Conservatism Is Not A Suicide Pact: I like the Rule of Law, and I’ve been warning for years about what happens when it goes away. Yet we are where we are, whether we like it or not. We’re in a land where the law is only intermittently and selectively applicable. Allowing allies to suffer in an effort to pretend that all is well is not going to bring the Rule of Law back…
Yes, excellent column. I liked how Ace prefaced his link to it a few days ago:
“They call themselves “principled,” but I think the word “prissy” is much closer to the mark.
He’s writing about the pardon of Joe Arpaio. His major point is that the Rule of Law has been abandoned — destroyed, really — by the left in favor of pure will-to-power power politics, and it’s silly for what he calls the “Fredocons” to continue pretending we’re in a state of innocence and perfection and normalcy.
I call them the SubRight, as they’re not very conservative at all, and they’re almost erotically aroused by being submissive to the masochistic demands of their progressive friends (and occasional allies).
We’re not. We’re in the pre-war state. We’re in a cold civil war — becoming a merely cool one.
Schlichter, who’s actually been in war, has little patience for people who want to spout bromides while we’re literally being physically assaulted, and the leftwing cultural/media hegemony is pushing harder and harder for repeal of the First Amendment.”
Sid, it’s the “turn the other cheek” kristian attitude that is destroying the conservative brand. I see it on a daily bases. Hell, I’v had some excellent verbal confrontations with religious idiots, and they mostly act like libtards. Had one fool say that he(candidate) cared about me. I told her I want a strong politician, not a nurse maid. Once we separate the kind and caring kristians from the real cons, then we can form a unified front to ATTACK the fascist lefties
Kurt once again has an excellent column and it can be equally applied to Canada.
He writes, ‘See, I reject the notion we are ever somehow morally obligated by conservative principles to lose to liberals.’ In the US, Ryan, McCain, and Mitch McConnell are prime examples of the so-called conservatives bowing scraping to progressives.
This attitude by so-called conservative parties in Canada is almost obligatory. A prime most recent example is the purging by Paris Scheer of Brad Trost and Kellie Leitch because the progressives might object.
Sid Vicious, well said.
NME666, exactly. This “turn the other cheek” attitude is exactly what Lars Brownworth wrote in his book, “Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization”, was the reason why Islam conquered the Byzantine Empire. I would add that in our society today the progressive application of this thinking is why we are losing to the left and to Islam.
When a huge percentage of society is not seriously challenged to provide for themselves and political parties cater to that population the ultimate result will be a collapse. Economics will assert itself at some point.
IMHO the underlying question is what led to this point. Individual responsibility has been undermined since WW II. North America was different from the rest of the world as the continent was settled by those who fashioned their own well being. It was never easy but the frontier mentality manifested in our politics. A desire for individual freedoms which did not exist in Europe.
Government has insidiously sliced more of the economic pie away each decade. The majority now have a belief that government and all the vested interests that they represent can actually provide for them. They are obviously not students of history or they would fear the likely outcome of their activity. Free enterprise is failing. That failure is not the result of a discredited capitalism but through progressive forces who are destroying it for their own benefit.
Many conservatives, I was one, thought that there would be an epiphany of sorts which would re-establish proper order. The agent for such would likely be a economic crisis that would reassert financial fundamentals. As we move down this road I begin to doubt this outcome. I now think the likely outcome will be totalitarian regimes. Dictatorship by groups who benefit by using force and by controlling the essentials of life.
A good assault on this topic, though I preferred the response at the top of the comments…
from “#SoManyIdiots” 6 days ago:
“Personally, I can’t care a nit about pure conservative ideology, I’m way too concerned about the usurpation of parents rights, the assault on free speech and freedom of religion, the loss of due process, and the constraining of morality and enlightenment values to the waste bin of history by these cultural marxists deeply embedded in all institutions of our “free” society. And I’m way too concerned about my conservative betters elected to represent me, my values, my reverence of the constitution, the flag and our founding fathers – WHO CAN’T MANAGE A WHIMPER OF OPPOSITION TO THE LEFT’S DESTRUCTION OF THIS OUR REPUBLIC.”
and agreed completely with the first response to him/her:
“sami to #SoManyIdiots • 6 days ago
Perfect. Thank you.”
Excellent column by Schlicter, defines my own frustration with conservatism as it now stands.
We’re like the British Army of 200 years ago,marching proudly in a straight line in splendid red coats,while the enemy hides behind every cover available and snipes us to extinction.
Yes,we’re deeply entrenched in a cold war,becoming hotter every day.Soon I expect some of those antifa bastards will carry out the threats they’ve been parading on the internet with their show of armed force,and it’ll be interesting to see if the cops respond or retreat.
