.
"The defections to
Hillarystan have exposed men and women who held positions of great power
in the GOP without ever being committed to conservative values and
ideals. Their treason is helping to pave the way for a newer and cleaner
party....
9/22/16, "George H.W. Bush and Hillary’s Fake Conservatives," Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage mag
"Bush gave us the Clintons. And now the Clintons may end the Bush legacy."
"Ronald Reagan’s worst mistake was named George H.W. Bush. Bush was
the price that Reagan paid for the support of fake conservatives.
And the price ended up being his legacy.
Reagan had never felt good about naming Bush as his second, worrying
about “turning the country over to him.” And he was right to worry. Once
in office, Bush disavowed Reagan’s economic policies, which he had
always hated, got deep into bed with the Saudis with disastrous results,
and lost a winnable election to Bill Clinton. Reagan had handed Bush
victory and Bush had brought Republicans utter defeat.
Bush
was the ultimate political insider, with shaky popular appeal, but
impeccable political connections. Loyal to party, rather than
principles, he was trusted by the establishment in sensitive positions.
His final task was to undermine the Reagan Revolution.
It’s unsurprising
to hear that he will vote for Hillary.
George H.W. Bush ran
against Reagan as a left-leaning Republican.
In Congress he had backed a
plethora of destructive leftist programs. On his way to the White
House, he was for abortion and the ERA and the FHA. Described by his
wife as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, he failed to live up
to even that low bar in the White House.
Past party labels,
George H.W. Bush has a great deal in common with Hillary Clinton. Both
of them emphasize social welfare in domestic policy and Muslim
appeasement in foreign policy. They both view the role of government as
that of patron rather than representative. They see political leaders as
wiser than the people they serve. They despise “religious
fundamentalism” of the non-Islamic kind, hate Israel, cheer Planned
Parenthood and want to fight as many wars for the Saudis as they can
manage.
Bush is not unique in that regard. The latest Bush
incarnation, Jeb, ran on that same noblesse oblige of an unwanted elite
lecturing taxpayers on their obligations to the Democratic Party’s voter
base. Bush I had no interest in what the people in his district thought
of his social welfare votes at their expense. But this philanthropic
contempt runs through much of the fake conservative class which
incessantly lectures conservatives on the virtues of illegal
immigration, freeing drug dealers and social welfare.
Abroad,
the fake conservative believes in international law and exporting
democracy as fervently as Hillary. He is the sort of fellow who calls
the Muslim Brotherhood moderate, seeks a “two state solution” to divide
up Israel between Jews and Muslim terrorists and believes that terrorism
can be defeated by meeting the demands of the populations that support
terrorism in some other way.
If this sounds a lot like the
Democratic Party’s program, that’s because it is. Hillary Clinton, Joe
Biden and Elizabeth Warren all used to be Republicans. The difference
between them and some of the Bush loyalists who are now backing Hillary
is that they at least told the truth about leaving the GOP.
The GOP has been steadily moving to the right to the profound discomfort
of its remaining cohort of left-wingers who have never been more
thoroughly out of touch with their party’s base than they are now.
It hasn’t been a steady transition.
Every time a Reagan rises, a Bush is there to undermine him. Every
conservative victory is followed by a careful program to isolate, water
down and destroy that victory.
The Tea Party is only the latest incarnation of the conservative movement to get the treatment. Hillary’s appeal to fake conservatives has produced defections that
are statistically insignificant on a national scale, but highly notable
within the hothouse world of the political establishment. Bush is the
highest profile name, but countless Bush cronies like Brent Scowcroft,
Richard Armitage, Carlos Gutierrez, Tony Fratto, Henry Paulson, Sally
Bradshaw have been more open in their support for Hillary.
It’s tempting to dismiss the Bushites as sore losers mad about Jeb’s defeat, but it’s bigger than that.
Hillarystan is swelling with Bush loyalists defecting to a friendlier
country where they still believe that illegal migration is an act of
love, that big government is the answer and democracy needs exporting.
This is a primal battle between two worldviews in the GOP. One
believes in big government at home and abroad. The other prefers
self-reliance. The Bush-Hillary consensus is invested in the importance
of government infrastructure. It believes that government is the most
important institution in human affairs and that its expansion,
domestically and internationally, is both inevitable and virtuous.
And that it is our mission to solve domestic and international problems through government power. This is the worldview that the rise of Trump threatens and disrupts.
Fake conservatives believe that they are protecting America by
supporting Hillary over Trump. Unfortunately they have defined America
to mean the policy infrastructure of government rather than the people,
the history and the nation.
This is a struggle between
individualism and technocracy, between national interests and
international law, between the community and the government.
And George H.W. Bush has more in common with Hillary in this struggle just as he did with Carter.
The GOP has long been burdened with privileged politicians who pay lip
service to conservative virtues while dreading the thought of actually
implementing them. George H.W. Bush has a long history of championing
left-wing policies before flipping to conservative ones when it was
politically convenient.
When Reagan picked Bush, the latter
changed his colors, but he never changed his beliefs. And once he had
his chance, he wrecked Reagan’s legacy. And this has been the
left-wing Republican pattern all along.
The defections to
Hillarystan have exposed men and women who held positions of great power
in the GOP without ever being committed to conservative values and
ideals. Their treason is helping to pave the way for a newer and cleaner
party based on ideals rather than on political allegiances.
This is the twilight of the left-wing Republican. Members of the
establishment are self-deporting themselves from the GOP by making it
clear that they have more in common with Hillary Clinton than with their
own base. What was an open secret in certain circles is no longer a
secret at all.
Each generation the influence of left-wing
Republicans has waned.
Where Reagan had to fight a difficult and uphill
battle against a leftist establishment that controlled the high ground,
the remainder of their ilk are abandoning the party on their own.
That
is a good development for the GOP and for America.
George H.W. Bush gave us the Clintons. And now the Clintons may end the Bush legacy."
----------------------------
Among comments
--------------------
"truebearing"
"This was a superbly illuminating article on the conflicts and
betrayals within the Republican Party from Reagan's presidency until
today. Remarkable clarity.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Left wing Establishment Republicans are self-deporting to Hillarystan, their true home, where what's important is fighting as many wars as possible for their main constituent, the terrorist Saudis. This is good for the country and paves the way for a cleaner, treason-free Republican Party-Daniel Greenfield
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