Enjoy the train wrecks, but Conservatism isn't dead or dying

[bonzotex]

Great article by Sterling Newberry on Firedoglake check it out....
http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/12/41768/

<snip>
The era of the New Democrat created a problem for the anti-technocratic coalition, since the anti-technocrats relied on campaign by anecdote: find small violations of common sense, and build out of that the myth of fiasco. The Rove solution was to attempt to create a permanent base that, while having only a bare majority of votes, could govern as a super-majority. It was here that Rove's coalition came to grief. The old law of the spoils system is that the core supporters run the government. It was here that the real rift in the anti-technocracy coalition became visible. Namely the 30% who don't believe in Darwin or Newton, don't believe in Adam Smith in any real way. The anti-technocrat, happy in his small pool of corruption, was utterly unable to run a war, or save a city. The corporate supremacists watched as the war, the economy, and public opinion turned against them in the space of months. The result: two successive electoral defeats.

However, the result has not been a rise of "the left." In Europe, 3 of the four main economies are in the hands of coalitions of the right; and Christopher Caldwell gives a portrait of the man who will almost certainly make it 4 of 4: David Cameron. Cameron, as well as David Brooks' defense of him, shows that conservatism is nothing of the sort. All that matters is to be anti-technocratic. Decentralization goes hand in hand with corporatism, in that with no government there is nothing to stop the corporation from taking what it wants, and then demanding multi-trillion dollar bailouts on command.

"We need a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power, from the state to citizens, from the government to Parliament, from Whitehall to communities, from Brussels to Britain, from judges to people, from bureaucracy to democracy. . . . We must take power away from the political elite and give it to the man and woman on the street."

There is, of course, one word wrong here. He means "man and woman in the suite." Because without government, individuals are too weak to stop corporate fraud and misbehavior, too disorganized to avoid being dragged into a war for oil.

<snip>


As entertaining as Palin, Ensign, Vitter, Sanford etc have been and as transparently moronic as say Glenn Beck and Rush are, don't forget the real power of the conservatives is Corporate. The hillbillies, Xtianists and rubes that make the rank and file of the Republican party don't control jack-shit. The Corporatists aren't going away, they aren't going to quit and they don't care if Republicans or Democrats enact the policies they want as long as someone does.

The more marginal the Republican party becomes electorally, the more the Corporatists will shift to co-opting the party in power. We are already seeing it in the Financial bailout, Health care reform and environmental regulation among other areas.

I love seeing the Republicans setting themselves on fire inside their own clown-car, but keep your eyes on the Corporatists and Disaster Capitalists who will buy or slime anyone that hinders their ability to profit short term. There are still too many Dems who will cave in to that pressure.

[customerserviceguy]

1. I've long insisted this

They do seem to rise from the ashes when they look like they are down for the count. Frankly, any time one of the two parties gets in power, there is a cycle where too many "leaders" end up destroying the party in a couple of election cycles or so.

One of the Rethugs' problems was that Bush did not produce an 'heir apparent' for the 2008 nomination, he just kept Cheney in there, and let the various factions of the GOP fight it out in the primaries. That led to a weak nominee.

If there is an Obama-Biden 2012 ticket, we will face the same problem in 2016.

[bonzotex]

2. I hope our bench is deeper than theirs

I optimistic that we have a good crop of Democratic leaders coming up. I fear the entrenched conservative impulse of many Democrats and the wealthy interests that manipulate them.

You have a good point about the "cycle" and that scares me. I really don't want to contemplate a Republican administration or congressional majority again in my lifetime.

The thing that has bothered me for years is that actual Democratic legislation looks like sane Republican ideas...if there were sane Republicans still around. I would really welcome a hard swing left on all fronts.