Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Loss of Principles

Pat Buchanan on the GOP.
On issue after issue, the Republican Party, if it stood true to its beliefs and purged the twin heresies of neoconservatism in foreign policy and Wall Street Journal ideology in trade and immigration policy, would still stand well with Middle America.

Most Americans are traditionalist on right to life, homosexual marriage, a polluted culture and Hollywood values. Most Americans believe in a defense second to none, while staying out of wars that are not our quarrels.

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2 comments:

Jeff said...

"Most Americans" supported the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Grenada and Panama operations, the War in Afghanistan, and--for a long, long time--the War in Iraq.

I was a conservative at the time of the Vietnam War. The idea that "most conservatives" or even conservatives at all were against "foreign adventures" would have been received with derision by conservatives and liberals alike.

There is an attempt to redefine conservatism in war parallel to that of the radical traditionalists in Catholicism, who carp not only about the Spirit of Vatican Two, but that of Vatican One and even Trent and cast longing eyes in the direction of the Eastern Orthodox.

I am in favor of the War in Iraq. I am not a "neoconservative" or a "paleoconservative". I am just a conservative: in favor of traditional social and cultural values; in favor of a free economy; in favor of an assertive pro-democratic Americanist foreign policy. I'm just the same as I was in the days of Reagan and I won't yield to the reigning redefinitions of the day.

elena maria vidal said...

I, sadly, did not appreciate Reagan when he was president, being young and foolish. I do appreciate him now. But my favorite president is still Nixon, especially after reading "Witness."