David Brooks: Conservative Movement Has "No Leaders," "No Coherent Belief System," In A "World Of Pain"

Conservative columnist David Brooks envisions very tough times ahead for conservatives. On "Face the Nation" this morning, Brooks says the conservative movement has "no leaders," is in a "world of pain," and lacks a "coherent belief system." Watch a clip from the show (via ThinkProgress).

Comments

[azyuwish]

I enjoy David Brooks; watch him every Friday at 6:00 p.m. on PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer. I don't always agree with him by a long shot, but he is a SANE Republican. He knows how to take the temperature of the country. He sees trends, changes, forward MOVEMENT for god's sake. He gets it that issues need to be addressed from a balanced perspective rather than a hellbent for leather ideological vortex of whirling fears and prejudices with a death-grip on the past.

For my part, if the Republicans are in a world of pain as Brooks said here on Face the Nation yesterday, they've no one but themselves to blame. Those chickens coming home to roost are so massive, so leaden, the whole house is caving on them and unless they learn the lesson, it will be a generation at least before they come into power again. It heartens me very much to hear Brooks' dead-on analysis; he's nailed it, more than any other pundit I've read so far.

[bronceye]

GOP=SOS for thirty years. Mired in their own drivel.

[TLV]

I love this suggestion:

Save traditional marriage, outlaw divorce
John Aravosis (DC) · 11/09/2008

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/save-traditional-marriage-outlaw.html

[fetchezlavache]

Marriage is between one man and one woman: you can only be married once unless your spouse dies.

[bhshore]

THE Republican or rather the hijacked conservative movement is a failure.

If I hear return to the Reagan era ONE more time I am going to throw up. Why dont the Rethuglicans grow a pair and establish a 21st Century platform that deals with real issues instead of working for plans to enrich the top 1 % , give big business and corporations a license to steal, rape and rob America.

Their NEO-conservative anti-gay, holy-er -than thou crap, Patriotic crap ..where if you're not with us you're against us bull feeds on the small minded theories have been a failure that has brought America to its knees.....­..........­......ARE [YOU] NEOCONNS HAPPY NOW.....AN­D 40 BILLION MORE == AIG PLEASE....­.

[azyuwish]

Did you hear Brooks very last remark? The Reagan era is over. RIP.

[Stephen]

"Conservative Philosophy" has been revealed as a smokescreen for unmitigated Greed and self -interest. I was a conservative until 1994 and the "Gingrich Revolution­." I recognized this as an assault on everything I believed about America. The Fundies and their greed faith and the Republicans co-opted the word conservative. What I liked back then was limiting government intrusion into private lives and a businesslike approach to governing. Then I saw that the "conservatives" were merely substituting Fundamentalism for "political correctness" and turning the government into ttheir personal ATM cash machine. They unleashed the latent liberal in me and it seems many others are finally figuring it out. Some just can't let go of the words "conservative" and "Republican" as self-descriptors. My brother for instance, who I love and know for a personally, kind person, still clings to the labels which have come to mean "bigot," "greedy," "selfish." ignorant of the facts," "war-loving," power -worshipping, " unempathetic," and "non-think­ing."

[LOCUTUS13]

The "true" conservative movement was hijacked in the late 60's during the culture wars (between the "hippies", the anti war movement and those horrified by it). There was a split in the Republican party in 1970 (that went mostly under the radar) with the formation of the Libertarian party by disillusioned republicans upset with the Viet Nam war and social conservatives embraced by Reagan (then gov. of California) and to a lesser extent Nixon after the defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964. For those of us that remember there was a battle during the 1978 republican convention between the Jerry Ford supporters and the Reagan supporters and after the defeat of Ford the Reagan supporters were the only ones left standing. In 1980 when Reagan ran was when the rabid religious wackos really went to town hitching their wagon to the republican party and started their fight to take over the soul of the party and later the nation. They became so powerful that you had pander to the wackos just to run as a republican (providing cover for) the shift at the top of the party under Reagan that went after the big money instead of the small business owner. That's when the party lost it's soul giving the large share of tax breaks to the big business while the small business was left to fend for themselves. Remember supply side, trickle down economics (they failed economics 101) or as Bush 41 said voodoo economics?

