[T]here is some poetic justice to McCain losing because of his economic ignorance. This is precisely why he should lose. What kind of Republican can't even muster an attack against the Democrats for causing the mortgage crisis with their social engineering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The irony is that McCain will lose because he is too much of a liberal on economics. This is a lesson Republicans would do well to learn.But there is also an exasperating side to all this. Why should Obama benefit? Do voters think Obama understands economics any more than McCain? Don't they know that he represents more of the big government policies that created the mess we're in?
In the comments, Kyle Haight identifies the task ahead of us after the election, if McCain loses:
What we should be preparing to do is engage in the post-election recriminations that will be going down on the right, identifying the GOP's abandonment of freedom and limited government as the cause of their fall from power.
The danger of a Republican defeat, if it occurs, is the same danger that accompanies any attempt to learn from failure—namely, that there is no guarantee that the losers will learn the correct lessons. (Consider the history of Russia.) Given the anti-conceptual, Pragmatist nature of our culture, the GOP could conclude that it has been too pro-business and too critical of Big Government. Or they could decide to cede all economic issues to the Democrats, while redoubling their commitment to opposing abortion, stem cell research, homosexuality, "indecency," etc. This would be the worst outcome.
However, the Republican ticket is already on track to go down in flames while flaunting the party's worst elements. John McCain, the media-darling "maverick," has failed to co-opt or outflank the Left in this election. (Left-leaning voters always know that they'll get the real thing by voting for the Democrat.) Sarah Palin, a living caricature of Christian fundamentalism and folksy anti-intellectualism, has given Saturday Night Live the best fodder for political humor since H. Ross Perot. And on the Wall Street credit crisis, both McCain and Palin are knee-deep in the same populist, anti-"greed" rhetoric as the Democrats.
If Obama wins this election, there will be an opportunity for us Objectivists to take a cluebat (to borrow the LGF term) to the Right and, at the very least, invigorate a secular and pro-capitalist faction that has sadly not existed as a significant force for a long time. It may be the only hope of salvaging some progress for reason and liberty out of this rotten election.
1 comments:
Kyle Haight is completely right.
When the Republicans lose (as they should), then they need to be told repeatedly that they lost because they were *too religious*.
Yes, they'll also be told by others that they lost because they were *not religious enough*. And if those are the only voices the Republicans hear, then we'll see more Huckabee-type Republicans in the future, not fewer.
I don't want to see Republicans continuing to outcompete each other in who can be more religious. Instead, I'd rather see them attempting to outcompete each other in seeing who can be pushing for more limited government. I don't expect them to be perfect, but I'd rather see them moving in the right (rather than the wrong) direction.
Hence here in Colorado, there have been several us who have warned our local and state Republican Party officials *before* the election that they are alienating secular voters. We will also be telling them the same thing after the election.
Here are a few examples of what we've written:
http://www.seculargovernment.us/blog/2008/07/gop-platform.shtml
http://www.seculargovernment.us/blog/2008/07/correspondence-with-local-republicans.shtml
If we want the Republicans to learn the right lesson, then we have to be willing to tell them what that lesson should be.
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