Greg Anrig, Jr. is dead-on when he says that Democrats ought to aggressively attack conservatism as a failed ideology. They got everything they ever wanted during this administration, and look where that’s gotten us.  A broken government, house-of-cards financial sector, and a war that never should have been started. All courtesy of near-complete control of the Federal government by conservatives.
Vivian J. Paige
I think the problem is that the conservatives, when given the opportunity, failed to act like conservatives. I agree – they have broken everything, mostly by taking ridiculous positions that are more neo-con than conservative.
But yes, there are conservative principles that aren’t very good. Take supply-side economics, for example. An utter failure so give it up already!
MB
I was anticipating that, but not from you :)
Really, isn’t saying that like saying the problem with Communism was that, given the chance, they didn’t act like communists? I think that when you say that they failed to act like conservatives, you give too much credit to their lip service from the beginning. If you look at the *actions* of conservatives, what we’ve got on our hands is quite consistent with the result. It’s just that they’ve been able to act virtually without check, lately.
Vivian J. Paige
Yeah well, I figured I’d say it first :)
But what I was getting at was one principal that I happen to agree with: fiscal restraint. With a combination of tax cuts and spending increases, they have created a major nightmare economically. Which is why I mentioned supply-side economics. We have known for 20 years that it doesn’t work yet they return to it again and again, the result being deficits that their grandchildren won’t be able to pay off.
So I’m not giving them credit really.
MB
All that makes sense. But really, has fiscal restraint *ever* been a part of conservative governing? I admit that my political awareness came into being during the Reagan years, so perhaps I lack an appreciation for the fiscal policies of Ford or Nixon, but Reagan – patron saint of all things conservative – ran up a higher credit card debt than anyone else on the planet! To me, conservative claims of support for “fiscal restraint” really translate to “we don’t want to pay for any social programs that don’t benefit us directly and immediately, but we are happy to send dump trucks of money over to the financial, energy, and defense industries.” So I’m not going to credit conservatism with any form of genuine “fiscal restraint.”
Vivian J. Paige
Well, it is a theory, you know :) Not that they’ve ever acted on it, at least not as far as I know.
I was finishing college when Reagan started talking about supply-side economics. I asked my economics prof about it – he basically said it wouldn’t work. And it didn’t. Bush I, when he was running against Reagan for the nomination, called it “voo doo” economics. (Yet when Reagan asked him to be his running mate, he readily agreed. Guess being close to power trumps ideology.)
James
To make the comment that conservatives got everything they ever wanted out of this administration is either a complete misunderstanding of what conservatism is or a knowingly made false statement. Never has a president flying the banner of conservatism done so much to destroy that very principal. We got the federal take over of the education system, the largest expansion of federal healthcare since the 60’s, the largest new federal beauracracy since WWII (Homeland Security), an abomination of the constitution, and the fastest growth rates in federal spending since LBJ. The federal government has growth at 2.5 times the rate of GDP and 6 times the rate of population growth. Thats why we have deficits; not because of the tax cuts. If spending growth had remained at the rate of the late 90’s. even with the tax cuts, 9-11, the 2001 recession and the Iraq war, we would have had a balanced budget in 2004-5. The government is bigger, more powerful, and more intrusive then it ever has been, and more momey is spent per American then ever before in history. If I were a liberal I would be quite happy with the past 8 years in some regards. Durring the republican’s turn of rule, they did nothing but increase the welfare state and march towards Euro-Socialism. I could only wish that if the democrats held both houses of congress plus the presidency, that they would do as much for the long term health of free markets, individual liberty, and small government, as the Bush years have done to propogate the longterm trend of big liberal government. Bush is the worst thing that has happened to “conservatism” in modern history. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. He has a 29% approval rating for a reason. Its not because conservatives disappeared, its because they dislike Bush. Understand this… we are about to elect a leftist democrat into office, not because of any like of that ideology, but because of disgust and resentment towards republican governence. The quicker the democrats in power realize that reality, the better chance they have of staying in power. If they take their upcoming victory as a mandate for liberalism, they will quickly fall from the seat of power once again.
Scott Nolan
James, you have some very good points – but it’s not the liberals who should be happy with the past eight years, it might be the socialists, but do not equate the liberals with the socialists. There is some intersection (like me, I am both liberal and socialist, though I am unhappy), but one can no more declare that liberalism == socialism than one can claim facist == conservative. Yes, again, there is some intersection, but they are not the same group either.
As a liberal socialist I am a bitterly opposed to the past eight years because there has been no planning, no foresight, and no interest in serving the people of this country, despite the growing size of government. We are not more secure, we are not enjoying better healthcare, we are not enjoying massive investments in our country’s infrastructure. Those are good reasons to see federal spending go up. We have achieved none of them. Bush, Incorporated and his backers seem hell bent on bankrupting the United States, and for that, both conservatives and liberals should unite and purge ourselves of this affliction.
By the way, on some issues I consider myself conservative, I grew up with a dash of New England frugality that translate to fiscal conservatism that appears to be at odds with my socialist ideology… it makes for interesting internal dialogue.