THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 139, June 11, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
HOW NEWT GINGRICH SABOTAGED THE "GINGRICH REVOLUTION"
By Christopher G. Adamo
GOP "MODERATES" & THE TOTAL ABANDONMENT OF PRINCIPLE: REPUBLICAN PARTY INSIDERS REVEALING A
TOTAL MORAL & PHILOSOPHICAL BANKRUPTCY, & AN APPALLING LEVEL OF COWDICE -- ABSENCE OF ANY LEADING
REPUBLICAN DISPLAYING SUFFICIENT VISION & COURAGE TO RISE UP AS THE NATIONAL LEADER WHO WILL STRIDENTLY
CONFRONT & EFFECTIVELY OPPOSE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LIBERAL LEFTIST POLITICAL MACHINE THAT IS CURRENTLY
DISMANTLING THE AMERICAN NATION & ITS CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC, FREE MARKET CAPITALIST SYSTEM --
NEWT GINGRICH'S DESERTION OF HIS PREVIOUSLY HELD CONSERVATIVE POSITIONS & HIS JOINING THE RANKS OF THE
SOCALLED "MODERATES" -- DICK CHENEY VERSUS COLIN POWELL ON THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY -- THE
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF RONALD WILSON REAGAN VERSUS THAT OF THE GOP MODERATES
FULL STORY:
It is time to proclaim that the “Era of Reagan” is indeed dead, or at least
the current “Country Club” version of the great former President, in which
he has been completely reinvented. In their world, Ronald Wilson Reagan is a
metaphor for the total abandonment of principle, under a perverted
counterfeit of the “Big Tent.” Nor will those socalled “Moderates” let us forget
Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not criticize another
Republican,” to which they should add, “Unless the criticism is directed at
a Conservative.”
At this seminal moment in the life of the Republican Party and the American nation, GOP
insiders are revealing a total moral and philosophical bankruptcy, and an
appalling level of cowardice. Heartland America is desperately looking for
someone possessing sufficient wisdom and courage to rise up as the leader
who will stridently confront the Liberal political machine that is
systematically dismantling our beloved nation. Unfortunately, no leading
Republican has displayed the necessary spine to take on this battle.
As a result, though the Republican Party could be contrasting its former
Conservatism and free market capitalism against the emerging fiasco of the Leftwing Liberalism
and thoroughgoing statism of the Democratic Party, and
thus redirecting the course of events in Washington D.C., its highest profile
members are, instead, tagging along for the ride, attempting to catch some
diffuse reflection off of Barack Hussein Obama’s supposed limelight. The Obama
administration is making a mess out of the country, just as it promised. But,
in response, all the Republicans can offer is a watered down version of the
Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.
Worse yet, any on the political Right who dare to step out from under the umbrella of this
nearly homogenous political class can expect to be as fiercely castigated by
the Republican Party insiders as by the Democrats. America is all about unity
and “ending the partisan rancor,” even though every time Republicans devolve
to that miserable level, they are thoroughly rebuked at the polls.
Nevertheless, at a June 8, 2009, Republican Congressional Campaign fundraiser,
keynote speaker Newt Gingrich showed once again how to snatch defeat from
the jaws of victory. Though he made a token effort to differentiate himself
from Barack Obama, in the end, he offered more of the same muddled thinking
that neutralized his political momentum fourteen years ago.
Rather than presenting a comprehensive contrast between himself and the
treasonous, anti-capitalist governing concept of the political Left, Gingrich reverted
to the seemingly safe notion that a bland and undefined political
“opposition,” encompassing so wide a variety of perspectives as to include
even those who support Obama, would somehow rally Americans. In one breath,
he lauded both former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell as worthy “Republicans.”
Cheney and Powell have been publicly at odds with each other in recent weeks,
disputing the very nature of the GOP. And the specifics of their quarrel are
central to the character of the Party, to the point that the outcome of this
debate may very well determine whether or not the Republican Party has any
hope for a future. That this debate is even occurring, in the face of such
unfettered Liberal Democratic extremism, is itself a travesty. A principled
Conservative opposition party could be ruling the day. Sadly, as a whole,
the current GOP is neither principled nor Conservative. Sadder still is that
someone of the stature of Newt Gingrich would attempt to establish a
political and philosophical equivalency between two worldviews as wholly
irreconcilable as those of Cheney and Powell.
Cheney, in recent statements, concisely and unmistakably contrasted himself
and the Conservative movement against the Liberalism and flagrant fraud of
the Obama agenda, warning in no uncertain terms that such a course will be
dangerous for the nation. In the process, he upheld fellow Conservative
stalwart Rush Limbaugh as a definite asset to the Republican Party, and to Conservatism
itself.
Powell, on the other hand, has made no specific policy statements, while
insisting that Republicans must expunge the influence of Cheney, Limbaugh,
and their kindred for the good of the Party. His most notable “contribution”
to the GOP was to endorse the other party’s presidential candidate just
prior to last November’s elections. Since that time, Powell has advanced the
notion that a policy of bigger and more intrusive government, in essence the
Obama agenda, is somehow the only viable future for the Republican Party.
And on this basis Gingrich wants to welcome him as a defining force in the
party?
Republican “Moderates” are adamant that their self-defeating “strategy” was
born of devotion to Ronald Reagan, and their theory of his “Big Tent.” This
falsehood can be dispelled with a single glimpse past their empty “Centrist”
rhetoric, to recall what the Gipper actually believed, and how he translated
those beliefs into an unparalleled electoral and political victory.
For starters, Reagan was no posturing follower. His “Big Tent” did not
result from any pathetic attempts to pander his way into the hearts of the
American people. Rather, he unabashedly offered starkly defined Conservatism
as the best course for the nation, and, in so doing, convinced many in the
“middle” to dispense with their own petty differences, and join him as he
sought to better the country. Thus, his “Big Tent” was the product of
leadership based in undiluted Conservative principle.
Most notably, Reagan had no place in his plan for the double-minded
treachery exhibited by Colin Powell, and was unafraid to alienate such
people. The 1980 third-party candidacy of “Republican” Senator John Anderson
resulted from just such a disenfranchisement of Liberal Republicans. But,
while Anderson expected to undermine Reagan in that year’s election, in the
end, he took votes from incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter, thereby amplifying
Reagan’s landslide victory.
The Reagan model worked then, and can work just as effectively today. Sadly,
after successfully launching the “Gingrich Revolution” on similar premises
in 1994, the one-time House Speaker has since embarked on a futile path of
attempting to ingratiate himself to the opposing Democratic Party politicians by watering down
the Conservatism that once had propelled him to the political forefront.
Since leaving public office, his most notable “achievement” was a joint
television appearance with Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attempting
to raise awareness of “global warming".
Real Republicans can and should make major gains in 2010. But they will only
succeed if they blatantly contrast themselves against the miserable failure
that is the Obama/Democratic Party agenda. Unfortunately, they do not yet appear to
be up to that task.
The battle for America must first be won within the GOP. Otherwise, it does
not matter how thoroughly Obama wrecks the country; “Me Too” Republicanism
will never be embraced as an alternative.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
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 is a freelance writer and staff writer for the New
Media Alliance. He lives in southeastern Wyoming. He has been active in
local and state politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best
American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets
products exclusively made in America. His contact information and archives
can be found at www.chrisadamo.com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity