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CONSERVATIVE ON THE ISSUES, LIBERAL IN THE VOTING BOOTH

Submitted by Pete on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:18
in

One of the things that is striking to me about our politics is that it is, from a conservative perspective, insufficiently ideologically sorted out. What I mean is that there is a sizeable fraction of voters who, if given an exam on the issues, would mostly answer in favor of the "conservative" positions on taxes, regulation, abortion, ect. But those same voters would vote for a liberal Democrat over a conservative Republican. These same voters might consider political conservatives to be their political enemy. A lot of times these are cases of racial and ethnic politics trumping ideology as we have come to think of it.

But I also think that we should take seriously the reasons why these voters are choosing liberal candidates with whom they have so many disagreements. That doesn't mean we have to agree with all of the reasons, but to try to understand the history that has brought us to this place and try to plan approaches that will work better. This is destined to be very complicated. William Voegeli's  terrific and brutally honest essay in the Summer 2008 issue of the CLAREMONT REVIEW OF BOOKS really only illuminated a small corner of the tortured relationship between conservatives and the African America community. Similar work could be done about the relationship between the political expressions of conservatism and Latinos. That does not mean that we should always be looking for blame on the conservative side. Sometimes liberals do as well as they do because of the use of slander to create a false sense of ethnic/racial siege. But sometimes conservatives have taken approaches that have ended up being counterproductive in winning the votes of nonwhites. In some cases conservatives have needed to fight harder (possibly with a harsher and more aggressive communication strategy) for the votes of people in those communities. I don't really have a final answer, but I do think that conservatives need to think alot harder about how to bring over nonwhite Americans who share our issue preferences but think of conservatives as the villains of politics.  

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It probably would not matter

Submitted by In between on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:36.

It probably would not matter what race a person is. It is what the political party is doing. Conservatism has its value, but we have seen the truth in recent years. And that truth is lies, arrogance, ignorance, blunders, deficits and debt, the attempt of putting religion in government, , the abuse of the constitution, neoconism, trickle down that did not trickle down, free trade as factories close, the middle class losing jobs, pay, healthcare insurance, and pensions as we lose the jobs to third world countries. Cities and states are going broke as the factories close up.

Now I ask you, what is your answer to all this. 

I would ask why Republicans,

Submitted by Pete on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 17:43.

I would ask why Republicans, despite your parade of horribles, did well among whites, lost Latinos by over 2 to 1 and have, even before the Bush 43 presidency, lost the African American vote by over 4 to 1?  I would suggest that conservative are probably underperforming their ideological support among those groups and that figuring out why and what to do about it should be near the top  of the list of things to do for long term conservative coalition building.

Good points, Pete

Submitted by acinphx on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 17:45.

Why do you think Republicans under-perform with minority voters?  Theories?

Could it possibly be

Submitted by NextRightNando on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:02.

Could it possibly be having major candidates like George Allen and Sarah Palin who use phrases like "the real America"??

That's a possibility

Submitted by acinphx on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:28.

... although my perception of Gov. Palin's use of the phrase was more an urban vs. rural distinction, i.e., it was more an equal-opportunity slur in that it was offensive even to urban whites.  Is it actually code for 'white' America? 

I've always thought it would be illuminating to hear from Republicans who understand the repeated use of "the real America" comment to explain what is meant by the term.  What distinguishes real America from fake America? 

Dopping the "g's" from gerunds?

Submitted by NextRightNando on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:44.

n/t

Huh?

Submitted by acinphx on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:49.

It's late and I'm spaced out from allergy meds ... I don't understand?

huntin', shootin', truckin'

Submitted by NextRightNando on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:54.

n/t

OK, that helps.  Sounds like

Submitted by acinphx on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 19:20.

OK, that helps.  Sounds like we're thinking in the same direction -- those are rural pursuits and more often associated with white culture there.  But there's a fair amount of huntin', shootin' and truckin' among Latinos in the rural Southwest as well -- I wonder if they hear "the real America" phrase and think the speaker is including them? 

 

 

 

 

real America is where you rape everyone in sight

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/18/2009 - 09:45.

but mostly the Indians.

urban America is where most rape occurs in prisons.

Sorry, this is unwarranted, but more accurate in Alaska than you've been led to believe.

To be honest, not a lot of

Submitted by Pete on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 18:51.

To be honest, not a lot of really good ideas.  I will start with African Americans.  Here is what I wrote last year on another website (its called No Left Turns).

"The conservative case that Goldwaterites opposed the great civil rights acts for benign reasons butts up against two big obstacles in convincing the black community.

1. Why should black people care about the professed principles of people who would have preserved a system that made a mockery of every maxim that was spoken of in Fourth of July celebrations ("no taxation without representation", "one man one vote", "give me liberty or give me death") as it applied to southern blacks.

2. Many people who voted for southern white segragationists for the worst reasons suddenly started voting Republican in presidential reasons around the time the GOP nominated a Senator who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You can argue that it was because the Jim Crow system was no loger tenable and that the interparty competition for southern whites switched to issues like national defense, crime, taxes, abortion, whatever. There is alot of truth to that argument, but black people can clearly see white southerners moving from the Democratic party to the faction of the Republican Party that was most oppossed to the key civil rights law.

So if it seems like many black people assume that conservative Republicans are their natural enemies, they have their reasons. " 

 

This is not the only reason of course but it gives you some idea of the scale of the problem that conservatives face in winning over that fraction of the African American community that already agrees with them on many issues.

 

Agreed

Submitted by acinphx on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 19:58.

That's all relevant history and I appreciate your recognition that there are valid reasons many African-Americans are wary of the GOP/conservativism.  And now more than 40 years have passed since the Civil Rights Act was enacted, so two more generations have come of age in communities that tend to distrust the GOP.  The effect tends to grow and cement itself over time.

It seems to me that that kind of history can't be overcome overnight, or perhaps even in a generation.  I don't have a lot of ideas myself but it seems that long-term efforts to engage those voters in their communities, with effective policies and governance, and local candidates who respect their contributions should help, starting at a very local level and working up from there.  Attempt to recruit within and work with the local business or religious community, perhaps?

And, of course, lose the 'real America' code and 'Barack the Magic Negro' nuttiness.  Most voters -- white, black, brown, green or purple -- don't know and don't care that Rush's little ditty was based on an LA Times column.  All they're likely to know is that the man now being heralded as the voice of the GOP was fond of playing it, and they think they know all they need to know about what the GOP thinks of them based on that.  They hear a lack of respect for Obama and translate it to a lack of respect for them generally. 

So what about the Latinos?  Asians?

listen to people and find solutions to the problems in their

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/18/2009 - 09:49.

communities.

Like local currencies, or school choice on school lunches (aka "milk makes Johnny sick.")

oh, and quit demonizing them! when it's suddenly okay to have out of wedlock babies for palin's daughter, but it's immoral for a poor latino woman to do the same -- and it's also immoral to pay for her to get an abortion with tax dollars.... you wonder why people are upset?

No One Wants to be Ruled by Tight Asses

Submitted by molotov on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 19:38.

Conservativism is better as a personal ideology than a group ideology.  People need the leeway to modulate their own behavior to suit their needs and not have things imposed on them.

So much of social conservatism just comes across as so much nagging.

Bush carried Muslim Americans in 2000, probably because of

Submitted by Crow on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 20:34.

their social conservatism.  Inspite of the social & economic  conservatism of many groups of recent immigrants, they have been breaking Democratic in more recent elections.  They apparently feel more welcome there than in the Republican Party.  Given their conservatism, that is a HUGE problem.

You're probably right

Submitted by Inigo on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 21:38.

Of course, Ideology only carries one so far when they see a predominant portion of a major political party calling for the heads of every "Islamo-facist raghead".  There was plenty of incendiary language and behavior to go around after 9/11, but no one can deny that most of it was coming from the right.  It's no wonder they abandoned the GOP in droves.

The GOP won't survive, I feel, and it's largely due to them consistently cutting off their nose to spite their face.  There are millions and millions of small business owners, social conservatives, and small government-types that the GOP needs to survive, let alone win any more national elections, and I've been watching in amazement over the last 15 years or so as right-wingers and neocons try to get away with the most thinly-veiled racism and ethnocentrism, and when called on it they scream bloody murder that their free speech is being supressed and everyone is too PC and overly sensitive.  It never occurs to them that maybe THEY are the dicks.

Saying you want to turn the middle east into a glass parking lot is no way to win hearts and minds, and neither is "Barack the Magic Negro", "Jose Can You See", Macacca, putting forward candidates who belong to whites-only country clubs (they still make those?!), the constant railing against "immigents", etc.

I think any discussion of this topic should probably include some analysis on why, though it could be argued Democrats practice race-based politics in both campaigning and governance, it is Republicans that tend to attract the loonies, and thus most of the negative attention regarding race-relations in America.  Where are the great Conservative civil rights leaders?  The GOP is the party of Lincoln, but like the poster above pointed out, that really hasn't been the case since the 60s. 

if you would embrace Malcolm X....

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 03/18/2009 - 09:56.

that might be a start to finding solutions.

The Right has taken over the Scotch-Irish vote, and they are very xenophobic. The Social conservatives, however, are the ones who are destroying the Republican Party. Nobody likes them.