My good friend Robert writes in on my post about Laura Ingraham's version of Conservatism:
I like the write up you've done here. I, too, question what Ingraham means by Conservatism. To begin with, let's be honest, the US on a whole global scale of all the countries of every period in history is a moderate to liberal country. As to her specific argument, I look back to the presidencies, and thus American policy, of the last 100 years, and I wonder how Ingraham drew her conclusion. I think the movement had wisps of success in various periods, only to see it blow up in conservative's faces. A decade of what I'd called true conservatism in the 20's lead to the Great Depression and a 20 year hold by liberals. A little social program which came out during that period was called the New Deal. The 50's, led by Eisenhower, had a few flashes of progressivism, such as the start of desegregation. The economic prosperity of the time was also due in large part to the recovering global economy started under Truman's watch. The 60's? I give you LBJ's Great Society, another spurt of far-reaching social changes.
Sure the 70's brought a new call for conservatism, and Barry Goldwater, who ran against LBJ in 1964, was its poster child. But how did Goldwater, aka Mr. Conservative, react when the religious right moved in to the GOP? He and other conservatives distanced themselves from the emerging movement.
I would thus make the argument that Ingraham got only part of her thought process right. Religious Conservatism has been the prevalent political ideology of the last thirty years. The reason it still has an impact today is largely because, as Sullivan hinted, they spent us into the economic situation today.In a similar vain... I recall a conversation with my grandfather, during Clinton's presidency, reminiscing about the good ol' days in the 50's, "when things were easier, a man could support his family and conservatives ran the country." He's right that conservatives had something to offer, because there's certainly room for good ideas from both sides. However, I remember a scene from 'Mad Men', which takes place in that period, where a main character shakes out her blanket along a highway after a picnic, leaving the family's garbage behind, something that certainly wouldn't be tolerated today (Note: highway beautification was the pet project of First Lady Lady Bird Johnson). Maybe the analogy could be made that liberals/progressives have had such a strong impact in the last century because conservative screw ups have been so bad, the nation demanded the other side come along to clean up the mess. With that clean-up job though, came the opportunity to enact amazing social changes. With a little luck, the country can continue its progressive trend.
Okay, so that became a little long but what can I say? You bring up interesting topics. Oh and Ari's posting of Obama at Dover AFB was a fine tribute to such a solemn and poignant photo.