I gave up on “the epiphany” years ago when Trudeau showed up and was anointed by allegedly sensible people to rule over us. Our society has been successfully dumbed down to the extent I doubt if we can recover without a real civil war,and that just isn’t done in little Canader, the EU of North America. At least some Americans have the courage to fight for what they believe in,while we just believe in diversity.
Glad I’m old,apologize in advance to the younger generation for what we’ve left them,but in their current state they’ll never figure it out for another fifty years.
The Onanist Party. Electus interruptis.
The Conservative Party has spent my lifetime beating themselves.
The Conservative Party makes the Leafs look like the Yankees.
They make Joe Bfstplk look sunnier than the Trust Fund Kid.
It doesn’t take a village to elect a Conservative. It takes a Liberal….ie Bags Mulroney.
Or a Judge proclaimed Liberal kickback scheme to get a minority. A f#@%*ing minority! Although it didn’t matter.
Harper accomplished about as much as Kim Campbell even with a majority.
And so far, Scheer shows all the signs of having attended the Joe Clark School of Political Strategy For People Who Shouldn’t Be In Politics.
It’s bad enough I had to live through the Reign of Trudebt the Elder, the smarter one.SMH.
And now probably 20 years of being frolicked by He Who Is Unsure Of Which Bathroom Door.
Frikkin loser Conservative Trump Grabbees!
Somebody needs to write a sternly worded letter to the CBC.
“We’re in a land where the law is only intermittently and selectively applicable.”
Largely because of a-holes like Arpaio and the author of this idiotic article, which is a long rationalization of no longer pretending to adhere to the principles conservatives insincerely claim to love, because it gets in the way of raw tribalism and the emotional gratification it brings. And that’s all that’s left.
This ‘strategy’ (if you can call it that) of trying to out-statist the statists is so obviously doomed to failure that only the imbeciles of the NuRight could try it. Have fun getting crushed. Too bad we’ll all suffer under the likely hard-left governance you’re engendering.
It’s also cute how the author pretends that conservatives ever really gave a crap about rule of law. They’ve always been hypocrites fine with violating the rights of ‘those people’ especially when it’s cops breaking the law. Conservatism isn’t a suicide pact it’s a BS pretension.
Funny thing is, rule of law seems to be doing better in Canada anyways.
Remember that when I CHOOSE to LOVE you, despite your HATRED for my core Christian beliefs … it is not weakness on my part. I am actually (as Christ taught) “heaping hot coals on your head”. So be careful when knee jerking a conclusion that Christians are all turn-the-cheek wimps … you would be surprised to learn that we can be just as nasty as you … even more so … in a mean girls kind of way. Am I proud of that ? Nahhhh … just forgiven.
I always get a chuckle out of the ‘turn the other cheek’ crowd and how they misinterpret Jesus’ words. He was emphasizing attaining a goal and being so focused on attaining that goal that nothing will get in your way. To paraphrase Jesus, “Slap one cheek or two it doesn’t matter I am going to do this”. “Take all my clothes and I don’t care because I am going to do this”. His exhortation was to accomplishing the task not being a wimp.
poor kenji, ain’t figured out yet that is not “his core kristian” beliefs, it’s the lib-lite stupidity that I detest. I like to say, smart people have nothing butt questions, dimwits have nothing butt answers, and seeing that th emotional part of the brain shuts down the logical part of the brain, and religious belief is processed in the emotional part of the brain…………………….
yes joke, so true, and your interpretation is version 18990, and counting. Why do fools always “interpret” any and all things to suit their own beliefs.
So to give you a heads up, you don’t know what the jeezus actually meant, you only know what you wanted him to mean.
And UNthing, you are still as stupid as a stump
I do think you might be right about Conservatives beating themselves, we’ve seen it happen in Ontario in fairly recent memory.
As for sending a sternly worded letter to the CBC, good luck with that, they are infected with a malignant case of selectivity.
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“unme bleats…a-holes like Arpaio and the author of
this idiotic article”
the always predictable unme shows up to call people
silly poopyfaces.
but that’s what you do when you can’t actually argue
the facts. typical response from the bruce jenner
fan club.
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Schlichter has written a charge the barricades piece here. Note perfect.
Reading it, I found myself thinking of Gord Tulk’s recent condemnation of Trump’s pardon of Sheriff Joe which I had considered a slam dunk, no debate decision. Gord Tulk’s principled (silly) view is wholly and accurately encapsulated here.
For many decades I have self-identified as a libertarian but in more recent decades a pragmatic one. For libertarians most regulation is anathema. However, witnessing the behaviour of the goolag I’d like fo see them heavily regulated because of their clear and egregious anticompetitive behaviour in the marketplace of ideas. They have literally declared war on heterodox views. However, I continue to stand by my view that monopoly is not necessarily harmful to society.
