It is Your Fault

Recently Bill Kristol asserted that there will be an impressive independent candidate with a strong team and a real chance.  Of course this is simply a ridiculous fantasy on Kristol's part.  The impressive candidate will of course be the typical loathsome neocon the GOP loves to trot out for its much abused voters.  The same sort of candidate that already flat-lined with voters this primary season.  The fantasy candidate's real chance will be to secure enough third place finishes to ensure a victory for Hillary Clinton which, of course, is what Kristol actually prefers.  Kristol's attitude is nothing out of the ordinary with the GOP establishment which adheres to the doctrine that the Democrats are the opposition, conservatives and the Right are the enemy. 

Rather than dredge up inane fantasies of neocon days of yore perhaps Kristol ought to dredge up some introspection for once in his life.  Trump is the nominee because of people like Bill Kristol.  The dogmatically slavish devotion of the GOP elites to globalist ideologies in both economics and immigration have played a significant role in the deplorable state of the working class.  A demographic that at least one National Review writer believes should die out.  NR seems to have the full article behind their log-in/subscribe shield now, and for good reason I suppose.  Basically the writer, one Kevin Williamson, argued that large economic forces like outsourcing and mass immigration had little or nothing to do with the decline of the American working class and that they are all just oxy-abusing hillbillies with broken families who live in dried up small towns.  Nothing like breaking someone's legs and then telling them it is their fault they can't walk.  If only they could all become rent-seeking cosmopolitan urbanites toadying up to the establishment.  Enough of that sort of abuse and you have to figure those people will stop liking you.  Unfortunately for the Bill Kristol's of the world the white working class makes up a good portion of the GOP's electoral base especially in the South which the GOP cannot afford to lose.  And they finally stopped liking the GOP establishment. 

I certainly am not a fan of Donald Trump; however, he is exposing something very important.  He is revealing that the GOP hates its base.  It despises them both regionally and culturally and nearly as vehemently as any Leftist.  The mask has slipped a bit.  Logically, voting for a formerly leftist New Yorker who isn't any sort of reliable conservative and may not even be a reliable populist seems a bit stupid for Rightists of any stripe.  It may very well be stupid, but it is probably best to see it as people with no real power lashing out and pushing back in the only way they can.  And they are lashing out at the right people too.  It may be in the wrong hero, but the targets are correct. 

Until the GOP establishment realizes that the first principle of politics is prudence and not democracy or capitalism or any other ideology they should continue to expect blowback from the people their ideological infatuations trample over.  In short, Donald Trump is your fault Bill Kristol.  

You Can't Possibly Meme That (VIII)

Every four years, as the time for a presidential election nears, Americans invest immense amounts of energy into the electoral process of debating, arguing, creating political memes, unfriending people on Facebook, assault and battery, remaining ignorant of the issues, elevating perception above reality, and even not paying attention at all.  This is all done with the aim of selecting one of our leading citizens to hold America's highest office and presumably carry out the will of the people. 

This election, after much yammering and little thinking, America has narrowed it down to two individuals.  For the Republicans it will be a grubby oligarch with small hands and no understanding of limited government.  Meanwhile the Democrats have settled on a criminal harpy with a dead ambassador on her hands and classified information in her private e-mail account.  One of these two people will ascend to the glory and prestige of the American presidency. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, your candidates...

You Can't Possibly Meme That! (VII)

No thank you, I'll pass.

You Can't Possibly Meme That! (VI)

Trump's immigration plan is to deport 11 million or more people then let "some,...the good ones" come right back in.  Maybe the good ones are the ones working for Trump.  Who knows. 

Ben Carson: Rent-seeking Scam Artist.

Between the obvious rent-seeking, incompetence, lack of actual campaigning, and lack of command of pretty much every political issue while continuing to run for office where exactly is Ben Carson's much touted integrity and character? He has also developed a issue with blaming others for his own incompetence.  After blaming Ted Cruz for passing on a CNN report indicating that Carson had suspended his campaign, Carson is now blaming staff for his "campaign" being nearly out of money.  

For those unaware, Carson's "campaign" has raised tons of money and poured almost all of it back into additional fundraising.  Serious candidates do not do that because they need the money for campaigning.  But for Carson, when it comes time to actually campaign, he needs time away to rest and get fresh clothes.  Basically he isn't running a campaign, he is rent-seeking.  The campaign is nothing more than a massive fundraising scheme.  The peculiar nature of his "campaign's" finances has been noted since the middle of last year (see here, here, and here). In light of that, the current "campaign" shake-up is a terribly hollow and self-serving gesture.  Carson either knew or should have known about that issue for a long time now.  Passing the buck by blaming, now former, staff is a pathetic lack of leadership.  

At this point Ben Carson needs to apologize to his supporters and suspend his "campaign."  He isn't a leader.  His lack of knowledge on pretty much every issue makes Donald Trump look like a policy wonk.  He has no chance of winning a single state or even of finishing any higher than last or next to last. The big-time party donors aren't going to bail him out as they are going to flock to Marco Rubio.  At most, some might toss him a just enough money to keep him going in hope that his continued presence helps the establishment block Ted Cruz by siphoning off enough votes to help Rubio leapfrog Cruz.  Instead of doing the right thing and bowing out, Carson intends to keep fleecing his small-time donors so he can keep his campaign/fundraiser/book tour going.  Such integrity.

"I'm a Hyphenated-Conservative"

I find it irritating when politicians, or people in general, attempt to qualify their conservatism. If you need to qualify your conservatism then you aren't a conservative. You are a moderate. Call yourself that and let labels retain their meaning.

During the Bush years it was "compassionate conservative" and also "big-government conservative." The two terms were related as the former was just an excuse for the latter. Unfortunately it implies that compassion and conservatism are incompatible.  An insulting suggestion.  As for "big-government conservative" the implied incompatibility is far more justified.  However, it would have been more honest, though much less politically viable, to just say, "Sorry, we aren't going to cut spending or reduce the size and scope of government.  Would you like two interminable wars instead?"

Now we have Trump calling himself a "common sense conservative." Setting aside the issue of how recently he might have acquired common sense or conservatism, if at all, one might wonder why he feels the two concepts are at odds.  Edmund Burke and Russell Kirk both declare that the first virtue of the statesman is prudence.  Common sense is simply inherent in conservatism.  Prudence may not be the first virtue that pops into your head when you consider Donald Trump. 

In both examples, the tacked-on qualifiers are really an attempt to justify deviations from conservative principles while continuing to solicit support from conservative folk.  It is as if to say, "I cherish the conservative label, I merely wish to abandon the principles."  Such qualifiers also demonstrate a muddled understanding of conservatism.  While part of the problem has been the neoconservative mutation of conservatism from a particular tradition into a universal ideology the unfortunate practice of hyphenating conservatism has done nothing to return conservatism to its original meaning.  Generally it has been a thin veneer to cover a leftward impulse.  Perhaps we are a few elections away from our first declared Moderate Liberal Conservative. 

You Can't Possibly Meme That! (V)

Ben Carson really needs to drop out, but he won't because his campaign is just a fundraiser.

The Most (Un)Interesting Ben Carson in the World.