Posted under Politics
I know of this woman in Madison who is one of the few prominent conservatives in town. She has won some elections to local boards but never a bigger one than that and had become something of a perennial candidate. I recently heard she took a job in the Gov. Walker Administration, working somewhere in the bowels of the bureaucracy. Upon reading this in the news it struck me that its amazing for all the angst about government on the Right that Right activists often times find themselves eventually working for the state more often than not.
And if you realize this you’ll realize why some prominent “conservatives” (and why there will be many more) are endorsing Mitt Romney. Below is mentioned Ann Coulter and it should be pointed out former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell also offered an endorsement.
Now ask yourselves why would someone who continually blames the GOP establishment for her loss in Delaware last year endorse a candidate who is the epitome of that establishment? Well, what does Miss O’Donnell do for a living, besides her “activism” ? She’s not a farmer, a businesswoman or metal fabricator, so far as I can tell. No she pretty much concerns herself with politics and political activism. You’ll find a lot of people like that and both sides of the political equation, people who make politics their living. Oh, some might have law degrees so they can still work in the legal profession, others are journalists who can fall back on writing books or news columns if times get tough. But for most its politics and nothing but. Once upon a time we called such people ward bosses. Now they work out of Washington or state capitol office buildings working on their email lists or raising money for their work.
But activism is not exactly a racket one can get filthy rich from. You find yourself dependent on other people i.e other people’s money and when you have to ask for other people’s money, they tend to have certain ways they want it spent. Not only that, if you work on a campaign and lose well, its SOL when it comes to the post-election job market. You’ll be lucky to wind up a janitor in some think tank’s office building.
So the O’Donnells and the Coulters are placing their bets on Romney not just because they think Mitt is going to eventually win but, in O’Donnell’s case at least, they might well expect something for it. Maybe a political appointed post in the Interior Department for example. Indeed, what better way to try out your ideology than in the halls of power itself? Even though a year ago you though jobs like the one you occupy should be eliminated to save taxpayer money. Then you find out taxpayer supported jobs are a much steadier working gig than having to beg for crumbs for your little activist group from some rich financier. And you can only get those kinds of job if you come and support the candidate who you think is going to win right away. As in ancient Gaul, all the tribal chieftains are equal but except for the last one who arrives last when the chief calls them together. Hesitating and waiting sometimes get you nothing. A candidate knows his loyal supporters are the one’s who endorse them early before bandwagon leaves the station.
If you wonder why even under Republican and so-called conservative occupation of the White House or Congress or even the statehouse the bureaucracy is never reduced there’s your answer. What would we do with all the activists and failed candidates if there were no government jobs to reward them with? Where would they go? The soup kitchen? OWS? They have to go somewhere. I would hope they’d go back to the farm as Washington did after the war, but where’s the money in that?
RedPhillips on 04 Nov 2011 at 6:19 pm #
I think Coulter (and O’Donnell) risks tarnishing her (their) conservative credentials with this endorsement since some conservatives seem to have decided that Romney is nearly the anti-Christ.
Kirt Higdon on 04 Nov 2011 at 7:24 pm #
Excellent analysis. Another evil which is inherent in the politics of a democracy.
Jedipastor1 on 05 Nov 2011 at 9:22 pm #
You mean, the love of money and the lust for power can entice and corrupt “conservatives” as well as “liberals”??? Are you saying a libertarian-conservative can turn into an authoritarian-conservative??? (Are you daring to suggest that Ronald Reagan was fallible, i.e., ceasing to be Reagan in his 2nd term?)
Pfffft….say it aint so Joe!!!!
Matt on 07 Nov 2011 at 3:00 am #
The inimitable Scott Lahti posted this speech on a liberal site. I reproduce it here:
“When I was asked to make this address I wondered what I had to say to you boys who are graduating. And I think I have one thing to say. If you wish to be useful, never take a course that will silence you. Refuse to learn anything that implies collusion, whether it be a clerkship or a curacy, a legal fee or a post in a university. Retain the power of speech no matter what other power you may lose. If you can take this course, and in so far as you take it, you will bless this country. In so far as you depart from this course you become dampers, mutes, and hooded executioners.
As a practical matter a mere failure to speak out upon occasions where no opinion is asked or expected of you, and when the utterance of uncalled-for suspicion is odious, will often hold you to a concurrence in palpable iniquity. Try to raise a voice that will be heard from here to Albany and watch what comes forward to shut off the sound. It is not a German sergeant, nor a Russian officer of the precinct. It is a note from a friend of your father’s offering you a place in his office. This is your warning from the secret police. Why, if any of you young gentleman have a mind to make himself heard a mile off, you must make a bonfire of your reputations and a close enemy of most men who would wish you well.
I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard. ‘In a few years,’ reasons one of them, ‘I shall have gained a standing, and then I will use my powers for good.’ Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought. His ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say. I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don’t be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.”
huber on 08 Nov 2011 at 5:30 pm #
“I would hope they’d go back to the farm as Washington did after the war, but where’s the money in that?”
When Washington gone back to the farm as he did after the war, he was growing hemp. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington
I like the fact that you have brought attention to the two women who endorse Gov. Romney are the same who rail against establishment types… the truth is, they are establishment types so it only makes sense that they would endorse another establishment type who flip-flops on issues that they too would flip-flop on as well.
Whining doesn’t answer the question | Conservative Heritage Times on 08 Jan 2012 at 7:20 pm #
[...] the same fashion by so-called “movement” conservatives the way Ron Paul. I mentioned why this is in an earlier post and it goes to show that far from being a minority, basic positions held by [...]