Enemies Of Reasoned Discussion
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Yet the fact that Matt [Continetti] isn’t unremittingly hostile to Palin is reason enough for many readers to reflexively dismiss his arguments.
I find this pretty depressing, albeit pretty predictable. What’s worse is that this contributes to a tit-for-tat culture that is the enemy of thoughtful, reasoned discussion.
One thing that moves me to dismiss his arguments for Palin is his insistence that she in some way represents a tradition of Democratic populism exemplified by Jackson and Bryan when she has no claim to such a tradition, especially when she seems to have no sympathy for such a tradition once she is in the national spotlight. Another is the idea that she can appeal to independent voters to revitalize her political career when, as Brendan Nyhan noted, the vast majority of independents believes she is unfit for presidential responsibilities and just 28% believe her to be qualified.
Everything she has done since arriving on the national stage has involved steadily distancing herself from her short record as governor. Reihan has already given up on her as a viable political leader, and I’m not surprised. Reihan is a smart writer interested in policy ideas and their application in reforming government, and there would not be much call for that in Palin’s GOP. Continetti has embarked on a project of rehabilitating the national political fortunes of someone who dropped out of elective office in her own state mostly because she could not put up with the tactics of her opposition and the scrutiny of the media. Why should we take such a project seriously? If arguments in support of Palin’s political future don’t deserve to be dismissed pretty quickly, no argument ever should be.
I would have thought that anyone interested in promoting reasoned, thoughtful discussion would shudder at the thought of a Republican Party led and defined by Sarah Palin, whose national political career has been one episode of inflammatory, uninformed agitation after another. That is the kind of party and the kind of conservatism Continetti is working to create. Fortunately, his preferred candidate is so politically radioactive to most of the country that it will never take hold.
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6 Responses to “Enemies Of Reasoned Discussion”
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The current direction of the Republican party is, quite frankly, horrifying. Policy is being directed by people who are essentially entertainers. I don’t believe that Palin has any intention of ever running for public office again. She will join the ranks of Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity – individuals who use their position as “conservatives” for their own profit without ever having to subject their ideas to the harsh verdict of voters and the difficulty of translating ideas into legislation.
“….she in some way represents a tradition of Democratic populism exemplified by Jackson and Bryan when she has no claim to such a tradition…”
Sarah Palin is unique AFAIK in that she is a populist (secular) icon of lower-case r republican sovereignty. In very important ways her interests represent the nation’s interests at the most fundamental level of its existence. I agree with you (and Reihan) in that I don’t think her future is being a candidate for office. But I have a feeling she will be major player in our cultural affairs in some way.
Continetti’s article is extraordinarily unpersuasive. He blames “horrendous media coverage and her role as the McCain campaign’s pitbull” for her unpopularity. But Palin launched unreasoned attacks not only on opposing candidates, but on about 60% of Americans, with her references to “pro-America areas of this great nation.” She insisted that Alaska is a microcosm of America, which is false. America isn’t white and rural. Those two constituencies are shrinking, and she appeals solely to them, by design and temperament.
It is a shame that a writer as sharp as Reihan feels the need to praise this bit of unpersuasive propaganda. If being a movement conservative is going to mean making nice noises about Sarah Palin, that party’s time in the wilderness is just getting started.
I think the Palin experiment is based on a basic misindentification by GOP insiders. I think when Kristol and company got off the boat in Alaska and met the bombshell they believed they had an icon that would be as rugged and lovable from as rugged lovable a state as Arizona golden boy Goldwater was in his prime. They wanted to play to Palin as Buckley played to Goldwater as “the one true conservative on the American scene”
But the times are different and Palin is no Goldwater. I am currently reading Perlstein’s Before the Storm and the one thing that strikes me is how unserious almost clownish todays conservative elected officials and spokespeople sound when compared to the deadly serious generation of conservative leadership that arrived in the 60s. When Newt or Palin or Bohner denounce Democratic death pannels it just doesn’t bite the way say Goldwater’s speaches on the enemies of the Constitution and Freedom. It seems to me that todays conservatives when it comes to rhetoric, the quality is all gone.
I see Palin as the heir to the white populism of George Wallace circa 1968, railing against the “pointy headed intellectuals” and Northeastern Elites, but really representing working class rural white ethnic resentment.
Larison’s comments about good governance puts the point on on what is ailing the conservative movement- having fought so long against the encroachment of government, they have argued themselves into a position of demanding no government anywhere.
The Palin right has no desire to make public schools run efficiently- they prefer to see them disappear. Their only plan for the public sphere is to eliminate it. Understandably, this is not the view of the mainstream of America.
How a tiny “limited” government, small enough to drown in a bathtub (although with a 1 Trillion dollar per year military), would actually function to lead a massive globalized economy is left unexamined.
“Anyone interested in promoting reasoned, thoughtful discussion . . .”
Diogenes is still looking for that guy. There’s thee and me, and I’m not so certain about thee . . .