(no subject)

[katallison]

Random thought of the day: I suddenly realized at one point that the building in which I cast my ballot today is named after a guy I was in a fantasy football league with 17-18 years ago. My my my.

And now for something completely different, a few words on why I think the people getting most truly screwed in this election (apart from the folks whose right to vote is getting trashed) are the true conservatives.

My definition of "true conservative," needless to say, has nothing to do with the platform of the US Republican Party in its current incarnation. It harks back, rather, to much older and more honorable roots, and is marked by:

--a dedication to traditions that have proven sound over time;
--a suspicion of newness and change for its own sake, innovation, the drive to fix things that might not be broken, glitz and novelty;
--fiscal prudence and moderation;
--very careful attention to the separation of the public and private spheres, and a fierce resistance to governmental intrusion into things private;
--the impulse to generally limit government and its powers over individuals;
--attachment to localism and smallness--the mom and pop store rather than the big corporation, the family farm over agribusiness;
--a deep aversion to foreign adventures, and a profound disinclination to meddle in other nations' affairs;
--deep honor given to history, both for its own sake in showing us who we are, and for its value in teaching us the limits of what is possible, the constraints that we live under, the bulwark it provides against frothy utopian optimism.

An excellent, though unconventional, representative of what I think of as true conservatism would be Wendell Berry, whose essay in response to 9/11 and its aftermath can be found here. Another view can be found at Republicans for Humility.

It should go without saying that George Bush represents a travesty of these values. I feel for those voters whose beliefs and disposition tend towards traditional conservatism, and who are left essentially with no one to vote for in this melee.

It also should go without saying that I myself am very much a traditional liberal; but as such I value the bulwarking presence of true conservatism in the political system, the voices of those who urge caution and restraint in the face of my own drive toward change and upheaval. We need both sides to keep the ship upright and sailing straightforward. My condolences to the conservatives in my reading audience; and I hope that my fellow liberals aren't misled by Bush & Co's appropriation of the "conservative" label to cover their essential radicalism, and will find ways to value those whose stance on particulars of policy differ from theirs.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about traditional conservatives getting screwed in this election. But I also think traditional liberals have been screwed for years. "Liberal" is such a dirty word now. Democrats do not run liberals; they run centrists who are considered leftists because the center has shifted dangerously to the right. I am a traditional liberal, and I don't feel that I have anyone to vote for this election either. I certainly voted for Kerry, and would have voted for whomever the Democratic party put up against Bush, but Howard Dean was the first candidate I've seen for President, well, in my *lifetime* who came close to true liberalism.

I am, however, pleased beyond all reason that I got to cast a vote for Barack Obama today.

[batdina.livejournal.com]

you're not that much younger than I am, are you?

I'm envious that you got to vote for Obama. Wanna do that too some day.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'm 35. My first presidential election was 1988. Dukakis.

My first *memory* of a President was watching Nixon leave the White House on tv and my father muttering "cretinous fucker" and my mother shushing him. I was five.

[batdina.livejournal.com]

Dukakis was my third Presidential election.

I've never been entirely sure if Dukakis was a traditional liberal. My father would say he was, and my memories of that campaign would tend to agree with him, but I was still doing drugs so I don't trust my memory.

I am utterly certain that Dukakis is responsible for abdicating the right of liberals to define themselves by refusing to defend the label after Bush Sr tainted it.

I remember watching Nixon's resignation on TV with my father too. No one shushed him and his only comment was "Don't let those tears fool you. He's not sorry. He's crying because he lost all that power."

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

My first memory of a president was watching my Mormon aunt cry when Nixon was forced to resign - they hounded that great man.

No wonder my mother decided to stay in Europe for 8 years. She nearly died when I started listening to Paul Harvey on AFN (American Forces Networks). She didn't understand I would listen to anything that was in English - 1950s reruns of the Shadow, the Green Hornet or TX-1000. Even Radio Free Europe or the Russian counter programs broaddcast in English. European radio in the evening - you could catch different opinions in 7 languages.

[eliade.livejournal.com]

You're always so sexily sane. I'm coming over to sit on your couch and cuddle.

...in my head, of course, as your couch is a few thousand miles away...

*kiss*

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

Two years ago, I wrote a story in which we briefly meet two young, traditional conservative men, and only at the end of the scene do we see one of them kiss the other as he hurries them off to a party fundraising dinner. At the time, I wrote it because I wanted to go against stereotypes. These days, it's a lot less believable to me, even though I know there are still some diehard gay Republicans. The party has by and large deserted them, and the other true conservatives.

Speaking of which, andrewsullivan.com is an interesting place for traditional (non-Bush, non-evangelical) conservative thought. There are three essays on the left of the home page that I was reminded of by your post.

Beautifully said.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought much about this until we at MoJo posted several "Conversations with Conservatives", in which old skool Republicans said essentially what you're saying here (and called Bush a radical -- and no friend of theirs).

Crazy times.

[kestrelsan.livejournal.com]

Great list of conservative characteristics. There's a good article in the Washington Monthly on the state of the Republican party and its internal conflicts: Party Down: Like the Democrats during the 1970s, today's GOP is hidebound and out of touch. Good discussion on what the Republican party is facing in the coming years.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why some of the people at American Conservative (http://www.amconmag.com/2004_11_08/cover1.html) endorsed Kerry. As they said:

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. . . . it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why some of the people at American Conservative (http://www.amconmag.com/2004_11_08/cover1.html) endorsed Kerry. As they said:

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. . . . it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy.

[heresluck]

Yeah.

And this is why current party lines are so especially out of tune with the priorities of most folks in the upper midwest; which is something I've been thinking about a lot lately as my students tell me about their attempts to talk politics with their parents.

[nifra-idril.livejournal.com]

You're entirely right; the true conservatives have been taken for a ride, just like all the true liberals. This government is one of radical religious fundamentalism, just as much as any of the Islamic governments we've challenged overseas. We are becoming more and more a Christianized republic through the legislation of this administration, and though there are certain assumptions of strong religious belief in the lives of conservatives, there is also the belief in seperation of government from private life. This administration has gone out of its way to involve the government in the most private parts of life, and it must be infuriating to watch the people you voted for so intensely challenge your most deeply held beliefs as to what government should do.

You're just so damned smart and sane, you know that? Seriously, I always am wowed by your clear-eyed and compassionate perspectives. Go you, Kat. *snugs*

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that I was a conservative, but these days that would get you called a liberal. Or crazy.

I got so tired of hearing the word "liberal" used as a thin synonym for "traitor."

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

but as such I value the bulwarking presence of true conservatism in the political system, the voices of those who urge caution and restraint in the face of my own drive toward change and upheaval

Beautifully put, and so very true. How did it come to be that us so-called "liberals" are the ones fighting for caution and restraint as everything's crashing down around our ears? That could be why Daschle et al have been doing such a spineless job of it, because being the Adult Supervision is so far from our natural inclination...