[LOCUTUS13]

Thats 1976 convention NOT 1978....so­rry.

[KarelS]

There's very little wrong with the legitimate conservative movement and everything in the world wrong neo/radical conservatives and their operatives in the White House and in Congress.
Eisenhower, Javits, and Dirkson conservatives have been all but missing amoung the the current crop of vicious, arrogant, no-holds-barred maniacs who have controlled the country (and antagonized the world) for the last several decades.
In earlier eras of world history, the leaders of a movement like this would likely be facing the gallows or the guillotine after having been found out by the mob. But they have cleverly strung along the boobwazee with promises of trickle down wealth, a moral awakening vis-a-vis legislation, and by pointing out their REAL enemies.
The problem with the Brooks and Wills of the nation is that they have the intelligence to recognize the situation as it's presented, but their ideology is so entrenched that they refuse to outwardly state the obvious and, of course, offer reasonable solutions.
And so we have these intellectu­als-withou­t-smarts tip-toeing around the edges of very simple problems, using almost exclusively their respective systems of social and political beliefs instead of logic and reason to come up with an answer.
Thus Mr. Brooks comments . . .

[thegreatgiginthesky]

The republican party is not conservative.

[TLV]

Nope. They are neo-conservative. The "new" conservati­ve...meani­ng not conservative at all, but some new kind of monster under the bed.

[AmbivalentGuy]

Thus Mr. Brooks comments . . . saying what we all knew.

Couldn't have said it better.
The GOP doesn't have a future if it can't figure out how to balance
classic Goldwater, et al, political conservatism with the
social conservatism of non-political, but Repub voters.

[azyuwish]

I beg to differ with respect to Brooks' comments. I clearly heard him say that he is a "yes, but...." Republican at this point, referring to the feeling of "agreeing with a lot of Obama's objectives" but wanting to implement them somewhat differently. He specifically mentioned healthcare and rising inequality. For a Republican to even MENTION "rising inequality" demonstrates that he is assessing things reasonably.

[CactusTom]

I think Brooks understands the problem. But trying to articulate a solution at this time in American history is virtually an impossibility. Carl Rove and his ilk have killed off the once fiscally sound, moderately conservative Republican party when they attempted to create a thousand year party rule by pandering to reactionary, social conservatives.

Now the social conservatives have taken control of the party, insuring that the party will become less and less relevant to our national priorities, making it a thoroughly reactionary, fringe party for elderly malcontents.

[PrickliestPear]

They have a belief system, but explicitly articulating it would mean highlighting the central role played by selfishness.

[azyuwish]

Bingo!

[vontrapp]

Conservatism has a belief system: To morally justify selfishness and arrogance.

Core economic principle: To gather as much of the nation's wealth and resources under the control of the fewest people possible.

[rayboston]

I don't believe conservatives are as coherent as you make them out to be in your post.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

What conservatives are Brooks talking about, the neo-con, pro Israel at any cost crowed, ditto for the professional Christians who are all for Israel, until the Rapture rolls around, than the Jews are on there own. How about the Christian Fundamentalist who substitute religious intolerance for family values. How about the "Joe the plumber" disciples who think free market fundamentalist Republicans actually care about their financial well being. Maybe the anti-science crowed who think this country can compete with in a 21st century world with 16th century ideas. Or maybe the anti-tax, pro-war crowd who love war as long as someone is paying for it in life and treasure.

Paul Begala put it best conservatives with brains like Brooks and Chris Buckley are being hunted down like dogs.

[chiguy08]

Boo frickin hoo.

[Hillrick]

No coherent belief system.? But they do and when you look at the actions it's easy to see, their core is the right kind of welfare. More money for me an it's not my problem what happened to yours.

[leeman79]

The republican party died in 1980. The masses of people that continue to vote republican don't really understand that their party had changed dramatically in 28 years. They need to go back and examine what made them successful before Ronald Reagan ruined their party:

Fiscal discipline - not: reckless spending
Effective government regulating - not: no government intervention
Individual rights to privacy - not: blanket spying

Abandon all social issues that never belonged in politics anyway. Expand your base membership beyond: white, straight, religious, preferably rich, others need not apply.

