Let's Not Hang Ourselves Quite Yet

I had a feeling last night. That feeling was, for the first time in a long time, We're not doomed.

Maybe I'm a sell-out or a cheap date or whatever, but I actually found that debate last night to be reassuring. We had five conservatives up there (plus Ron Paul) debating, essentially, whether or not we'd be taking the government to the most rightward point it's been since either the 80s, the 50s, or the 20s.

I thought Perry did well. He's still my pick.

Then again, Newt Gingrich brought up the fact of his 90% lifetime ACU voting record. 90%? Come on, that's not bad. Certainly not enough to get dispirited over.

Sure, 92% would be better. And 93% better still. But... 90% is certainly livable, and not the sort of thing anyone needs to claw the skin off their face over.

In previous cycles you wouldn't have 90% ACU rating people running because they'd be considered too "extreme" to get moderate backing. That's partly why we nominate so many governors, as their "extremism" isn't as well evidenced by a raw number.

I don't know Mitt Romney's real politics -- I'm not sure who does -- but he is basically a conservative guy. Very conservative? No, not very conservative in this environment. But more than likely, as conservative as George W. Bush, and I would guess a fair amount more. I do not expect President Romney to spend, spend, spend like Bush did, for example.

Now, any of these three guys would likely have the whole of the Congress in Republican hands. And not just Republican hands, but rightwing hands. The party has been largely (though not entirely) purged of moderates, and even more entirely purged of liberals. And yes, we used to have those.

The media likes to attack the current Republican Party as "extremist." Let me note this, just this once: Compared to the Republican Party of 10 years ago, or even 3 years ago, it certainly is more "extremist."

We are basically threatening to hang ourselves over the question over whether the next government will be quite rightwing or very rightwing.

Worse case scenario? Let's say it's merely "quite rightwing." The government would be more conservative, overall, than it ever, ever was under Reagan.

Let's have some perspective! It's not all bad!

posted by Ace at 02:37 PM

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