By David Hogberg on 12.30.05 @ 12:07AM
A successful political movement has its ups and downs.
Is conservatism in America in decline? After the year the
political right had in 2005, some pundits are decidedly
pessimistic.
Complaining about the Senate's decision to impose a windfall
profits tax on "Big Oil," Robert Novak stated, "Republicans should
be asking themselves why they were given their Senate majority and
what they are doing with it." Meanwhile, George Will worries that
the conservative coalition "is coming unglued for many reasons,"
and "will rapidly disintegrate if limited-government conservatives
become convinced that social conservatives... try to conscript
government into sectarian crusades." He also argues that "the
limited-government impulse is a spent force in a Republican Party
that cannot muster congressional majorities to cut the
growth of Medicaid from 7.3 percent to 7 percent next
year. That 'cut' was too draconian for some Republican
'moderates.'"
Add to the lamentations of Novak and Will the shambles of Social Security reform, the
inability to extend the Bush tax cuts, the defeat of drilling in
ANWR, Energy and Transportation bills that made a mockery of fiscal
conservatism, declining support for the War in Iraq, and the
scandals involving Jack Abramoff (serious) and Tom Delay (not
serious), and it's fair to say that the Good Ship Conservatism has
sprung a leak.
Will it sink? Probably not. The little secret of conservatives
is that we love to bemoan the demise of our ideology. It's arguably
our second-most favorite indoor sport (or, if you believe liberal
stereotypes, our most favorite). In 1997, when Bill Clinton was
beating the GOP Congress left and right, and New Gingrich's hold on
the House was slipping away, the Weekly Standard ran a
cover story asking, "Is There A Worldwide Conservative Crackup?"
Novak and Will seem like deja vu all over again.
A successful political movement does not move upward in a
straight line. Rather, it is a line that moves upward but is
punctuated with peaks and valleys. Two thousand five was definitely
a valley. But it was only a valley.
There were strong indications in 2005 that conservatism is still
very healthy. Despite the left's best efforts, the Senate Democrats
could only muster 22 votes to oppose John Roberts's nomination to
the Supreme Court. Although that was followed by the nomination of
the next David Souter in the person of Harriet Miers, that was
President Bush's failure. Indeed, it revealed the strength of
conservatives, for when they balked at Miers, Bush had to withdraw
her nomination and nominate a solid constitutionalist in Sam Alito.
The odds favor Alito being part of the Court by February, a
promising sign that conservatives are winning the battle for the
judiciary.
The year ended with Congress managing to pass $40 billion worth
of reductions in the rate of spending. Surely, this is a small drop
of fiscal sanity in an ocean of red ink, but it is important to
recall why there were any reductions at all -- namely, a
blogosphere-led effort called PorkBusters. In the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, some prominent bloggers including N.Z. Bear and Glenn
Reynolds began the PorkBusters project to compel Congress to find
spending reductions to offset aid for hurricane victims. Numerous
bloggers joined in the effort, suggesting that there is grassroots
support among conservatives for more spending restraint.
The disastrous Supreme Court decision in Kelo vs.
New London turned out to be something of a blessing in
disguise. It woke up a good deal of America to the erosion of
property rights, galvanized the property-rights movement, and
resulted in several states taking action to stem eminent domain
abuse. Congress is also moving on the issue.
Kelo likely also helped secure the passage in the House of
the Pombo Bill, which adds some sensible private-property
protections to the Endangered Species Act. Whether it will pass the
Senate remains to be seen, but it is something conservatives should
push for in 2006.
On balance, 2005 was not a good year for conservatism. However,
that is no reason to despair. Conservatism was battered this year,
but it won't be long before it resumes its upward trajectory.
David Hogberg is a senior research analyst at the
Capital
Research Center. He also hosts his own website, Hog
Haven.
topics:
Transportation, Bill Clinton, Social Security, Medicaid, Constitution, Supreme Court, Iraq, Conservatism, Energy, Oil
