[Bill,
June 12, 2012]
Can we win? No, not just the election
Note: I'm probably gonna get some pushback on this post, so I'd like to add a disclaimer. I am aware that when the Democrats are in charge, the GOP flips out. I'll try not to overstate my point, and keep in mind that we conservatives do piss off liberals. (Sorry about that -- don't mean to piss you off.) In any case, I want to just add the thought that yes, this a complex issue, more complex than I'm saying, but I think there's a very valid point here and I don't want to caveat the crap out of this post. Maybe the issue is I live in a red section of the country, but I grew up in a blue section, and I can attest that politics is far more important to the bluers than the redders I know.
The question I'm asking myself is this: When selecting a presidential candidate to vote for, we need to ask: Is a Republican presidential candidate good enough to overcome the advantages Democratic presidents conferred upon them by cultural elites?
I recognize that there's some question-begging. I'm sure my Democratic friends think, "Are you kidding me?" What I mean, specifically, is that we have a cognitive elite in this country, and they are for the most part liberal or at least supportive of the Democratic Party. They are capable of arguing their points with considerable skill. And when there's a Democratic president, these cognitive elites give the president a pass on a lot of things. There aren't the same kinds of discussions.
For example: We don't discuss Guantanamo Bay any more. We don't discuss drone attacks. We don't really discuss the deficit -- suddenly it's good. Bush's 5 percent unemployment rate was a "jobless recovery"; Obama's 8.2 percent rate is rarely discussed. Fast & Furious is a massive scandal that under a GOP president, would be top news every day.
That is, if the Democratic cognitive elite are powerful (and they are), they naturally give a pass on all sorts of things to a Democratic president that they'd never tolerate from a Republican one. The cognitive elite simply calm down when there's a Democratic president.
This is an enormous advantage when governing. Is electing Mitt Romney worth incurring the wrath of the cognitive elite? We know the CEs already think we conservatives are prejudiced, stupid, ignorant(and unaware of it), emotionally driven, greedy, uneducated, and superstitious.
You see, Obama is given the benefit of the doubt on almost every issue. Unemployment. The recession. Libya. This has been good for the country. It adds some distance and pause to our decisions. Romney won't be given the benefit of the doubt. Can he be a good enough president to overcome this disadvantage?
I don't know. His squeaky-clean image, his Mormon faith, and his silver-spoon upbringing will have liberals seeing red. The public debate among the cognitive elites will get even nastier, which will make governance more difficult.
Hope I've made my point. Cheers.
The question I'm asking myself is this: When selecting a presidential candidate to vote for, we need to ask: Is a Republican presidential candidate good enough to overcome the advantages Democratic presidents conferred upon them by cultural elites?
I recognize that there's some question-begging. I'm sure my Democratic friends think, "Are you kidding me?" What I mean, specifically, is that we have a cognitive elite in this country, and they are for the most part liberal or at least supportive of the Democratic Party. They are capable of arguing their points with considerable skill. And when there's a Democratic president, these cognitive elites give the president a pass on a lot of things. There aren't the same kinds of discussions.
For example: We don't discuss Guantanamo Bay any more. We don't discuss drone attacks. We don't really discuss the deficit -- suddenly it's good. Bush's 5 percent unemployment rate was a "jobless recovery"; Obama's 8.2 percent rate is rarely discussed. Fast & Furious is a massive scandal that under a GOP president, would be top news every day.
That is, if the Democratic cognitive elite are powerful (and they are), they naturally give a pass on all sorts of things to a Democratic president that they'd never tolerate from a Republican one. The cognitive elite simply calm down when there's a Democratic president.
This is an enormous advantage when governing. Is electing Mitt Romney worth incurring the wrath of the cognitive elite? We know the CEs already think we conservatives are prejudiced, stupid, ignorant(and unaware of it), emotionally driven, greedy, uneducated, and superstitious.
You see, Obama is given the benefit of the doubt on almost every issue. Unemployment. The recession. Libya. This has been good for the country. It adds some distance and pause to our decisions. Romney won't be given the benefit of the doubt. Can he be a good enough president to overcome this disadvantage?
I don't know. His squeaky-clean image, his Mormon faith, and his silver-spoon upbringing will have liberals seeing red. The public debate among the cognitive elites will get even nastier, which will make governance more difficult.
Hope I've made my point. Cheers.