Ex-Republican strategist: Republican Party conservatism was always a lie

Politics & Elections
81

Right?

Here’s an excerpt…

Our economy has become unnecessarily weak with stagnant wages. People living paycheck to paycheck are struggling, sacrificing, and suffering.

Americans have earned and deserve a strong and healthy economy.

Our standing in world affairs has declined significantly - our enemies no longer fear us and our friends no longer trust us.

People want and expect an America that is the most powerful and respected country on the face of the earth.

In some ways, they have unwittingly adopted the most honest platform of either party in a long time.

82

I want to make it clear that the Republicans are not trying to maintain any status quo. The last status quo they could stomach was in the 50s. They’ve been about tearing down democracy ever since. The party started over the proper issue of slavery, but even then they didn’t believe in democracy because it failed to get them what they wanted. The only way they’ve changed since then is that it was the last time they were on the right side of history.

83

I think the real reason is that there isn’t enough common ground behind Trump’s coalition to form a platform. Word is (source: Axios) that Kushner et al. had plans that would lead to lots of messy infighting between the various factions and interests that make up today’s Republican party. The official rationale is the pandemic, but we all know that’s not the real reason.

Not laziness, political expediency.

~Max

84

But the GOP document you linked to specifically says:

RESOLVED, That any motion to amend the 2016 Platform or to adopt a new platform, including
any motion to suspend the procedures that will allow doing so, will be ruled out of order.

So by their own rules no resolutions for a new platform COULD be introduced so even going into it there was no chance of changing the platform.

I don’t understand that. Isn’t a national party convention the place where the party platform is discussed, debated, and if appropriate, changed? If not at the RNC then where and when will any changes take place?

What about all the things in the world that are different from 2016? How will the GOP Anti-Platform address those things?

85

What’s not to understand? A national party convention is the place where party platform is discussed, debated, and possibly changed. The party made the unprecedented decision not to do so this year, presumably because actually talking about the issues and laying out policy would break up President Trump’s fragile coalition. If not at the 2020 convention, the platform won’t be changed from 2016. All the things that are different in the world won’t affect the Republican party platform until at least 2022.

~Max

86

I’m a conservative and pretty disgusted with the GOP. I not longer consider myself a Republican but I usually end up voting for elephants because at least they profess to support the issues I care about.

Corruption exists on both the left and the right. The politicians on the left are not “good guys.” Their primary motivation is power. If you think otherwise you’re deluding yourself.

87

false equivalence. both sidesism.

This is nothing but propaganda that supports a racist, fascist, white supremacist, kleptocratic regime that is killing people and destroying our alliances. There’s no reason to take it seriously at all. Indeed, there’s no reason to take anything written by anyone saying stuff like this seriously

88

I would say that’s about half of it. To get to the other half, take the exact paragraph of yours that I quoted, omit the word “coalition” and replace it with “grip on reality”.

89

I don’t believe it actually is.

Before I started getting involved in more liberal forums like the SD I honestly believed the politicians on the Left were genuinely more corrupt and worse than those on the Right. If you’d have asked my why I would have said something along these lines:

“Politicians on the Left fully believe the ends justify the means. This means they are willing to lie, cheat, and harm people if they believe the end result will do more good than the harm they inflicted. This goes against my moral code and I find it disgusting.”

But now I feel the Right is just as corrupt. Corrupt in a different way but just as bad.

90

Yep, no reason to take this seriously. It’s pure propaganda.

91

But they decided ahead of time that no changes could be made. It’s a bit like having a meeting to discuss possible changes to traffic rules but declaring beforehand that no changes will be allowed to traffic rules.

Isn’t the national convention the place to discuss making changes to the national platform?

If no changes can be made at the national convention, where exactty COULD changes be made?

ETA: I see you already addressed some of this. I may have erred in believing you supported the GOP’s moves here. I sorta don’t get your position here…

92

Smoke-filled back rooms, I imagine. And by “I imagine”, I mean “I don’t think they can discuss their actual party goals in public without completely shattering the illusion that they have a single solitary interest in common with their base.”

The operative word here is “profess”.

