Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Social Conservative Talks About The Real Problem with Social Conservatives

Maggie Gallagher hits some important truths .

The Trouble with Social Conservatives [Maggie Gallagher]
Back a while ago, when I was complaining about Republicans who think the GOP has just too darn many religious voters ("funny, so do the Democrats"), I promised I would explain how social conservatives have contributed to this misimpression — and also to their oddly subordinated role within the GOP governing coalition.
It's simple. Social conservatives have had bad models for political action. We've depended on two basic strategies, and neither of them work very well:

1. The Mass-Uprising Model. "The people will rise up and throw off their oppressors spontaneously." Well, it's nice when it happens, but it's hardly a plan, is it?

2. The Secular-Messiah Model: Join with others in the GOP to elect a godly man to office and then expect him to solve all your problems for you. This last model resulted in me fielding calls from reporters about whether or not I thought Bush was responsible for failing to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment — at a time when the poor man was 33 percent in the polls. Gay-rights groups don't behave like this. They understand it's their job to make it easy for politicians to do what they ask, not the other way around.

Social conservatives simply have not been in politics. We lack institutions that can defeat our enemies and directly assist our friends.

After a while, threatening to leave the coalition unless the coalition does what you want gets old. And tiring. And ineffective. It makes your allies not like you very much. Social conservatives talk like that because it's our one lever of power.

Time to get some new levers.
05/21 09:15 AMShare

Update II



AHH so true. All of it but especially point 2. Maggie Gallagher needless to say have done her time it he trenches.

In my view on the whole she is right about social conservatives and "threats" Threats of vengence from Heaven if a politico nudges a inch or threats to leave if a internal political battle is lost. I in a sense I often think social conservatives take politics at times way too personal and that plays into the Secular Messiah model. Thus their anger gets a little to easily kindled toward their friends

The major point in comparing gay groups and social conservatives. I still hear social conservatives ask what did Bush do for us. Actually quite a bit.

But more important he gave us some breathing room to marshal our forces and win the public debate. The stem cell issues are a great example of this. Not only did he enacts various bans he appointed a bio ethics council that was wonderful. Well Obama got in and no massive public outrage when Obama reversed. That was not Bush's fault that was our fault.

Update-
As to the point two is not social conservative and journalist Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News and the famous Crunchy Con a good bit like this? I am not trying to be mean to Rod and I link his stuff a lot. However I have to the conclusion one should not want Rod's endorsement.

He supported McCain in 2000 yet became disillusioned with him for some reason. McCain has been getting it ever since

He supported Bush but Rod became disillusioned with him and Bush has been catching hell there everyday.

He fought in the Dallas Board News for the Huckabee endorsement but Rod became disillusioned after a couple of months

He thought Palin was the best thing since slice bread but he became disillusioned with her after she made predictable early gaffes that anyone would do and that for some reason she was not distinquishing herself enough from her running mate in public (who is if you recalled Rod became disillusioned with). One thinks he will not be backing her in the future.

Not picking on Rod, but he sort symbolizes in a way what Gallagher is talking about in a public way. He is not alone.

Update II
Re: The trouble with social conservatives [Mark Steyn]
Maggie's
post is absolutely right. For all that they're demonized as the ruthless shock troops of the right, social conservatives have been extremely ineffective in advancing their causes politically. By contrast, the gay marriage thing is a campaign that ought to be taught in military staff colleges: A mere decade ago, the overwhelming majority of the American people thought it was either an abomination or, more benignly, just kinda wacky. Now it's a fait accomplis. That's an amazing victory in nothing flat.
As Maggie says, activists need "to make it easy for politicians to do what they ask, not the other way around". But, like the gay guys do, they also need to win the broader cultural space, so that even those politicians who find it necessary to oppose them do so only in pro forma and ineffectual ways - like Obama on gay marriage.
05/21 10:26 AMShare

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