Conservative intellectuals and deliberative discussion in contemporary American democracy...
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Topic: conservatives
The Economist -- the world's foremost conservative periodical...and certainly one if not the most intelligent conservative periodical -- writes a brilliant story on the Administration and its troubles today...

The White House under seige...

Money shot, as Andrew Sullivan would say:):):)...

"So far, the conservative revolt against Mr Bush is largely confined to the intelligentsia. Ordinary Republican voters feel no great horror about future deficits or the process by which decisions about national security are made. But they may grow more restless if evangelical preachers take against Mr Bush?s next Supreme Court pick, or if the situation in Iraq gets worse...

But the split between Mr Bush and many conservative intellectuals is ?very deep and probably irreparable?, reckons Bruce Bartlett, a former adviser to Ronald Reagan, who was recently sacked from a conservative think-tank for writing a book called ?The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy?. And that fury could spread to the grassroots, especially if some of the hopefuls for the Republican presidential nomination make a show of sounding more conservative than Mr Bush on abortion, gay rights or immigration."

Two observations, here...first...criticisms of the Administration for not taking seriously many important conservative intellectual themes is wholly legitimate, I think...and one of the reasons that the Economist writes in this tone, I assume...is because they are among this Administration's serious, intelligent conservative critics who have watched the Administration take very little notice of the thoughtful concerns of those like themselves...

I was quite surprised, really, that I didn't read, in this article, the Economist take Secretary of State Rice and the Administration to task for refusing to take invasion in Syria and Iran off the table...since the Economist editors have made clear that they believe that this is a threat that has escalated the situations with these countries, as it did in North Korea -- a situation whose resolution, in great part by the diplomatic intervention of the South Koreans, seems to emboldened this sadly deluded Administration and its haphazard international policy -- and a policy that is terribly counterproductive...

Still...how sad that conservatives like Bruce Bartlett should characterize the soured relationship between President Bush and conservatives as "very deep and probably irreparable"...some people just never seem to learn that democracy is made up of and led by human beings...not by gods...

The President acts cynically far too often, I must admit...but he is doing his best, I believe...he's just not a conservative intellectual...he's a much less sophisticated Republican politician...who is lost, right now, because he lacks the compass that thoughtful policy-mindedness offers a more intelligent leader or observer amidst the confusion of politics, much of which has nothing to do with good policy:):):)...

Second...I very much doubt that the leading contenders for the Republican nomination are likely to be "more conservative" than the President (more conservative in what ways, I always ask whenever I hear that nonsensical way of oversimplifying complicated differences over policies that conservatives often have between themselves, even as they, like liberals, try far too hard to ignore those differences:):):)...

If by more conservative, the Economist means more socially conservative, for instance...I hardly think of Rudy Guiliani's pro-choice position and John McCain's moderate pro-life position more conservative than the President's:):):)...Guliani also supports gay rights much more seriously than the President (the couple he stayed with while his marriage was falling apart, remember, was a gay couple:):):)...John McCain is the leading supporter of campaign finance regulation, conservative opposition to which I happen to agree with...but I hardly think of McCain's position as "more conservative":):):)...

And does anyone seriously think that someone like Sam Brownback or Newt Gingrich is going to challenge McCain or Guliani in any real way for the Republican Presidential candidacy?:):):)LOL:):):)...if you do, you're far more deluded, I think, than the President:):):)...

Nope...like it or not...the next Republican Presidential candidate will come from the center...if, on the off chance, a conservative like Brownback or Gingrich was nominated, they would most assuredly lose in the general election to almost any serious Democrat nominated for the Presidency:):):)...

Guliani and McCain, from the polls I saw several months ago, at this point...so I can't vouch for their current validity...but according to those polls, either of them would likely triumph over various Democratic candidates, especially Hillary Clinton (though the last couple of months do seem to have swung left in a dramatic way that may have changed that...an unhealthy and not terribly helpful swing, in my view...but a swing, nonetheless)...John Edwards beat Rudy Guliani in one of those polls, I believe...and I would be interested in a Barak Obama candidacy...

Though I have to say, overall...and this is likely because I'm working with a much higher standard than any election I've ever observed or voted in:):):)...

But none of these candidates seem that spectactular to me, frankly...none of them are really the intellectual heavyweight and demonstrated leader that Bill Clinton was (though Barak Obama has potential for that)...

At this point...if Hillary Clinton is nominated for the Democratic ticket...and absent any change in her leadership style from her abysmal performance during Hurricane Katrina -- using valuable time in the midst of a real time crisis to set up a commission rather than getting on the phones and figuring out who she should call to help with relief efforts -- I'm voting for Rudy Guliani -- whose post 9/11 performance was a stellar contrast to the sad, pathetic leadership of Democratic New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin -- or John McCain...