I strongly agree with NME666’s comment about the other cheek turning. I have this kind of debate with my very devout Catholic wife. Only the other day I read about a Catholic church in California which removed outdoors statues of Jesus and Mary to avoid offending muslims.
If you support Arpaio or Trump is any way then you are not a libertarian. You’re an enemy of freedom.
“However, witnessing the behaviour of the goolag I’d like fo see them heavily regulated because of their clear and egregious anticompetitive behaviour in the marketplace of ideas. They have literally declared war on heterodox views.”
…what?
“At least some Americans have the courage to fight for what they believe in,while we just believe in diversity.”
I disagree…we have been told, by the juvenile in charge, that we (Canadians) believe in diversity. I don’t and many other Canadians who’s voices are being suppressed don’t as well.
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in unme and pm selfie’s “post national state“…
there’s no such thing as a canadian any
more.
strange though, how there’s suddenly a nazi
or a united empire loyalist behind every evil
statue.
sunny ways, comrades.
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One of the things that confounds me on this site is the inability to seperate philosophy from politics.
Politics is how we govern society. Philosophy is how we as individuals conduct our affairs. I have no expectations that a conservative party will govern according to my personal beliefs. My beliefs are out of step with 90% of the population. So are most of yours.
In the U.S. of A., enough Americans rejected cultural Marxism rained down on them from the MSM and the political elite to elect Donald J. Trump president.
The MSM is dying, losing audience and power, the political elite see their power fading.
Having lost the political argument, all they have left(pun intended) is intimidation, censorship and the use of more force than they can muster.
In Canada, P.M.Justin Trudeau has learned a large majority of Canadians object to his 10.5 million dollar gift to a self-confessed and convicted jihadi terrorist.
Secondly, he learns that a majority of Canadians object to his wide open borders immigration policy, seeing it as both a financial and a security threat. It over rides the long standing Canadian policy. One of selective immigration to only those who would benefit Canada.
Trudeau breaking that is, in effect, a WROL, a without the rule of law policy.
Social intimidation, censorship of social media, threat of sending the police to arrest for “hate speech” is Trudeau’s response.
Now hate speech is defined as publicly rejecting Justin Trudeau government policy. His pet policy to create a post-nation state without a core Canadian identity.
For those, like Justin Trudeau, who are unable to produce a rational argument based on facts and logic to persuade. All they have left(pun intended) is intimidation and threat of force against the citizens. (Again more force than they can muster.)
The answer now, as it has always been, enough people refusing to be intimidated, demanding the foundations, Rights and Freedoms, the core identity of Canada be respected.
No ifs, no ands, no but(t)s. (Gerald or otherwise)
Selectively applying the law in response to the selective application of the law is stupid.
In this specific case the law had not yet even run its course.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450953/trumps-law-and-order-gets-concept-all-wrong
if as you infer, that the law was selectively applied, then Trump had a duty to do what he did. And that was to counter the selectivity of the lefty activist judge. And I have said for 25-30 years now, the courts are a big part of the problem. Tho they should be independent of political interference, they should still function as a servant of the people they serve, if a judge can not grasp that concept, then they should not be a judge. And that concept seams to be beyond your intellectual grasp.
And here’s our resident Fredocon Gord coming to the defense of….. something. You still just don’t get it.
Since I’m unable to click on a UP arrow, I must say your statement echoes my feelings exactly.
I couldn’t help but think of GORD TULK when I read this piece. Whenever I read something from Gord on how Conservatives are suppose to be I wanna run out and donate to the libs and dippers. You don’t speak for me Gordie boy! please let us know who you are supporting so I can donate against them.
Thanks
To my way of thinking, if something is important, as conservative principles are, as Canadian nationalism is, it is worth fighting for. Fighting means fighting, no quarter given. Winston Churchill fought that way, and I will follow his example; or that of his friend, F. E. Smith. The example of Arthur Harris is really of my kidney.
Useless. The time for talking it out is decades in the past. Only precious metals are going to get you through what is inevitable and coming; lead, and brass.
Voting, petitions, protests, trying to use their own ninth circuit against them… let me know how it works out.
You aren’t a conservative you are a populist reactionary. The constitution first foremost and always. That is the core of conservatism in the US. Being against the rule of law – the number one priority of a POTUS is not conservative.
It’s called the constitution. Ignore that and you are in bed with the progressives – they win.
I’d rather be a populist reactionary than a political loser like yourself. Keep losing with dignity Gordo, you’re a champion in that regard.
Now you’re both.
Yes th GOP is losing one statehouse and senate and congressional victory at a time.