Advice For Conservatives

First things first, congratulations to President Obama for a hard fought and close victory. As is often the case, the electoral college picture did not reflect the actual popular vote, which was quite close. As one talking head said before the election, whoever wins, about half of the country will be disappointed. But I do not harbor such ill will that I hope for the opposition to fail in their leadership of this country. I sincerely hope that Obama is more successful in his second term, although history is against him on that. Second terms are generally more difficult and less successful than the first. But there have been exceptions, and I hope Obama is one of them. I sincerely hope that he was being honest in his excellent victory speech, when he said that he had learned from his experiences of the first term and wants to be better in the second. He is an intelligent man, so I think he does have the capacity to learn, analyze and adjust. I would love to see a smart pivot more to the middle, such as Clinton made after his own rocky start.

Despite the hasty proclamations that demographics have heralded a new era in our politics, I still believe that this country is essentially center-right at heart. Even if many people don't really know it. I do see the growing Hispanic population as the key electorate of the future. I am fairly familiar with this demographic. I married one, have dated many, live in a city where they are the majority, and about 80% of my students over the years have been Hispanic. I have grown to appreciate and love much about this vibrant and warm culture. Which is why I think I can say this confidently: Hispanics should be a fairly easy group of voters for conservatives to appeal to, if only conservatives were smart about it. In many ways, the Hispanic voters have conservative values. The strong Roman Catholic faith, the focus on a tight family structure and certain values related to that that still run deep in the culture, a very strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. This should be prime conservative territory here!

But no. Many conservatives take untennable positions on immigration. When Rick freakin' Perry supported some generous immigration policies, even he was attacked by fellow conservatives as being "soft." I'm no fan of Perry, but it is ridiculous when even he is attacked for not being conservative enough. The bellicose Tea Party element have created a suicidal rhetorical divide of us vs. them. Gay marriage is a lost battle, drop it. You lose anyone who knows well or cares about anyone who is gay. Not to mention, you lose the gay population itself, much of which is wealthy and might otherwise be interested in a party that does more to protect personal wealth. (Abortion is a more difficult matter, because if you are sincerely pro-Life, then nothing could be more political. I don't get people who say abortion "should not be a poltiical issue." That is basically code for "accept the Pro-Choice position." Anyway, that is a different discussion.)

I feel like the Republican Party, while not dead in the water, is currently adrift in similar waters that the Democratics had to navigate in the 1980's. When a fringe element takes control and makes the most noise and grabs power, leaving more moderate elements cold. It took a Clinton to save the Dems, and a similar figure will have to emerge on the Republican side as well. I think they will. Eventually. It is hard-wired into this country's DNA to have a competitive two party system, despite some periods of dominance by one or the other.

I have been following with much interest the hand wringing, soul searching and circular firing squad of self-analysis in the aftermath of this election on the Republican side. Many Tea Partiers and talk radio types insist that the answer is to double down, that the problem was that Romney was not conservative enough. I sympathize with Romney and think he would have been a good president. He just wasn't a good candidate. He is a moderate at heart, but had to make himself a "severe conservative" to navigate the self-destructive Republican primary. There was no other way, and he paid the price.

Of all of the things that I have read or heard, I really like David Frum's column for CNN, a link is here. It is entitled "Conservatives, Don't Despair," and it has some great advice that should be followed. I would suggest reading in its entirety, but I like this quote on the ridiculous and hysterical cries from some conservatives that the Obama agenda is an insidious attempt to move America towards socialism:

"The United States did not vote for socialism. It could not do so, because neither party offers socialism. Both parties champion a free enterprise economy cushioned by a certain amount of social insurance. The Democrats (mostly) want more social insurance; the Republicans want less. National politics is a contest to move the line of scrimmage, in a game where there's no such thing as a forward pass, only a straight charge ahead at the defensive line. To gain three yards is a big play."

He goes on to point out:

"Whatever you think of the Obama record, it's worth keeping in mind that by any measure, free enterprise has been winning the game for a long, long time to this point.

Compare the United States of 2012 with the United States of 1962. Leave aside the obvious points about segregation and discrimination, and look only at the economy.

In 1962, the government regulated the price and route of every airplane, every freight train, every truck and every merchant ship in the United States. The government regulated the price of natural gas. It regulated the interest on every checking account and the commission on every purchase or sale of stock. Owning a gold bar was a serious crime that could be prosecuted under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The top rate of income tax was 91%.

It was illegal to own a telephone. Phones had to be rented from the giant government-regulated monopoly that controlled all telecommunications in the United States. All young men were subject to the military draft and could escape only if they entered a government-approved graduate course of study. The great concern of students of American society -- of liberals such as David Riesman, of conservatives such as Russell Kirk and of radicals such as Dwight Macdonald -- was the country's stultifying, crushing conformity."

Frum is a conservative himself, but a reasonable one. I suggest reading the whole article. As he says at the end:

"We need more sensible conservatives. As for the feeble conservatives, they should take a couple of aspirin and then stay quietly indoors until the temper has subsided and they are ready to say and do something useful again."