THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 34, February 25, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ALAN SIMPSON CONTINUES WHERE ARLEN SPECTER LEFT OFF
By Christopher G. Adamo
LIBERALISM, CONSERVATISM, & THE THIRD-PARTY MOVEMENT THAT CONTINUES TO EFFERVESCE AMONG GRASSROOTS
AMERICANS: HOW A THIRD PARTY WOULD UNDERMINE THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT & ENSURE THE POLITICAL
DOMINANCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY & ITS LEFTWING LIBERAL, STATIST PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA -- HOW ALAN
SIMPSON & OTHER SOCALLED "REPUBLICAN MODERATES" ARE WORKING TO PREVENT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FROM
FUNCTIONING AS THE PARTY OF TRUE CONSERVATISM -- ALAN SIMPSON'S ELITIST MINDSET & THE LEFTWING STATIST
LIBERALISM THAT HE PROMOTES -- THE REPUBLICAN PARTY & THE TEA-PARTY MOVEMENT -- NEEDED: GOP
RECOMMITMENT TO THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, TRUE CONSERVATISM, & THE MORALITY THAT UNDERGIRDS BOTH
FULL STORY:
Former U.S. Education Secretary, William Bennett, is chiding those who are advancing the notion of forming a “third party.”
And he is absolutely right for doing so. Such a rift within the Conservative movement at this critical moment would do more
to propel the Democratic Party Liberal agenda to uncontested political dominance than any ploy envisioned by the American
political Left. Yet, it appears that, despite such a risk, the third-party movement is continuing to effervesce among the
grassroots.
At last week’s CPAC convention, some prominent speakers, including Glenn Beck, adamantly insisted that both major parties
had become indistinguishable, and that a third party would be the only means of extricating national politics from the mire of
Beltway thinking. To counter Beck’s claim, Bennett held up Senators Jim DeMint (R.-SC) and Tom Coburn (R.-OK), along with
Congressmen Mike Pence (R.-IN) and Paul Ryan (R.-WI) as bastions of true Conservatism.
Unfortunately, certain other “Republicans” are working overtime to undermine Bennett’s argument. Chief among them is
former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson. In a predictable move last week, Barack Obama impaneled a “Debt Commission”
ostensibly to identify the means of reining in the spending outrages of the federal government. Of course Obama knew that
the presence of a “Republican” would lend the needed pretense of “bipartisanship” to his ruse. And Simpson was only too
willing to cooperate.
Long held as an icon of the GOP, Simpson is no Conservative, and, in truth, has never been one. More significantly, he has
devoted a large part of his political career to denigrating true Conservatism, and attempting to expunge it from the Republican
Party. Simpson was keynote speaker at the 1994 Wyoming State Republican Convention, using the occasion to castigate real
Conservatives as “a blight on the Republican Party.”
It is profoundly illustrative of his true sentiments and character that, in the middle of the Clinton-and-Clinton first term, and
barely six months before the thunderous 1994 mid-term elections in which Republicans gained control of both houses of
Congress for the first time in nearly a half-century, Simpson’s primary goal was to vilify and undermine any real Conservative
groundswell.
Throughout his public life, Alan Simpson has stridently endorsed such ideas as “gay rights” and same-sex “marriage,” while
insisting that the presence of Christian Conservatives in the GOP constituted an effort to “rule or ruin” the Party.
Demonstrating a willingness to completely disengage himself from the people of the Cowboy State, Alan Simpson has, at
times, even supported gun control measures promoted by the “moderate Republican” administration of George H.W. Bush.
Ultimately, Alan Simpson subscribes to the mindset that he and the other elitists in Washington know what is best for the
nation, and that the peasantry in the hinterlands should simply recognize this fact and be grateful for the ruling elite's public
“service.” In this, his similarities far outweigh any differences he might have with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, or Barack Obama.
And, unfortunately, he was not alone.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who only recently admitted that his real allegiance lies with the Democrats (a fact that
real America never doubted) was able to rise to prominence within Republican ranks, while regularly engaging in complete
betrayals of his fellow Republicans. More telling still was the pernicious effect that Specter had on America’s perception of
the Republican Party, insofar as he often completely blurred any lines between Republicans and Democrats, an effect that
only helped the efforts of those on the Left seeking cover for their abhorrent political agenda.
It is infuriating and demoralizing to consider that the Republican Party is yet so willing to embrace and exalt the likes of
Specter (who eventually made his inclinations official and became a Democrat), and Simpson (who remains inside the “Big
Tent” to this day, believing that he can do far more to stifle Conservatism from that vantage point). In so doing, it reveals an
element in the GOP which real Conservatives cannot be expected to trust. Nor can they have solid confidence in the rest of
the Party, since its true character will ultimately be defined by the lowest standards it is willing to accept.
For far too long, Specter, Simpson, and their kind were not merely accepted within Republican ranks, but were able to guide
its course. As a result, America recognized the pitfalls of empowering a “ruling class” that held no regard for the ideals on
which the nation was founded, and thus would never truly seek to advance such principles in today’s poisoned political
climate.
Barack Obama may indeed be shrewd enough to recognize the value of a kindred spirit who calls himself “Republican.” And
he may believe he will benefit from the collaboration of Alan Simpson in his effort to advance Liberalism. But what neither
individual seems to grasp is that, since Obama’s inauguration last year, the social and political landscape in this country has
fundamentally changed.
The abysmal elections of 2006 were neither a statement on the Iraq War, nor an expression of mass infatuation for Nancy
Pelosi or Harry Reid. And, despite Obama’s ongoing delusions, his 2008 electoral victory was absolutely not an embrace of
either his Far-Left ideology or his personal “charisma.” Rather, both events reflected public disillusionment with a
Republican Party that, on too many fronts, had ceased to be Republican.
The resurrection of real Conservatism in the past year, widely known as the “Tea-Party” movement, is itself a manifestation
of those same sentiments. The Republican Party can only hope to ride this wave, and thereby preclude the disastrous
consequences to itself and the nation of an ill-conceived “third party,” if it rejects the political cronyism of Simpson and his
kind, and vigorously recommits itself to the U.S. Constitution, real Conservatism, and the morality that undergirded both.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, Special Interest Groups, & Political Corruption
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo has been active in Wyoming politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy
(www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets American made products, including the incomparable
Abigail Adams Bedspread Set from Bates Mills. Contact information for Chris Adamo, and his archives, can be found at
www.chrisadamo.com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity