-on-demand? Ultra-sound proved them wrong, but they blithely ignored it.
Global warming? Changed it to "climate change" when the earth began cooling.
Currying up to dictators? Liberals backed Stalin.
What else worldwide did liberals bring? Oh, socialism throughout Europe. The enervation of the British. Cowardice before communism.
And by the way, since the Democrats returned to Congress in 2007, the economy has kinda tanked, hasn't it?
Every battle — no. Some battles. But conservatism isn't about avoiding change altogether. It's about prudent change. It's about sticking with core conservative values that make sense and are time tested.
"Liberals ended slavery, liberals got woman [sic] the right to vote, liberals created Social Security, Medicaid and a minimum wage, they wrote the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, they have done all of those things in at every moment, for every one of those things in this country, what did conservatives do, they opposed every one of those things, including your right to vote (pointing at Mika)."
See? To a liberal, it's constant emancipation ... A liberal would read the above paragraph, and say, what's wrong with that?
Well, the abolitionists were devout Christians, for starters. The exact sort of people who are cursed today for opposing abortion-on-demand. Liberals fear people like the abolitionists and follow the arguments, unwittingly, of the anti-abolitionists. So, no, liberals don't get this one.
Liberals got women the right to vote, indeed.
Social Security — a multi-generational Ponzi scheme. Privatized, it might've had a chance.
Medicaid and minimum wage ... yep, liberal ideas and good ones, depending where you put the minimum wage.
Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were geographical disputes more than liberal/conservative, and in fact, more Republicans supported these bills than Democrats.
Clean Air Act — first one signed by Eisenhower (R). Second one signed by Nixon (R). Third one signed by George H.W. Bush. So shut the fuck up.
Clean Water Act — first one signed by Nixon (R). Second by Carter (D). Third by Reagan (R).
Note also that today's liberals would be unrecognizable as such in the 1960s, much less today. They are far to the left of Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson and similar folks. And let's not pretend Woodrow Wilson would be recognizable as liberal in today's world. OSHA and EPA, btw, that was Nixon.
But to many liberals, this emancipation narrative is what's in the back of their mind. Anything they like that happened — that was progressive. Anything not — that was conservative.
And where the conservatives right about anything. After all, we conservatives have apparently lost every battle.
Cold War — liberals wanted unilateral disarmament. Ronnie Reagan was going to kill us all, liberals solemnly opined. And then the wall came down.
The cities — decades of liberal rule and welfare statism made them hell holes. Then voters elected folks like social liberal/economic conservative Rudy Giuliani, who turned the NYC around despite constant vilification from liberals.
Supply-side tax cuts and Friedmanesque economics. They worked, until both parties got cute and decided to create a credit bubble that inflated the price of housing to unrealistic levels. But let's be fair — the idea to force banks to lend to folks they didn't want to lend to — that was a liberal idea. And conservatives tried to reign it in, and were called chicken littles by Barney Frank. Then conservatives tried to exploit the bubble, and it blew up in their face.
Abortion-on-demand? Ultra-sound proved them wrong, but they blithely ignored it.
Global warming? Changed it to "climate change" when the earth began cooling.
Currying up to dictators? Liberals backed Stalin.
What else worldwide did liberals bring? Oh, socialism throughout Europe. The enervation of the British. Cowardice before communism.
And by the way, since the Democrats returned to Congress in 2007, the economy has kinda tanked, hasn't it?
Every battle — no. Some battles. But conservatism isn't about avoiding change altogether. It's about prudent change. It's about sticking with core conservative values that make sense and are time tested.