Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!


Contact
Ace:
aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck:
buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD:
cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix:
mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum:
petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton:
sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com


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






















« Mid-Morning Art Thread | Main | Tucker Re-Interviews Former Chief of the Capitol Police Steven Sund -- the Interview That Fox Fired Tucker Over »
August 11, 2023

THE MORNING RANT: The Culture War Is a Kitchen Table Issue

I’ve seen several tweets in recent weeks from Conservative, Inc. writers that either implore Republican presidential candidates to ignore the culture war, or praise them for finally focusing on “kitchen table” issues (e.g. economic issues) instead of “culture.”

My apologies for not screen-shotting those tweets at the time, but I do not possess the Twitter-searching skills to go back and find them now. But to all those who still read “conservative” writers who are working to conserve the left’s gains in the culture war, I’d like to remind them of a simple truth regarding the great political issues of the day…

…Culture is a “kitchen table” issue.

Is the government’s effort to ban your gas-powered car not worthy of a discussion at the kitchen table? Or what about soaring utility bills because elected officials are replacing inexpensive (and reliable) carbon energy with very expensive (and unreliable) “green” energy?

If you must either quit your job or submit to coerced workplace “celebrations” that are a denial of your faith, is that not a kitchen table issue? Or how about the radical agenda being taught to your kids in elementary school?

Where is the appropriate setting to discuss the children of family and friends dying from overdoses of drugs flowing across the open border?

If pro-criminal District Attorneys are refusing to prosecute career criminals, is the financial cost of being a crime victim not an issue that can be discussed at the kitchen table?

Again, culture is a kitchen table issue, and there is no such thing as fiscal conservatism that is independent of social conservatism, especially now that the “social issue” of climate change requires communist command and control over every aspect of human life and eradication of the energy that fuels civilization.

I could go on and on, and I should also acknowledge that once upon a time I was one of those “fiscal conservatives” who had no use for the GOP’s 20th Century social agenda. While not “socially liberal” I was not “socially conservative” either. I considered myself libertarian on those issues, and in 1996 I was a delegate to the Texas state Republican convention, where there was great tension between us fiscal conservatives and the social conservatives.

The social conservatives were right, I was wrong, and I subsequently became a culture warrior too.


I was not familiar with David Strom before he joined Hot Air, but he has consistently written pieces that mirror my politics and attitude about major issues. So it was very interesting to me when he wrote a recent piece about his transition from a fiscal conservative to a culture warrior. Although my epiphany was from a different catalyst than his, I understand the awakening he describes.

Why I Became a Culture Warrior [David Strom]

I was not destined to be a culture warrior. In fact, for most of my life I would have insisted that conservatives should spend less time fighting about private, cultural matters and more about public policies such as government overreach, taxes, and economic growth.

Boy was I wrong.

Not only are the cultural issues and the policy issues intertwined, but I now believe that the most important front in the war to save our Republic is the cultural one. The enemy is Marxism, and the cultural front is where the Marxists are making the most progress. And because the cultural Marxists are targeting children, winning or losing this battle will determine who owns the future of America and the world.

So what changed me into a culture warrior? And how quickly did the transformation occur?

Mr. Strom goes on to describe his revulsion when the fugitive Roman Polanski was awarded an Oscar in 2003, and America’s cultural elite lauded him and gave Polanski a standing ovation for his suffering after committing a grotesque sex crime against a 13-year old girl. The realization that the left now openly endorsed Polanski’s crime was a call to cultural war for Mr. Strom.

For me, the wake-up call was the betrayal of Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and Christie Todd Whitman in New Jersey, both of whom ran as “fiscally conservate / socially liberal.”

A few years ago, I wrote here at Ace of Spades about “the fraud of the Republican who presents himself as both fiscally conservative and socially liberal.”

Invariably - well it’s actually EVERY DAMN TIME - the fiscally conservative / socially liberal (“FCSL”) Republican becomes an environmental crusader, because “environmentalism” is a key component of the “socially liberal” agenda. And what is at the core of the environmental movement? Command and control of the economy. Therefore a “fiscally conservative” FCSL Republican becomes an ally of the far left on economic issues - to save the planet. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Christie Todd Whitman are the poster chumps of the FCSL fraud. Both were elected governor of their respective states as FCSLs. Both of them were coopted by the left, who forced them to prove their socially liberal bona fides by embracing green economic policies. Now they are both demanding a government overhaul of the economy in a fashion consistent with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s demands, and with a government control structure that Bernie, Marx, and Engels could all support.

