American Conservatism - The end of the Republican Party?

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Snu
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Joined: Sat 08 Nov, 2003 17.46

Pat Buchanan has written a what looks to be a very interesting book on how he is pushing the fight to win back the Republican Party from the ‘Neo Con’s’. (Neo-conservatives). The traditional view of moderate American conservatives (as surmised by Pat in this weeks Mclaughlin Group) is not to interfere with any other country in the world and to take an almost xenophobic approach to closing down borders, something that is completely at odds with the neo-conservative foreign policy advocated by George W Bush.

"As has been written here before, we are not an imperial people. We do not have the will or perseverance for empire. We have no desire to rule other nations." P Buchanan’s ‘The Retreat of an Empire’

In Pat’s ‘American Conservative’ internet magazine read by…yes you guessed it, American Conservatives, his Editor in Chief has made an unusual endorsement of John Kerry as the next President.

“Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favoured corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy. Add to this his nation-breaking immigration proposal—Bush has laid out a mad scheme to import immigrants to fill any job where the wage is so low that an American can’t be found to do it—and you have a presidency that combines imperialist Right and open-borders Left in a uniquely noxious cocktail” The American Conservative

A very interesting editorial which advocates that Re-Election of George W Bush will be the end of the Republican Party for decades.

Does go to show somewhat that American Conservatism is not all what is portrayed on the Fox News Channel or spouted by George W Bush’s administration. But instead there is a growing movement to oust the Neo-Conservative faction of the party in order to restore genuine compassionate conservatism.

Maybe there is hope for the world yet!
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Pete
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is there a link for the full version of this article? It looks to be an interesting read.
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Snu
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http://www.amconmag.com/2004_11_08/cover1.html

Its interesting to think that conservative American politics is following a similar fate already fallen on British conservative politics.
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Johnny
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What's the American names for the equivilant of the Tory & Labour parties
Johnny

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MrTomServo
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Johnny wrote:What's the American names for the equivilant of the Tory & Labour parties
Probably "socialists" ... there isn't a direct equivalent. One might say "Democrats", but they're a bit farther left than the Dems.

Now, if you'll let me my two cents (yes, cents) on American conservatism. Yes? Thank you.

First of all, I don't like Pat Buchanan. He's the man during the 1996 elections who basically suggested that not only is it everyone's right to own a gun, that everyone should own a gun. I'm not disagreeing that he's conservative, but I don't think he's perhaps the most representative or qualified individual to be speaking about mainstream American conservatism.

I think (in a roundabout way) what Mr Buchanan is saying is that the Bush White House isn't conservative enough. That, in itself, is a frightening thought. One might imagine (at its logical extreme) an America with no public assistance, a massive military, deficit spending, government-issued Christianity, and automatic weapons for everyone.

I think it's worth mentioning that as right-wing as Bush is, there will always be a group of people that are bigger nutjobs than he is.

It makes one pine for a reasoned, practical, and centrist government not attached to a staunch political manifesto. But here I am talking nonsense again.

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