Thomas Sowell is perhaps one of the greatest conservative minds alive today, and has beyond earned his place in the conservative canon alongside Russell Kirk and William Buckley. So this piece is going to hurt a certain few who, despite their pretensions to leadership, are more about ruling the ashes than they are about leading the movement:
Only Republican control of the Senate can rein in the lawless Obama administration, which can otherwise load up the federal courts with lawless judges, who will be dismantling the rule of law and destroying the rights of the people for decades after Mr. Obama himself is long gone from the White House.
Once that happens, even a future Republican majority, led by people with the kind of ideological purity that the Republican dissidents want, cannot undo the damage.
Sowell is right — and within the conservative movement here in Virginia we’ve seen far too many people identify their own personas by knifing good conservatives.
That has to stop if we’re going to turn back the tide, as Sowell argues:
Only Republican control of both houses of Congress can repeal, or even seriously revise, Obamacare. Only Republican control of both houses of Congress plus the White House can begin to reverse the many lawless, reckless and dangerous policies of the Obama administration, at home and overseas.
. . .
Those Republicans who seem ready to jeopardize their own party’s chances of winning these two crucial elections by following a rule-or-ruin fight against fellow Republicans may claim to be following their ideals. However, headstrong self-righteousness is not idealism, and it is seldom a way to advance any cause. (emphasis added)
Let’s be honest, “rule or ruin” is a dangerous recipe for success. We first saw this tactic in Virginia with Jerry Kilgore in 2005 where conservatives said “gone fishing” to a campaign that was less than orthodox and obsessed (rightly or wrongly) over the death penalty. The result? Governor-now-Senator Tim Kaine… and perhaps even President Barack Obama, as Kaine was not just one of the first, but the first to endorse Obama as he charged headlong against a then-invincible Hillary for President juggernaut.
In 2008, we saw conservatives stay home after Bob Marshall was narrowly defeated for the U.S. Senate nomination by former Governor Jim Gilmore. Predictable results.
In 2012, we saw it again when conservatives punished George Allen for U.S. Senate by staying home. Predictable results yet again.
In 2013, the shoe went on the other foot — as Bill Bolling practically got out the fly fishing gear and did precisely that on election day as Cuccinelli’s momentum crashed through the month of October.
In both 2013 and 2014, we saw and today see campaigns being run for no other purpose but to sandbag other candidates. The sore feelings and bad actors persist today in various states of so-called leadership. Rather than pull the oars with the rest of us, they’d much rather see Republicans get crushed. “Better a bad Democrat than a bad Republican” has been the mantra these days, has it not?
I’ll admit — and Sowell concedes — that there are times when Republican leadership deserves the course correction. After all, Virginia Republicans in particular have been prone to gaffe after gaffe, ignoring the advice of friends while beckoning to the call of consultants and other loud voices in the room. Sowell hammers it home:
Certainly, there has been much for which the Republican leadership has deserved to be criticized over the years — and this column has made such criticisms for decades. When the question is whether Mr. McConnell is preferable to Harry Reid as majority leader in the Senate, that is not even a close call.
If the rule-or-ruin faction among Republicans ends up giving the Democrats another Senate majority under Mr. Reid, not only the Republican Party but the entire nation, and generations yet unborn, will end up paying the price.
McConnell may not be my favorite Republican member of the U.S. Senate. In fact, he’s definitely not. But agendas are only advanced through majorities.
Those voices that constantly seek to kick the trash can over when they are denied nominations? Sowell is dead on right about their objectives. They’re not conservatives, and they’re not even good Republicans. They’re narrow, selfish, short-sighted and ultimately the very sorts of bad actors we need to either provide wisdom via counsel, and failing that, simply ignore them.
A conversation with a trusted friend reflecting on the current environment gave me a great deal of hope. Both of us are good conservatives, believe the same things, share the same circle of friends. Our conclusions? We have to burn through and put up with Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell before we can get to the real leaders — Rand Paul and Ted Cruz — that conservatives in Virginia deserve.
The bottom line is that many of us — many — are tired of being told to march to the sound of the guns armed with a handful of ping-pong balls against the tanks and artillery of the left, not to mention at the beck and call of those who will pronounce other Republicans as RINOs at the drop of a hat (mostly for future political advantage). To wit:
No doubt there can be legitimate differences of opinion about tactics and strategy on particular issues. If you don’t have power, though, these are just empty clashes over debating points.
Folks are starting to wise up to the game of a handful who will run candidates, whip up friends into a conservative frenzy, and in a futile effort charge at windmills just to get a payday. Conservatives as a whole have to be much smarter than this. Our beliefs and our principles deserve nothing less than victory — not repetitive failure.
Sowell’s point is lucid beyond vision. If what you believe deserves to become the law of the land, you need to have a majority. Otherwise?
We’re just an opposition party… and opposition ain’t enough.
There’s a reason why Thomas Sowell is one of the finest voices in the conservative movement. If you haven’t read Intellectuals and Society, drop what you’re doing and pick it up right now. Absolutely brilliant stuff, and a fierce defender of all things free and free market.
