Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Trump, 2012: "Obama Spoke for Me and Every American" in His Post-Newtown Speech | Main | Grand Jury Indicts Three Black Students Who Made Up Hoax of a Racist Attack Against Them; They Were Actually The Ones Beating Someone Up (While Throwing Racial Epithets) »
May 03, 2016

David Frum: Trump Has Exposed Just How "Pitifully" Few Conservatives Exist in the Republican Party; the "Social Issues Veto" is No More

Provocative claims, but almost assuredly correct ones.

I'm not particularly socially conservative (some, but not all that much; conservative-ish moderate) but I've largely adapted my political preferences to reflect the reality, as I previously understood it, in the Republican Party. Though Giuliani was one of my favorite politicians (and I had been a fan of his since he was mob-busting US Attorney), I couldn't really support him for President in 2008.

His pro-choice position would crack the party, I thought. Ergo, he wasn't a serious candidate. Maybe I'd like him as president, but so what? I'd like Wolverine as president. Doesn't mean people will set aside the natural born citizen clause to allow Logan to take office.

But I don't think I'm going to be adapting my views to the socially-conservative mainstream any longer, because I'm not sure these views are actually the Republican mainstream any longer. I knew social conservatism wasn't quite as believed as was claimed; I knew many politicians claimed to be pro-life who were in fact pro-choice, and I knew many of the Beltway class of advisers, think-tank workers, etc. were pro-choice, or more pro-choice than the GOP was as a formal matter. They were certainly more pro-gay (if not always actually pro-gay-marriage).

But the fact that a clear social liberal, who practically no one believes is "pro-life" or even pro-gun, is the runaway favorite for the GOP nomination is a fact with major implications for the party going forward. If Trump's liberalism can be accepted, why can't the liberalism of Giuliani (or a Giuliani type to be named later) be accepted?

I had thought a whole bunch of things were non-negotiable demand points from an important part of the coalition.

Now it seems they either are plenty negotiable, or that part of the coalition isn't as important as I thought.

Donald Trump spoke to genuinely underrepresented people. Concerned that the GOP was captured by theocratic Southerners? Where Republicans are most secular and supposedly most moderate--the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic--Trump has done best. By all indications, he'll do crushingly well in California, too. It's where Republicans are least moderate that he was most resisted: Texas, Utah, and wherever party activists gather in caucuses and conventions....

That's a big takeaway for me: How very much part of the part seems to dislike "Jesusy" candidates like Ted Cruz. Who isn't really all that Jesusy. He's not Sam Brownback, for crying out loud.

And yet he is a big of an anathema because of his social conservatism to many. So many more than I ever anticipated.*

I read an article a while back that the party had four main groupings: moderates/liberals, about 30% of the party; moderately conservative voters, about 30%; very conservative and religious voters, 30%; and a last category, very conservative and very secular voters, about 10%. (Which I guess is my own category.)

I think maybe that 10% is more like 30%. I'm not sure all the people who say they're religious really are all that religious.

....

[H]ere's something that traditional ideological conservatives will want to consider: Trump rose by shoving them aside. Trump's rise exposed the weakness of social conservatives in particular. For a third of a century, social conservatives imposed a pro-life litmus test on Republican nominees for both presidency and vice presidency. They pulled the party into confrontations over sexuality and religion that many Republican elected leaders would have preferred to avoid. And then, abruptly, poof: The social conservative veto has vanished. New York values have prevailed, with a mighty assist from Jerry Falwell Jr. and other evangelical leaders. It seems unlikely the religious right will return in anything like its awesome previous form. A visibly conscientious objector to the culture wars easily defeated candidates who elevated the defunding of Planned Parenthood to the top of their agenda. That lesson, once demonstrated, won’t soon be forgotten....

The big internal conservative struggle of 2017 will be the fight to write the narrative of how Trump emerged and why he lost. Anti-Trump conservatives will want to say that Trump lost because he wasn’t a "true conservative." But 2016 to date is proposing that "true conservatives" constitute only a pitiful minority of the Republican Party, never mind the country as a whole. Why should any practical politician care about them ever again?

Some of this might be good news for me as it would open up the possibility that the things I care about -- restraining the size of the government, on the theory that the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen it reigns over; reducing spending; following the Constitution for a change -- could advance as the GOP's core issues.

But it seems that most of the party doesn't care much about those things, either.

* One complaint I hear forever about Ted Cruz is that he's just personally dislikable, and people can't get over it. I get that -- I had trouble with that hump myself. Yes, he does speak in a sermony, lawyer-making-an-overwrought-closing-statement way.

But who's left? And -- the alternative is the... apparently much more likable Trump?

At the same time I hear his tone is too sermoney, I hear things like "All I ever hear him talk about is religious stuff like protecting religious liberty."

1, that's not true. 2, that's not something we're all pretty agreed on?

I'm very secular and I'm still very animated by that issue. If the religious aren't allowed to maintain their consciences and beliefs, then the non-religious damnsure won't be.

Eh -- Cruz has defects of charisma that make him a less-than-ideal candidate.

Still and all, I remain shocked at the Preference Cascade by many to declare they simply do not care about religious or social issues at all, and in fact strongly dislike candidates even playing in that field.

A Few Points: Pro-life Trump supporters are making several points in the comments. Let me respond to them, or my paraphrase of them.

"There are more important things to worry about at the moment, like protecting the integrity of the nation," is the general claim.

Understood -- and I agree. Pro-lifers are being, they say, tactical here, and reasonable about what can and cannot be done.

Here's the problem with that: If you want to maximize your leverage in political negotiations, you really have to establish you're unreasonable on the issue, and will not compromise -- if your demands are not met, you'll walk.

So yes, it's great to see pro-lifers are willing to compromise on this. Sure, it demonstrates they are flexible, adaptable, and willing to make tactical compromises for the greater good.

But now we know that going forward -- and you don't just get to say "Our flexible position only applies in 2016, and only to Trump." No, it applies going forward, generally.

We now know that this is not the deal-breaker some of us thought it was.

Another claim:

"Well, the GOP-e has sold us out again and again on the issue. We don't expect anyone to do anything about our cause, so why not Trump?"

This is, like the last claim, fine as a defense of the self -- "I'm reacting reasonably to the actual facts of the world" -- but it's not a good defense of the position.

Once again, the hand is now tipped that pro-lifers don't expect much and don't actually demand much. They are "reasonable" and get the adverse cultural situation they're in.

But once again, this just is a reason why the rest of the party doesn't have to adopt this issue as their own any more. It's not a disputation of the fact that the party no longer has to be pro-life.

Just an explanation why that is.



digg this
posted by Ace at 03:40 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
[/i][/b]andycanuck (2yu8s)[/s][/u]: "750-pound alligator seized from home near Buffalo, ..."

Ben Had: "Only 30 more years of these moronic statements ft ..."

2008 is calling: "Mahalia Jackson>>>>>>>>>>>Affimative Action Jackso ..."

BillyD: "[i]158 Mind you, a Moron claimed the car would sti ..."

Diogenes: "DEI in action, and that's a good thing! Posted by ..."

Piper: "Have we discussed KBJ and her gripe the 1sr amendm ..."

Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~ This year in Corsicana - [b]again[/b]! ~ [/i][/b][/u][/s]: "[i]257 Watching another Boeing United Airlines iss ..."

Loose Emergency Door Plug: "Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by: D ..."

J. Random UA Flight: "[i]Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by ..."

Diogenes: "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Truthbomb : "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Ciampino - on time: "About 43 minutes [b]SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Starlin ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64