Nowadays, the only conservatives I trust to advocate for the economic principles I believe in are social conservatives. As Ace has pointed out, social conservatives are used to being mocked and vilified by the Washington political/media establishment. In fact, social conservatives gain fortitude when pilloried by that establishment. And ultimately, the critical issues facing our country are hard to define as strictly “economic” or “social’. The populist coalition that elected Donald Trump wants US sovereignty with secure borders, economic freedom within our borders, inoculation from importing the world’s pathologies into our country, limited government that protects its citizens’ liberties, advocacy for Americans to enjoy opportunity and prosperity above the demands of non-citizens and foreigners, and civic pride and patriotism with a respect for western civilization. Are these economic or social issues? Whatever they are, FCSLs cannot be trusted to advocate for these goals if doing so displeases the sustainable organic leftists who throw great dinner parties in Georgetown. A vilified social conservative, on the other hand, will stay true to these principles and continue to advocate for them.

With the government and media ramping up for the return of Covid protocols in 2024 - to ensure ballot box chaos again, and to give Joe Biden cover not to campaign - it’s also worth a discussion if Conservative, Inc. thinks that Covid is just another icky social issue, rather than a kitchen table issue. Owners of “non-essential” businesses that were shut down by Covid commissars in 2020 can tell you that Covid sharia is absolutely a kitchen table issue.

Although I will gladly vote for Donald Trump if he wins the nomination, I currently support Ron DeSantis because of the way he has gone on the offense in the culture wars. He has fought to get the smut out of schools, he has battled ESG in colleges, he punched Mickey Mouse in the pocketbook, he stridently defied Fauci, and he has used his authority to remove pro-crime Soros prosecutors from office.

As a result, Conservative, Inc. is desperately trying to steer DeSantis away from the culture wars and back to their agenda of corporate subservience and phony budget hawk platitudes.

There is plenty of room for differences among conservative politicians on the details of some cultural issues, but there is no room in the tent right now for those who simply choose to abstain from the fight. Abstaining from the culture wars is surrender.

This tweet below from the DeSantis War Room about “a balanced budget Amendment to the US Constitution” bothered me more than maybe it should have, but it gave me flashbacks to all the fraudulent campaigns run by GOP consultants from the Reagan era up into the 21st Century.

The Balanced Budget Amendment was always just a piece of faux-Budget Hawk campaign fraud designed to fool the rubes about a candidate’s commitment to fiscal discipline. It was generally part of a “21-Point” plan that was immediately discarded and forgotten in the off chance that a Republican campaigning on it actually won.

But even worse is that the whole concept of the Amendment is it’s a final capitulation to the judiciary, handing taxing authority over to unelected judges. If somehow a Balanced Budget Amendment did become the law of the land, Congress would still not have the discipline to cut spending, so if there were a budget deficit, the courts would be empowered to raise taxes so as to comply with the Constitution.

But beyond the political argument, it is distressing to hear such awful economic “consultant-speak” from a candidate with an amazing record of actual victories in the culture wars.

Be it Trump or DeSantis who gets the nomination, please promise me you’ll fight the culture wars and I’ll trust that you’ll also do the right things regarding taxes and economic policy. But please do not fall for the trap of “pivoting to the economy” at the expense of the culture war. The economy is part of the culture war. It’s all part of the culture war.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

digg this
posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Axeman: "Kash can pull their security clearances first P ..."

whig: "68 So how does some asshole at the FBI get to just ..."

Wally: "Charge them all. Let the process be the punishment ..."

Notsothoreau: "Kash can pull their security clearances first ..."

Axeman: "Trump needs to lock the liquor cabinet from the DC ..."

Pillage Idiot: "[i]Lots of space now in downtown San Francisco. I ..."

Axeman: "..those "intel officers" who signed the letter sta ..."

garrett: ">> So how does some asshole at the FBI get to just ..."

Question Authority bumper sticker: "15...those "intel officers" who signed the letter ..."

t-bird: "[i]I want to open a new FBI office right in the mi ..."

Seems Legit: "They signed it. Treasonous election interference i ..."

Dr. Claw: "26 'If Wray were smart he'd promote the whistle-b ..."

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