Posted by
beltway girl on Friday, April 04, 2008 2:47:26 AM
Racial polarization will be the issue the drive-bys will be hypnotized by in this election. It will be the story du jour, just about every other du jour. The Reverend Wright will be propped up on the mainstream media couch for many months to come; he is a ranting, raving lunatic, but many individual drive-by mental health professionals will be afraid to make the proper diagnosis. They're too deeply in the bag for the left.
But Wright will end up as a sideshow, dwarfed in the shadow of the real issue for this election, and that is the political polarization that exists in such a profound and pronounced way in our country today.
Conservatism and liberalism. They are dramatically different ways of viewing the world. Conservatism remembers a wholesome, decent America, and in its own way is far more compassionate (and pragmatic) than any liberal could ever hope to be. We can see this in the way the parties view actual individuals, all those persons that make "the American people." They are not African Americans. They are not Latinos. They are not white, they are not Jews, they are not WASPs, they are not Catholic, and they-- most importantly-- are not votes. They are more than that. They are America. They make America. They make America move, and that movement can come from anywhere. It could have come from a Jewish bagel-maker in New York, it could have come from an African American political science student, it could have come from an Irish American beat cop, and it could have come from you or me. It celebrates positive thought, action, and ability.
Liberals recognize this, and how do they respond?
Well, you know, not everyone in America will succeed, and even for those who do, there will be loss, frustration, and grief. And challenge. That's called
life.
The area where liberals are truly adroit is in exploiting failure. Indeed, they don't believe in the American Dream, which is all about clean and decent success. Liberals never see clean and decent success in America. Success is always a stolen commodity for the liberals. Success always comes at someone else's expense. And a demographic breakdown may well be attached to the bill for your particular experience of success.
You are not a person to a liberal. You are a statistic. You are a vote. And a vote for the left is never defining in that it is always a vote against something, it is never a vote for something. The abortion debate illustrates this far more clearly than any other: Liberals argue they are for choice and against mutilating women, but in reality, they are for ignoring the life of a child and ultimately against that inconvenient life. And against the responsibility an individual woman, indeed, any individual, bears and owes that life.
What is a liberal really for?
Money, and giving out as much of it as possible. Through an expanded government, and in such a way as to generate the most votes and sustain power. And in the name of principle, of course. But what principle?
Is it Christ's Gospel? Is it "social justice"?
Christ's Gospel and social justice are subsumed by liberalsim. They are not driving it. They are being driven by it. This is precisely what makes liberalism so dangerous and repugnant. It elevates its own practitioners into the positions of little gods, handing out status and cash, not on a principle-driven basis, or even on a truly compassionate basis. But on a power-driven, vote-hungry, and demographically driven basis. Where can we find angry blocs of voters and further fan their rage? Wherever the answer is, there you will find your liberal.
Enter John McCain.
Our society is politically polarized. John McCain does "reach across the aisle." But he is not an opportunist. History may bear him out as a genius, and one of the finest presidents of our time.
The battle for the center will never be more important than it will be in this election year. The average American is not a perfect liberal or conservative. The polarization in the electorate has reached a fever pitch. Extending a hand to the opposition is a full-time job for Mr. McCain. For Hillary, it is something to be shunned, and possibly a word game and ploy for Obama.
The average American may not see the pull in either direction, but the average American feels it. One side offers the American Dream, but the individual must be deemed worthy; the other side offers endless prizes to those not so lucky.
The center, in this scenario, is now large and ripe. No individual starting off in life knows if they will make it. When joined with those who have not, this is a staggering number of human lives, and, for those on the left, lots of votes.
Conservatives stand to win an unprecendented victory in this election. They can be the party of the people. They can embrace America, not just in the flower of its success, but also in the fullness of its failure. They can pull individuals into their big tent, perhaps promising some real hope to those who find it now only in words from The Most Trusted Name in News and a government check.
We should not be gritting our teeth at watching the party moving to the left. The truth is that the party will move to the left only for a brief time. The nation, however, could be moved to the right in an enduring way. John McCain could very well help conservatives beat liberals at their own game.