Dreher Responds
Rod Dreher responded the other day to my post on connecting dissidents to the base. He is, for the most part, about where I was two weeks ago, so I’m sympathetic to his position. I don’t have time to fully respond now, but I think a big part of my disagreement with Rod boils down to this point of his:
“If the dissidents didn’t criticize what they see as harmful, self-destructive aspects of contemporary conservatism, outsiders would consider them patsys afraid to tell the truth to their own side.”
I’m not at all certain this is true. For the most part, the only people who engage in this kind of guilt-by-association are the most extreme elements of the left and right, who aren’t going to be convinced in any event. Most people do not, for instance, insist that Paul Krugman distance himself from Code Pink or ANSWER, and those that do aren’t about to take Paul Krugman seriously even if he does. More importantly, the goal of these reform conservatives has to be to, well, reform conservatism, so what outsiders think of their efforts should not play much of a role in their thought.
It may well be that the base is still totally unwilling to hear someone explain how, for instance, fiscal conservatism and massive defense spending are very much mutually exclusive goals. But a reform-minded conservative is more likely to convince the conservative base of that than they are to convince liberals and Democrats to undermine their own coalition for the sake of fiscal conservatism.
Exactly – and you’re far more likely to have your reforms not fall on deaf ears if you don’t alienate yourself. Why not show up on Fox and just talk sense rather than bash other conservatives? What difference does it really make other than that maybe other conservatives will start to listen…?Report
Why not show up on Fox and just talk sense
Having done so, would you expect to be invited back?Report
not to unfairly caricature faux news, but i don’t think you get invited on all that much if you express certain opinions. How many conservatives will get invited on if they say we have to cut defense spending. I don’t think that many. Hell they still employ bill “consistently wrong” kristol.Report
Yeah but you might get invited on to MSNBC a la Pat Buchanan. And Ron Paul has popped up here and there on the networks and cable shows.Report
pat b is an odd duck. he says pretty directly racist things but mostly gets a free pass along with his steady gig on the “liberal” msnbc. do you think ron p would have been on faux if he hadn’t gathered a bunch of votes?Report
I’m with Rod on this one. People are needed to tell the truth about mainstream conservatism as it exists. I value dissident conservatives precisely because they’re willing to speak against things like torture and American empire. The more people who are willing to do so, the better chance there is of change and the more difficult it is for others to manufacture a nonexistent unquestionable consensus around such issues.Report