On Discourse.....

Go get a cup of coffee, sit back and read for a while because this is a pretty good post. Thanks to updates it has become seriously link rich, even by Instapundit standards. Its a post by the blogfather so it is hardly obscure, but does hit a nerve.

Ok, my millions...er half-score (maybe) of loyal readers know that I'm a tad right leaning in my politics and I consider leftism, however well intentioned (and it often is), to be, ultimately a far greater threat to freedom than the political right...(fundie asshats notwithstanding).

That said, absolute power corrupts absolutely and as happy as I am that we don't have a President Kerry or the economic malaise of Europe, this story disturbs me for 2 reasons.

Yes, Howard Dean is the DNC chairman.....As a right winger, let me be the first to say that...

THIS IS NOT OUR FAULT!!! WE DIDN'T DO THIS!! DON"T BLAME US!!

Now, as to why this troubles me when tactically we should be cautiously optimistic. (Dean is actually quite competent for such a novice pol and as misguided as his foreign policy views are he is damned principlled for a modern Democrat...in some ways a throwback to the old populists)

My big fear is that the Donks will implode. Much has been made of he fate of the Whig party by some analysts, but a better example might be the Federalists..... they opposed the war of 1812, tried to negotiate separately with the UK and urged surrender....when they did not get their way they tried to secede by pulling a New England state (Connecticut) out of the Union.....sound familiar? The Federalists were finished as a party and the US entered the "Era of Good Feelings" in which we were a one party nation for quite a while (The Whigs weren't really a major movement, the Know Nothings who were what today would be called Buchananites... were fringe even then) One result of no cantakerous give and take was the revival of slavery in the 1820s and a virtual ossification of political matters in the country. This was somewhat broken by Andrew Jackson.....but not really in a good way. We were pretty dammned lucky there wasn't a meaningful MIC in the US at that time.

Now like all organizations that accrue power the Republicans attract some smarmy characters.....more so now than before as they seem to be ascendant....(previously, the real smarmazoids would go to the Dems because they were the party in power....for 50+ years.) Thus there is certainly considerable potential for ickieness if there is no balance.

I said that I had two fears.....the greater fear is that the Deaniac Dems will get it together, not by moving to the center but by somehow gaining power while they are still the party of Dean, Moore, Pelosi, Boxer, McKinney, "Screw'em" Kos, the Democratic Underground and the ironically named MoveOn.org. these people SCARE me, not because of what they might become but what they are. I have some lefty friends, they are smart, decent, fine human beings but the bigotry bile and hate that will just effortlessly pop forth from their mouths regards rural people, conservatives, southerners in particular or anyone of faith is astounding. They aren't even aware of it!

The Democrats problem is that the far left loons have taken over their party, they've become not even a revival meeting but a congregation that seeks affirmation and looks to perescute "heritics".

I firmly believe that they could easily have won this election as Bush is NOT a conservative, I like him, I think he's a decent man and he is acting IMHO with extraordinary vision in this war, there have been mistakes but they have largely been a learning curve, bad intel or simply mistakes of good faith. He has shown both intelligence and restraint to a far greater degree than he is given credit for and I think will be remembered as a pretty good president. He has also done a great deal to jump start our nations space programme and restart alternate power programmes cancelled in the 90s by Clinton (actually Gore)

However.....he is not a conservative:
He's spending like a Mondaleoid Lefty.....but voting for a Dem is not likely to fix that....

He supports the F%$!@#ngFMA ....pretty much the evil opposite of a conservative states rights position.....but aside from the dammned amendment the official DNC platform is pretty much the sam as Bush's Civil unions, but no marraige....and the debauchery wing o the democratic party really have done a lot of damage t the social fabric of the nation.

He has been lukewarm on both the second and first amendments....but the Dems are actively hostile to the second and give mainly lip service to the first...like when they're on every network talk show claiming to be muzzled.

He has remarkably shallow support among conservatives, the Democrats had an excellent chance to take the white house this time, if only they had nominated a principled mainstream canidate....Its not like they don't have any: Lieberman, Fienstien, Biden, Gephardt, Bredensen all come immediately to mind.

Myself and a LOT of conservatives would have voted for them as they could be trusted with the white house and at the same time nudge the Republicans to get a fiscally responsibal socially libertine Goldwater type in (Condi Rice actually comes to mind). The disagreements we'd have with these guys are a little greater than with Bush but we wouldn't fear for he country or our personal saftey the way we would if Kerry had become POTUS with the backing of the "hate righty" wing.

Bush is so not a conservative that I'm pretty sure that if Bush had a D rather than an R by his name I think he'd be seen as a bit to the left of Bill Clinton, that vacuous know nothing Hannity would HATE him and his religious faih would be lauded by the Dems as proof they really aren't Goddless Commies. The war would have REAL bipartisan support and a lot of the fight would be taken out of the insurgents as they would not have the morale booster for them of a divided country and opposition.

But the moonbats have taken over the DNC nomination process. These people still consider the defeat of the US in Viet Nam and the wretched fate inflicted on the SE Asians not lucky enough to escape socialist utopia to be a high point in human rights....they scream about NAZIS behind every corner but proudly wear Che' berets to honor a man at least as deranged and evil as Hitler....and they backed first Dean, then Kerry for president.

They are the lefty equivalent of John Birchers IMHO, their demagogues like Moore, produce works that are the Turner Diaries of the left, and as a movement they are not even really looking for converts or answers to problems (it seems) rather, they are looking for heretics to dis and they are looking for vengeance. Witch hunts and a thirst for vengeance are things to be kept far from the halls of power. Most (at least 52%) Americans see this.

I'm not saying tha the dems can't govern they have a lot of good people, (see list above) but the current leadership and direction is frightening. I used to read Kos and Willis but the bile and rage is now quite off putting, I can't get my head around it. To talk to some of thse people I really fear what they might do if they get in charge. Their rhetoric is so poisonous their intense hatred for those of us who are southern, rural or just of a different political stripe can pop out at any time. They wonder why we are "STUPID" enough not to vote for them.....many of us have seen, read and heard enough from them that we feel we'd be stupid to do so.

Anyway, I'm scared if they self destruct and I'm marginally more scared if they win.....I'm just screwed.

Dean is their Chairman...I say again he's NOT OUR FAULT!

Update: Actually posted a draft by accident so I reworked the post a bit fixed a paragraph that made no sense.....no trackbacks or comments yet so I it's unlikely this matters one iota. I'll add a few more hyperliks a bit later.