In a lot of political systems, there is no real moral high ground in victory.<\/p>\n
If you are a dictator and you use raw power or fear to control your people, you may win, but you do so as a scoundrel and a criminal.<\/p>\n
At the heart of it, the leaders of countries like Iran and China are thugs.\u00a0 Some are more practical and efficient thugs than others, but they all lack legitimacy.<\/p>\n
But in a democracy, there is a very real moral weight that comes with winning.<\/p>\n
There are two reasons why this is true:<\/p>\n
First, our system is based on the ideal of a self-governed people that chooses its own government.\u00a0 The political movement that wins the most votes, a majority in Congress, and control of the White House carries the banner of the people, at least temporarily.\u00a0 That means something.<\/p>\n
Secondly, it is an unambiguous fact that in our democracy, you can only enact your ideas if you elect a strong enough contingent to Congress, and also control (or are able to sway) the White House.<\/p>\n
You can have the best, most beneficial policy ideas in the world.\u00a0 But if your faction doesn’t have the power to enact them, they are little more than fantasy.<\/p>\n
Which leads me to my main argument about the moral superiority of the conservative movement in America.<\/p>\n
Like the far Left, the far Right in America espouses a lot of views that most of us don’t like very much, ranging from elimination of social security to tax cuts for the wealthy.<\/p>\n
Most Americans support gays serving in the military.\u00a0 We favor financial regulation that limits the power and excess of big banks.<\/p>\n
Conservatives reject those ideas.<\/p>\n
But rather than fold their tent, or sit out major elections, conservatives have continued to organize, fundraise, and mobilize candidates to advance their agenda.<\/p>\n
They have worked patiently, slowly advancing their ideas, building a majority on the Supreme Court, and stubbornly using every strategy to hinder the advance of progress or liberals ideas.<\/p>\n
They have built major media organizations, think-tanks, and universities designed to provide a broad ideological foundation for their cause.<\/p>\n
It’s worth noting — because so many liberals use this issue to obfuscate the facts — that conservatives have done the vast majority of their organizing peacefully, using non-violent tactics.<\/p>\n
A case in point is abortion.\u00a0 In the 37 years since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was handed down, the Right has suffered disappointment after disappointment in their effort to recriminalize abortion.<\/p>\n
But the movement has persevered, moving so close to achieving their goal that one more conservative Supreme Court justice will likely make the difference.<\/p>\n
Contrast this with the liberal movement.<\/p>\n
Just eighteen months ago, progressives organized to help elect the nation’s first African American president.<\/p>\n
In a year and a half Barack Obama and his allies in Congress have passed sweeping reforms to the financial sector and healthcare, while also bailing out the automobile industry in a way that saved tens of thousands of union jobs.<\/p>\n
This White House gave the EPA much wider reign to pursue aggressive environmental policies, including the first-ever effort to regulate carbon pollution in America.<\/p>\n
The Administration has begun the process of phasing out the ban on gays serving openly in the US Military.\u00a0 It has ended military operations in Iraq and is on track to phase out combat operations in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Despite that track record, polls show that disaffected liberals plan to sit out this election in huge numbers.\u00a0 They’re not donating money or organizing or doing any of the things that help would their candidates win.<\/p>\n
We know that voters and opinion makers on the Left understand the facts, which are these:<\/p>\n
Under Republican leadership, many of their prized goals — a national energy policy that caps carbon, same-sex marriage, a tax code that doesn’t favor the rich, etc. — would be unachievable.<\/p>\n
Yet they simply don’t care enough about their agenda to be patient, organized and persistent enough to win and keep winning.<\/p>\n
A case in point here is carbon pollution — an issue which I see as sort of the Left’s moral equivalent of abortion.<\/p>\n
The first general scientific understanding of climate change didn’t surface until the late 1990s.\u00a0 The Kyoto conference and a firm scientific consensus on the matter weren’t in place until 2005.<\/p>\n
Democrats didn’t gain control of Washington until 2008.\u00a0 That represented the first realistic opportunity to enact serious legislation.<\/p>\n
This is a hugely complex and controversial issue.\u00a0 The kinds of changes that Liberals want would have sweeping impacts on our economy and society at all levels.<\/p>\n
Debate is inevitable and essential.<\/p>\n
Yet many on the Left have already apparently given up, deciding that the political process is simply too frustrating, too fraught with compromise, to be worthwhile.<\/p>\n
In the parlance of democracy, that represents a flat-out moral abdication.<\/p>\n
If you don’t care enough about your ideas, your values, and your policies to maintain a level of zeal — to rally voters, to keep your side energized, and win more elections — then the simple reality is that you deserve to lose.<\/p>\n
It’s worth noting that there was a time when progressives had more salt and stick.<\/p>\n
Harry Truman desegregated the US military in 1948.\u00a0 It wasn’t until 1964 that Lyndon Johnson — a man progressives despised — signed the Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n
That’s sixteen years of perseverance and organizing and won elections.\u00a0 Sixteen years, in other words, of fighting for the moral high ground.<\/p>\n
So will the Left fight for what they believe in this time?\u00a0 Or will they concede the high-ground of passion and conviction to conservatives?<\/p>\n
This election season, my money’s on the Right.<\/p>\n
Your comments welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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