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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (31214)	12/18/2002 12:21:28 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 59480

Paul Greenberg December 18, 2002 The problem with the right URLhttp://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulgreenberg/ The problem with the political right in this country is that it seems to think men will fight and die and live for . the free market. But free enterprise is a means to fulfillment -- and an uncertain means at that. The free market cannot define truth or virtue or duty or loyalty or beauty. It can only allow us to make our own choices. The problem with the right is that it is so terribly earnest, repeating the most jaded platitudes as if they were startling new discoveries. The problem with the right is that it spawns ideologies incapable of the compromises success demands. For now, conservatives, both paleo- and neo-, make common cause, which explains their electoral success. But at any time the right could split, spinning off Pat Buchanans to the right, libertarians to the left, leaving the cause reduced to a few lonely readers of Edmund Burke. The problem with the right is that it is so in love with ideology that it fails to recognize the power of personality in politics. The problem with the right is that it can wind up sounding as dull and smug as the left. The problem with the right is that it confuses rhetoric with eloquence, speechmaking with reasoning. Too often it seems oblivious to the transcendent power of humor. The right needs more P. J. O'Rourkes and Florence Kings, fewer Gary Bauers and Pat Robertsons. The problem with the right is that it doesn't laugh enough, and, when it does, it may be laughing at something that's vulgar rather than funny. The problem with the right is that it tends to confuse a sneer with a sense of humor, a blunt insult with incisive criticism. (It shares this problem with the left.) The problem with the right is that it doesn't always realize that the ultimate victory in any political contest will go to the side that succeeds in raising the standard of public discourse -- whether it wins or loses a particular election, vote, or seat in Congress. While its principles can stand the test of time, and have, the problem with the right is that it loses patience and decides to take a short cut -- the low road. Nobody did more to discredit the right in this country than Joe McCarthy. The problem with the right is that it worships Ronald Reagan but seems unable to recapture his simplicity, his candor, his perseverance, his good humor, and above all his invincible goodwill. His would-be successors try to follow in his footsteps rather than seek what he sought, which will take new thought, new dedication, new insights, new energy and confidence. To conserve one must change. The problem with the right is that it doesn't produce happy warriors. It hasn't had one since Ronald Reagan, the Music Man, whose politics might not have been Franklin Roosevelt's but whose spirit was much the same. Victory in politics belongs to those who transcend politics. The problem with the right is that it isn't bipartisan; it has tended to put all its chips on one party rather than invest in both. The right has not cultivated the allegiance of New Democrats -- the kind Bill Clinton enlisted, and even pretended to be in election years. The problem with the right is that it tends to confuse nostalgia with a program. The problem with the right is that it tends to get caught up in its own intrigues. It loses sight of first principles. It's a problem the right shares with the left: The mechanics of politics become so absorbing that the object of politics disappears from view. The problem with the right is that, rather than celebrate its heroes, it prefers to curse its enemies -- when it should be trying to win them over. The problem with the right is that it seems to think it can browbeat Americans into agreement, rather than persuade, convince, and lead. The problem with the right is that it is tempted to substitute volume for reason, repetition for persuasion. Confronted with a new argument, it may just repeat an old one -- only louder. The problem with the right is that it often invokes the past, but learns so little from it. The problem with the right -- and left -- is that both confuse mere political power with moral suasion. And yet, despite all its problems, the right appeals because of its attachment to and understanding of the past -- not as something dead and gone but alive and instructive. The great strength of the right is that it recognizes the usefulness of history, another name for experience. Which may be why conservatism has proven hardy despite the habits of some conservatives. ©2002 Tribune Media Services