I honestly believe that if the republican party gave a single solitary fuck about abortion, that during at least two distinct periods in the past twenty years they had the legislative power to push through a complete national ban. Yet, no serious effort was even made. And I believe that they didn’t try because the anti-abortion crowd supports them more if they don’t ban it. While it’s legal, the anti-abortion crowd is more motivated to vote for those who claim that they’ll do something about it, while those who support the current status quo have less motivation to move on that basis. They are more interested in the anti-abortion crowd’s votes than their goals, and act accordingly.

I’m pretty sure that the same logic is behind pretty much every socially conservative plank they “support”, with one exception: racism. Regarding racism, the foxes took over the henhouse, and now there are enough actual racist republican politicians to actually seek to push through racist policies. Everything else they seem to actually support based on their actions has nothing to do with the interests of the conservative layman.

93

No, if you literally made that substitution it would read as if the President was consciously involved in this affair, and that party infighting would affect his sanity (as opposed to the coalition of Republicans who give him and his platform that 90% approval rating).

~Max

94

If it helps, you can click my name, then the little yield-sign shaped button, and it will show you only posts I have made in this topic. In my own words, I have argued that:

  • It is unreasonable to bash conservatism as a political philosophy based on hypocrisy of Republican party politicians: if Republican politicians claim to adhere to conservatism, and if Republican politicians are hypocrites on this matter, it does not follow that conservatism is hypocrisy.
  • It does follow that Republican politicians who claim to be conservative, but act otherwise, are not conservatives.
  • Conservatism is a political philosophy of caution and skepticism which has the tendency to preserve the status quo. It is the opposite of radicalism; radical conservatism is an oxymoron, liberal conservatism is not.
  • Conservatism does not itself imply motivation to preserve the status quo. The proper term for that kind of philosophy is “reactionary”. Reactionary conservatism is a thing, but reactionary politics can also be radical.
  • I have never voted for any Republican presidents, but I still call myself conservative.
  • I also didn’t vote before 2014.
  • I affiliate as a Republican because that gives me access to the Republican primaries.
  • I tend to vote Republican down-ticket because the opposition is usually a joke - for example, somebody who didn’t campaign at all or a write-in whose name isn’t even on the ballot.
  • The national Republican party does have a platform for 2020, but the platform is the same as it was in 2016.
  • The 2020 Republican platform is unchanged from 2016 because the Republican party thought it would be politically expedient to avoid exposing all of the disagreements in the Trump coalition.

~Max

95

Or about guns, in the opposite direction. In 2003-2007 under Bush and 2017-2019 under Trump they had a majority in both houses and Republican president, but didn’t pass any major pro-gun legislation for individuals. Under Bush they passed legislation protecting firearms manufacturers from civil liability and creating nationwide concealed carry for retired LEOs, neither of which help individuals. Under Trump they’ve added the bump stock ban (administratively, not through legislation) and not much else. Meanwhile under Obama in 2010, the law was changed to allow for people to carry firearms into National Parks if it’s legal for them to do so in the state the park is in, which is pretty significant pro-gun legislation for ordinary individuals.

If they really cared about gun rights, they could certainly do minor things like passing fixes to laws that have issues (the NRA pushed for specific changes to the Firearms Owner Protection act in 2017, for example, but it never went anywhere), and you’d expect at least one major thing, like a repeal or major revision of existing anti-gun laws or implementation of a nationwide concealed carry system (which has already been done for retired LEOs). And you certainly wouldn’t expect better pro-gun legislation for individuals under a Democratic president with a Democratic congress (56-58 in the senate, 257 in the house) than in the 6 years with Republicans have had control.

96

Did you mean to write *wouldn't*? Edit: I guess it makes sense, nevermind.

~Max

97

In case anyone else is confused by the wording, what I’m saying is that if you believe the Republicans actually cared about individual gun rights, you would not expect the strongest and arguably only piece of legislation that is pro-gun for individuals to pass under a Democratic president with a strong majority in both houses of Congress, you would expect it to happen under a Republican president with a majority in both houses of Congress. But that is exactly how gun control legislation in the 21st century has gone.

