What Happens in November?
On Thursday, blogger Ace of Spades wrote a memorable "Get out the troops" speech, which will likely get plenty of re-quotes in the Blogosphere as November approaches. Here's a sample:
Henry Waxman is already enjoying that Democrats are going to lose -- he says they're going to lose the "difficult" Democrats anyway, so in effect the party will be usefully purged and the progressive caucus stronger and more pure.
He's already finding a silver lining in their losses.
That won't do: We need these losses to be unacceptable and brutal [...].
Second, someone said I was writing like Kos in '08. That is correct.
And what did Kos say? He said he wanted to crush our spirits and leave us heartbroken.
And you know what? They did.
Think back to your mental state in November '08 to say February '09, before the Tea Party, before we got up off our backs and decided we were so angry we were going to fight.
I remember a lot of people being heartbroken. A lot of people just stopped reading about politics-- they couldn't bear it.
Glenn Beck's "We Are Not Alone" campaign became popular because people really needed and craved the reassurance they weren't alone, because they feared they were.
We at AoSHQ started organizing local meet-ups and cheer-ups for people to get out of the house and have an uplifting drink with fellow conservatives. And people kept writing to me how much they loved those things, and how they needed them.
Why? Because we were heartbroken, we were crushed in spirit.
They won. They did: They broke us.
But we came back.
But the point is that it is quite possible that if Barack Obama and the Democrats had been a little more cautious and hadn't been so hatefully dismissive of majority opinion, our anger never would have turned to fire and we might have remained meekly on the floor, defeated, beaten, dead.
We need to do the same thing to them, we need to crush their spirits and break their hearts into a million jagged pieces. And we need to do such a fine job of it they never heal up. Never.
So, as my tenure as guest contributor comes to a close (and thanks for responding to my posts this past week with such good cheer!), a few last questions for the Ricochetista:
How realistic is Ace's scenario? And then what happens? As I wrote earlier this month at PJM, you can find examples of every prominent American ideology being pronounced DOA by their opponents over the past ten years. As Ace himself notes, the legacy media gleefully wrote a near-endless number of obits for conservatism in early 2009. Does this mean that we can expect super-ginormous spendaholic command and control Ruling Class "liberalism" to come roaring back with a vengeance in 2012 or 2014?
In any case, any predictions for the American economy and/or America's freedom post-November?
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: What Happens in November?
I think we can do more for the future of the country and our cause by winning gracefully and cheerfully. Yes, it is a fight for freedom, but we can still heap burning coals on their heads by treating them with honor. The media will find the whackos and kooks no matter what we do, so our only comfort is in our own behavior. Let them read Machiavelli and Alinsky and we can read Proverbs and Emily Post.
Re: What Happens in November?
For a time, I was concerned that our side would not be able to sustain the level of anger and motivation necessary to “reset” the political paradigm in November. But Nancy, Harry, Barak, and their orchestra have proved reliable enough at providing an unending supply of insults to the country. If we take the House, I think we can apply sufficient brakes before we go over the cliiff. (I know, it’s a trucker’s analogy but that’s how I roll. There I go again. Oops!) If we take the Senate too, we could have a problem with the squishy senators (Graham, McCain, Collins, etc.) allowing Obama to blame a Republican congress for the ugly result of his own policies in 2012.
Bottom line: If we take one or more houses in November, freedom has a chance. As freedom goes, so goes the economy. If we don’t, the US could become utterly unrecognizable and it may fall to a future generation to recover what we lost. Perhaps Peter can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it was Reagan who said that while freedom can be lost for a time, it can never disappear completely.
Jul '10
Re: What Happens in November?
There are times I do despair, knowing that America's youth have lost their understanding of American exceptionalism and fallen for the blandishments of socialism.
But I just had a little ray of hope: here in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, we have one of those hippie tree-hugger free papers called The Bohemian. A paper that revels in immigration sob stories and believes that anyone who doesn't maintain a vegan diet is a planet-destroying monster.
On the cover of this week's back-to-school issue is an illustration of a typical college student. She has a tattoo and and an iPod and all the typical regalia.
But in the mesh pocket of her backpack, tucked under her iPhone, is a copy of Atlas Shrugged.
Apparently, it's the viral book of the year for college kids. I'm not even sure they know what it is, other than that it's "cool".
Bu if they're like myself and countless others, once they read it, they can never again be the same.
Edited on Aug 21, 2010 at 6:41pmAug '10
Re: What Happens in November?
I don't know... I think there's something to be said for crushing the opposition. I think Arnold Schwarzneggar's Conan the Barbarian had it right. When asked, "Conan, what is best in life?", he replied "... to crush your enemies... to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."
Jul '10
Re: What Happens in November?
I wasn't aware that Maureen Dowd and Andrea Mitchell appeared in Conan the Barbarian.
May '10
Re: What Happens in November?
Is that a new term you've coined, Ed? I'd happily vote that henceforth "Ricochet contributors and subscribers" be referred to as "the Ricochetista."
As for November, there are plenty of reasons for optimism and that's a good thing, indeed. But January is where the Democrats went wrong, and January will be the GOP's real test.
Aug '10
Re: What Happens in November?
The two sides in our culture war are hardly symmetric. Two and four years ago, the right wasn't very popular, but it wasn't because conservative "ideology" was fundamentally offensive to most people, it was because the economy was in trouble in '08, as Iraq was in '06. But leftism really does go against the grain of American culture, so it should be possible to get many more swing voters to come to see progressivism as something contemptible, not merely incompetent. This will involve a willingness to focus some real attention to the cultural aspects of our conflict, and not merely complain about the unemployment rate or the deficit.
Edited on Aug 21, 2010 at 9:43pmAug '10
Re: What Happens in November?
Jason,
Jason Hart
Is that a new term you've coined, Ed? I'd happily vote that henceforth "Ricochet contributors and subscribers" be referred to as "the Ricochetista."
I think I've used that word in a couple of posts this past week--TTBOMK, I coined it. You're more than welcome to use it as well; my lawyer will email you the standard 15 percent royalty agreement. ;)