Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Attention all hands

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Lisa Graas has a good post up on the Glenn Beck controversy at Palin Twibe, and it has all the links and references. Lisa is correct. The flap over Beck's remarks is a distraction, one those who love liberty can ill afford at the precise time when we have the Obamunists outflanked.

Beck is more libertarian than conservative. We can't believe how riled up that simple fact has made some conservatives. It's not like we didn't already know that about the guy. Have they forgotten that libertarians and conservatives are natural allies when the enemy -- whether one chooses to call it socialist, corporatist, or whatever -- threatens our liberty?

As for Beck's remark that McCain would have been much worse for the country than Obama, we think we know where Beck is coming from. Under McCain, the republic would have continued its drift toward socialism that began after Reagan's second term ended. It would have been a much more incremental drift than Obama's "pedal to the metal" towing of our nation to the left, and therefore the opposition to it would not have mobilized as quickly or as fully as it has under Obama. At least that's what we think he meant by it, as we're not mind readers.

Here's what we are sure of - he likes Sarah Palin, and she likes him. Sarah told her Facebook friends to tune in to Beck's expose of Obama's Marxist czars, so she thought that his efforts in that regard were worthy and very important. The two share more than the common bond of having children with special needs. They both love the Constitution, and they see Obama and his Obamunists as clear and present dangers to the Constitution and the republic. We are having a difficult time getting upset with anyone whom Sarah Palin considers is doing good things for the country.

We know Mark Levin was very upset over Beck's remarks. Levin and Sarah Palin also have a relationship based on mutual admiration, much like the relationship between Beck and Sarah. So where does that leave us? We find ourselves in the position of some other libertarian-leaning conservatives who are pleading, "Can't we all just get along?"

Really. Some of us need to go back to enemy identification class. It's easy to tell who the enemies are among us. Listen to what they say and write for the recurring use of DNC talking points. The enemy among us sound just like Leftist Democrats, however not based one just one remark. They parrot the liberal line early and often. As Stacy McCain has already pointed out, Glenn Beck is not the enemy. He's done invaluable work for the cause of liberty by calling out these audacious Obama czars (actually, commissars is a more descriptive term) to millions on the Fox News Channel. Mark Levin has also done invaluable work for the same cause by virtue of his excellent book, Liberty and Tyranny (the audio version of which we're currently enjoying on all six CDs), his radio show and his all too-infrequent posts on NRO's The Corner blog, which together are reaching more millions of Americans.

What is it about conservatives that compels some of them to deploy into circular firing squads at the drop of a hat? We're really getting sick and tired of it. The enemy -- our true mutual enemy -- is not found in our own ranks of conservatives and libertarian conservatives. We're not including people who fancy themselves conservatives but actually voted for or promoted Obama for the presidency when the chips were down. Regardless of what he said to Katie Couric, Beck has never made excuses for Obama, as have the likes of Peggy Noonan. He has not blamed Christians for the problems of the Republican Party, as have the likes of Kathleen Parker. He has not attacked Sarah Palin, as have the likes of David Frum.

In our opinion, conservatives and libertarians would be well advised to forget this small stuff and focus on the real tasks at hand. Mark Levin has given us an excellent conservative manifesto which we can use to attract others to our cause. Glenn Beck has identified some prime targets of opportunity which show how far to the left and authoritarian the true enemy is. Sarah Palin has shown what can be done with no more tools than a laptop and a Facebook account plus some basic research and a lot of determination. Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe have demonstrated what two energized young folks with $1300 and a camcorder can accomplish, and Andrew Breitbart has shown us how to support and promote their efforts. All of these people are fighters, and our cause needs all of its fighters.

Aren't the Obamunists more deserving of our time, energy and resources than those who are our own natural allies? Let's get over this petty bickering and take the fight to the real enemies of liberty.

- JP

8 comments:

  1. The tactic is called divide and conquer. Conservatives and Republicans, please don't allow yourselves to be distracted by the latest shiny object. Keep your eyes on the prize. Glen Beck is entitled to his opinion, whatever he may have meant. Mark Levin is entitled to his. And we are entitled to take what we agree with from each, and leave the rest. Turn it around and point out that most of the liberals have seen the polls showing that only 12% of Americans agree that the opposition to Obama is racist, but quite a few of them still haven't gotten the memo.

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  2. Glen appears to hate all politicians. I am surprised to hear that he is a Ron Paul supporter. With the way Ron Paul lines up for the pork, I am surprised that many libertarians or conservatives support Paul.

    To each their own, I guess.

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  3. Thanks, JP, another great post.

    1. I think Glenn's daughter has cerebral palsy, not Downs.

    2. I hear ya' about the conservative firing squad. I've been remarking on this today over at C4P. Conservatives need to really study Sarah's record to see that she is a governing constitutionalist, which means she doesn't always take strictly conservative positions.

    a. She didn't bring up any social conservative issues during her first two legislative sessions as gov - and received criticism from the social cons/family values proponents in AK.

    b. She got criticism from the same group for her following of constitutional procedures this spring for her Supreme Court choice.

    c. She raised taxes as mayor and governor. A sales tax as mayor AFTER putting it to referendum for the people to vote on whether they wanted it to pay for the sports center. And as governor to ensure Alaskans got their fair share of resource revenues per the constitution. But to strict conservatives, she RAISED TAXES.

    I think the McCain campaign bringing her on for the conservative vote and not talking about how she got her high approval ratings - she WORKED WITH DEMS TO RAISE TAXES - did Sarah a disfavor.

    And Sarah is going to make decisions, I think, that conservatives may not like, e.g., not attending CPAC or the Values Voter Summit nor the CA or FL Repub women's events. I think she's trying to reestablish that she's not the partisan that the McCain camp used her for.

    But she is now starting over and people will be able to see the true constitutionalist libertarian, who's conservative in that she follows the constitution, makes budgets balance, generally lowers taxes and eliminates business fees, wants a strong national defense.

    Sorry for the long post ...

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  4. Thanks hrs. I corrected the post to say that both are parents of children with special needs. And you don't have to apologize for posting long comments here.

    - JP

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  5. I totally agree with you, Josh. Excellent post. I shake my head over the whole thing. I'm disappointed with what some people have been saying.

    You're right, we know the enemy and it's not Beck. I don't understand the notion that we all must agree 100% on everything. Sure, Beck may think that McCain would have been worse for the country than Obama - but that's his opinion. Some might agree and some disagree. But we don't have to excommunicate (sp?) him from conservativism over it. Plus his work on exposing Obama's corruption and the corruption on the Left has been invaluable. I would be devastated if his show were canceled or lost a lot of viewers over this.

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  6. Josh, permission to re-post at Libertarian Republican?

    If so, email me at ericdondero@yahoo.com

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  7. I do not agree with Mark Levin 100%, more like 85%. I don't agree with Glenn Beck 100%, more like about 75%. This does not mean I should shoot them both, after all I only agree with my own wife 92% and she hasn't shot me after all these years.

    How about we let Beck and Levin solve their own differences and go about learning what we can from each?

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