98

Again, before I read the entire thread I want to respond to something, please forgive if this is addressed further down the thread. (That is the reason I lurked here for years – any idea I could contribute was eventually stated and better than I could have phrased it so I remained silent.)

I have been accused of wearing rose colored glasses and of a revisionist memory on this board before. (I could have defended my statements but I chose not to engage in a fight that would have boiled down to pure pride.) I do believe there was a time when things ran better than they do now in U.S. Politics and that whatever backbiting there may have been, at least there was an effort to appear moral and proper.

All of that to say I have strong views on liberals and conservatives and inertia and addressing big issues. As a very long time conservative who now finds himself supporting exclusively liberal views, I have seen things from different points of view (not all the possible views- but a bigger slice than some others). In days long gone I viewed this nation as a grand and stately ship that was steered by different crews at different times with different views on how to reach the destination. Turns were slow and stately – the destination was far and a slight correction to speed or direction could make a huge cumulative effect by the time the ship arrived across the ocean.

The little wave runners zooming back and forth, sometimes ducking under the water then shooting into the air a moment later, reversing direction in an instant looked fun (and they are!!), but they reminded me of small (comparatively) insignificant countries compared to our formidable ship. It didn’t matter what direction they were going at any moment, they were going to stay by the shore or attend one of the big ships (and if there was any rough weather they would be swamped).

Now everything is very short term. At least election cycles are every couple of years, business now only seems to care about the next quarterly earnings report – but that is a different rant entirely. The two or four year election cycle is the furthest we CAN think ahead. Every administration spends the first term tearing down what the previous one did and the second term building what the next administration will burn down. My (atheist) god, am I now that old guy who can only be grouchy and thinks the world is speeding to hell in a hand basket? I used to be so optimistic, I believe I am still very forward looking and optimistic – I want to solve problems, I want to leave the world better for prosperity, but . . . . . (Also, stop riding your bikes across my lawn! I mean it; I will stand right here on this porch and shake the multitude of coins in the pockets of the pants belted above my stomach!!)

I no longer view the US as a stately ship (part grain hauler, part oil hauler [of course], part cruise ship, part research vessel [that part is REAL small currently], part Red Cross ship, etc.). Now I see Donald Trump in a flashy twenty foot jet boat (that he doesn’t even know how to operate) made for inland lakes leading a flotilla of wave runners getting ready to circumnavigate the globe. If Trump and company are the jets, I see Pelosi and Schumer putting on the leather jackets with a Sharks patch, on their wave runners trying to blockade the jets from their damn fool intentions.

Isn’t there some way for us to be reunited into a grand and stately nation that can make small but meaningful corrections that will reap benefit down the road a little piece? Can’t we be one nation under LAWS and work toward a fairness that does lead to liberty and justice for everybody? Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had the same set of rules to live by? If powerful friends could not punish their enemies and commute the sentences of their fixers – I mean friends? If even the lowest amongst us were not downtrodden and without hope? I used to believe all that shit, now I can’t even see a possibility of getting on a road (or sea lane I guess to stay nautical) to getting there. Of course, getting rid of Trump would be a good start – but only a start. Isn’t there some ideal we can all agree upon? Do we really need an outside enemy to stop bickering amongst ourselves?

Sorry for the long rant. Just one more thing to say; concerning the last sentence of the quote above. Our decline is not seeming as slow as it once did.

99

The problem is that it was all appearance only, not substance. There was a ruling class who operated under a tacit agreement to preserve the status quo privileges, only offering scraps of change to keep the underclass of everyone else boiling over, dividing the masses with racism and other tribal tactics. It’s been 500 years of a society in which an ascendant group lives off the blood and flesh of their fellow human beings. And although there has been significant change, that change has been too slow. It’s not reasonable to ask people to wait multiple lifetimes for true justice and fairness.

Now the ascendancy is seeing the real possibility of losing its lock on power and it is losing its kind trying to hold onto it.

100

The author of Reaganland on Fresh Air talking about how Reagan set the standard for dishonesty, ruthlessness, and demagoguery.

He talks about how “viciousness, the naked will to power,” was always a part of the conservative Republican movement.