[Pacific231]

Fixed minor error:

Expand your base membership beyond: white, OUTWARDLY straight, religious, preferably rich, others need not apply.

Apart from that, excellent post!

[leeman79]

Yeah, exactly. Great observation.

[CR46]

You forgot to add that their base is made up of racists, bigots, and people intolerant of opposing beliefs.

[TLV]

Outwardly straight..­.I like that part. They think if they ACT straight and protest loudly against gay rights, no one will notice the cruising they do for same sex partners on the weekend.

The head of the GOP in Summit County, Ohio, Alex Arshinkoff, is one such man. He has been seen frequenting gay bars, but I'm sure he says he has a good reason....

....trying to make converts of them? Save them from themselves? Yeah, right.

[Bushwillresign]

Excellent point LM - When you comment about the bad things of the new republican party, they just say "Oh, I don't believe in that part of the party". Or, "Oh, I'm not like that". Maybe they all better take a good look in the mirror and or listen to someone other than fixed news and they might find that they are not in agreement with the GOP at all.

[Indubio]

Reagan himself didn't ruin the Party. What Reagan's administration did was build a coalition of fiscal Goldwater Conservatives AND social conservatives. As long as social conservatives were good foot soldier, sent in their money, and voted but remained behind the scenes things went well. Problems occurred when this silent majority of the GOP decided to assert itself in the late 1980s: They were no longer interested in political tidbits but real movement on the issues that mattered to them. Thus we got the Robert Bork fiasco, which led to Clarence Thomas. What no one in the GOP would have believed in 1980 is that social conservatives would have the ability to take over the party and this is what's happened. As long as the GOP focuses on a radical social agenda, they won't win national elections.

[azyuwish]

This radical social agenda caters ultimately to a minority of Americans and as time moves on, less and less people are controlled by Bronze Age strictures and worldviews, i.e. religion.

Statistically young people attend church less and less and they are basing their morality more on social justice and enviromentalism. Caring for each other and the Earth is the foundation morality and they get this. I see this in the younger generation.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

The republican party is really good a repeating the same mastake over and over again, mainly ruining the middle class, like it did in 1870's, the 1920's, the decade leading to the Great Depression, and now. They never learn.

[northstar11]

What do you mean MR BROOKS-"no coherent belief system"

50 million Americans think you have a perfectly coherent belief system.

[shag11]

They'll continue to have issues because, they don't care about the people, they just care about winning elections. And once they get in, it's disaster. I remember a few years ago, when the Repugs. won back the California assembly for the first time in 40 years. The first thing they did was to repeal a motorcycle helmet law.... they lost their majority in the next election.
All one has to do is look at the audiences at their conventions. They only cater to one constituency, and I don't need to say which one it is.

[Nomccain]

The so called conservative movement has been "taken over" by the ultra extreme neocons and the right wing evangelicals and resembles a "spanish inquisition" more than a conservative movement. That, along with the hypocrisy of this movement and subsequent scandals, has "turned off" the American people in large droves. Our nation's economy and the wars, combined with a health care crisis has shifted the average citizen's attention to more important matters that the so called conservatives weren't concerned with. They proved that they were more concerned with advancing their own agenda than they were with solving this country's very critical problems.

[outofhere]

The public face of Republicanism: Fox, Sean, Rush, Tom Delay, et al. pushed the GOP from fiscal conservatism to wedge issues like abortion and gun control. Moderate Republicans were punished if they dared cross Rove or DeLay. The hate mongering on talk radio turned a lot of people off. Until the GOP gets back to its fiscal conservative roots and allows social moderates a place at the table, the party has lost all appeal for voters like myself. The recent election , IMO, indicated that voters are tired partisanship. The GOP, indeed America, is much in need of more statesmen and fewer partisan hacks in Congress. Boehner and McConnell would be well advised to reach across the aisle in compromise rather than threatening to fillibuster.