Neither of the Republican candidates are ideal for me...but Rudy, in particular, has demonstrated more real leadership in a time of crisis -- a pretty important responsibility for the President, actually -- and Hillary Clinton just has so little going for her as a leader of the free world, right now, except perhaps a pretty stellar pool to choose from in supporting roles for major cabinet and advising positions...John is not as strong an executive candidate as Rudy, I don't think...but I've always been impressed with his courage to challenge his own party -- who engaged in more campaign finance abuse of the two parties, to be fair to Democrats -- on campaign finance reform...even as I disagree, today, with his perscription...

I would, of course, rather have someone like Joe Nye or David Gergen run the country:):):)...people with both leadership experience and serious policy intellect...

But, alas...I live in the real world:):):):)...

Maybe one day:):):)...

The most powerful comment in the article comes from George H.W. Bush national security advisor Brent Scowcroft...

?You encourage democracy over time, with assistance, and aid, the traditional way. Not how the neo-cons do it,? he said. ?This was said to be part of the war on terror, but Iraq feeds terrorism.?

Now there's some sane, smart conservative international policy advice:):):)...

The single most important check on the hubris of this Administration, right now?...

Not the Democratic party...that's for sure...how useless they've been so often during this Administration:):):)...though I do appreciate the robust group of Democrats willing to move forward a discussion that openly criticized the mistakes of the Administration in conducting this war...

The single most important check on the hubris of the Administration...

Has been intellectuals, generally...and conservative intellectuals, in particular...as they got clearer about the problems that the Administration would seem to try to wish away, often...for lack of the kind of serious and intelligent analysis and self-reflection that folks like the brilliant editors of the Economist magazine, among many others, have been willing to engage in...

Still think politics is something that amateurs can do just as well as those who take policy thought seriously?...

This was a debate/discussion that Brandi and I had while we were both in grad school...

Brandi worked on these brilliant little efforts in citizen engagement on many important issues...race...with the National Days of Dialogue...associated with President Clinton's very important race dialogue initiative...Social Security...with a great group called America Discusses Social Security...both of which she did with one of the leading dialogue coordinators in the country and a really awesome guy, if you ever get the chance to meet him, Theo Brown:):):)...and ADSS with Carolyn Lukensmeyer, another important pioneer in dialogue work...

And then again in Kansas City...with a group called Study Circles...working on the area of policy that I was studying in grad school at the time, education policy:):):)...

Brilliant efforts, all of them...and very important in involving citizens in important policy discussions, debates, and decisions...

But the one place where I constantly objected...

Was I believed -- and believe more strongly today than I did then -- that though citizen engagement is very important on almost every issue facing America and the world today...

That there is no way that average citizens can master policy discussions in the way that serious policy thinkers can...

Any more than I can master serious physics discussions better than serious physics students and thinkers...

It just ain't possible...no matter how hard folks try:):)...

Though I speak heresy, I'm sure, of my own grad program:):):)...which railed against "expert professionalism" and its elitism...

I have no interest in expert elitism...at all, really...

But I do have an interest in discussing important issues with those who have a more serious understanding of them...policy, medicine, physics, automobiles, or otherwise...

And there is just no way to have that conversation where the say of average citizens has equal weight with the say of policy experts...even as every citizen must guard against experts claiming to "know" their lives and the issues that impact them more than they do, themselves...and against experts claiming any right to run their lives for them...which is completely counterproductive to the cultivation of a more self-governing citizenry, I believe...and citizens who are wary of such abuses of expertise should roundly criticize experts who engage in them:):):)...

Those conversations should be equitable...meaning...not everything or everyone is equal in their contributions to that discussion...

But everyone should have a say and be a part of that discussion and responsible for it...

And experts must earn peoples' trust in those discussions...as difficult a task as I'm learning that to be...

Not because they don't deserve it, more...

But because citizens who lack education in more serious matters of policy...can be just be so damned stubborn...that they have anything to learn from the more learned among them...

Against their self-interest, to be sure...

But stubborn, nonetheless:):):)...

That's why I very much respect and admire the very impressive efforts of people like Theo Brown and Carolyn Lukensmeyer...and political players like David Gergen...and Bill Bradley...

And grassroots dialogue coordinators like Brandi Fisher:):):)...

Whose work begins to bridge that gap:):):)...

Which is so very much needs to be bridged...

So that our country and our international community...can be more authentically free and democratic...

And so wiser policy...not just politics as usual...can prevail...in the many very important decisions that leaders of this country must make:):):)...

A very sincere and heartfelt thank you to conservatives and conservative intellectuals...in America and abroad:):):)...who have helped lift up that conversation in America:):):)...from an independent...who has spent most of his life as a liberal:):):)...

Have a great day, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben