Most Conservatives Are Not ‘Movement Conservatives’
Former President George W. Bush is no conservative. He is a Movement Conservative.
We fought the term movement conservative the first time we heard it, believing it to be yet another polemical liberal rant.
Online, we find two opposing definitions of movement conservativism. We disagree with this one, from the so-called Conservapedia:
A movement conservative is one who supports all or nearly all conservative principles with a coherent philosophy, and who advances broad conservative goals both individually and through teamwork. This is contrasted with cafeteria, or single-issue, or self-serving approaches.
Put another way, a movement conservative is a conservative who seeks to help others, and the nation, by explaining, advocating and defending the logical and beneficial conservative approach. A movement conservative is not primarily seeking political gain for himself, but advocates the insights and values of conservatism for the benefit of others.
Prominent movement conservatives, according to Conservapedia, include former President Ronald Reagan, the late Senator Jesse Helms, the late Congressman John Ashbrook, Phyllis Schlafly, Justice Clarence Thomas, John Bolton, and Rush Limbaugh.
We’ve already discussed and dismissed Limbaugh, although we’re pleased to do so again.
Nowhere in the above definition do the words “critical thinking” or “critical thinker” appear. The people listed in the Conservapedia entry were or are very divisive. Senator Jesse Helms was no thinker. And, yes, we supported Ronald Reagan, but he exploded the deficit. We gave in to greed, and we regret it.
Here is another definition of movement conservatism from Soulfource:
Movement Conservatism is a self-serving and socially malevolent cabal of mega-corporations, right-wing think tanks in Washington, their archconservative foundation benefactors, and an intricate nationwide network of linkages in the communications media, religion, higher education, and law. It has been called the “conservative labyrinth,” and common to all its elements is a theology of “free markets,” an ideology coming to full bloom in the Administration of George W. Bush. Today, the G.O.P. seeks to impose it at every turn.
Yes, we know both of these sources are terribly biased.
But that’s our point.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Washington, D.C. has become polarized, and this needs to stop. The movement conservatives are running our Grand Old Party into the ground. If they are permitted to continue their destructive course, they will reduce it to the size where they can “…drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub,” to paraphrase Grover Norquist.
Government is not the problem. Movement conservatives are the problem, and they’re ruining our party. The Republican Party must disown them.
We desperately need the leadership and direction from those who still have a spark of moderation, like Senator John McCain.
The Tea Parties must stop. The Birthers must be silenced. As it stands now, wise conservative voices are lost in the bedlam of movement conservatism. The inmates are running the asylum. We must take our party back and focus once again on ideas, not ideology.
We must ask ourselves, which do we love more: the United States of America, or the noise lunacy our current Republican leaders substitute for leadership?