History is conservative

Not ideologically but naturally. History seldom if ever happens all at once, it develops slowly over time. The more dramatic the historical change the longer it took to arrive at what we later identify as its tipping point.

Our Declaration of Independence was the culmination of decades of colonial discontent which was in itself fermented by centuries of ideological inquiry into the place of government in the affairs of men. Our civil War did not really begin at Ft. Sumter but rather was preordained by the very words that set America on the path to liberty "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal..." Those words and the internal struggle to realize their noble meaning is what caused the decades long struggle which realized its tipping point at Ft Sumter.

So it is with all of history, like a wave starting far out at sea it moves relentlessly forward building momentum until it ultimately breaks across the shores of the current time catching many unaware or surprised by its force. This is true of epic events such as our Revolution or Civil War and it is also true of the less historic but as important minor developments that lead up to societal upheavals.

It is no wonder then that many on the left saw the spontaneous combustion of the Tea Party Movement as a reaction to our first black president and labeled it as racist. They were caught unaware of the years of frustration by a large segment the American electorate to "Big Government" policies. The Tea Party Movement was as much a reaction to years of Republican betrayal as it was to Democratic governance which reached a breaking point with the onset of the over the top spending at the outset of the Obama Administration. Only by living in a vacuum could a person look at the TPM as the product of racism rather than the release of pent up anger of at least two decades of discontent. The left has always had a problem of existing within a echo chamber, feeding off its own mantra rather than understanding the forces at work all around them. They ignore not only the present but the past and this is why they are so often not only wrong but shocked that the world is not behaving the way that they have told themselves it should.

Never has this been more obvious than through a quirk of historical circumstances aided and abetted by unprincipled politicians on the right, a complicit media and a nation suffering an identity crisis which allowed the left for a brief period of time  to gain complete control of the US Government.

Rather than recognizing that circumstances had led them to this fortuitous place, they instead assumed that they had finally convinced the nation of the worthiness of their ideology and set out on a course to govern accordingly. The progressive left had become so accustomed to reinforcing themselves with their narrow vision that they actually came to believe that the nation was behind them that they were going to lead America into their long sought government controlled utopia.

How could it not be true, was not Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House? Had not the country elected as President the new icon of the progressive left to lead us to nirvana? So self-delusional is the leftist mind set that they did not or dared not recognize that much of their victory was predicated on the lies they told of themselves to the American public. Obama may have been a master at hiding is true ideological beliefs and intentions with help from a compliant dying media, but he was by no means unique. All national leftist politicians when removed from the safe but shrinking pockets of far left enclaves such as Berkley, Madison and the plantations of urban entitlement servitude must speak to the center while promoting the governance slightly right of Lenin. They give lip service to Madison while practicing Marx wishing all the while that they had the power of Stalin.

Rush Limbaugh puts it best, "Liberalism is a lie." I would qualify that by saying  that Liberalism is a lie as it has been practiced by the Democratic Party in ever growing  fallaciousness and maliciousness over the past century.

Only through an audacity of deception so great could the party of the KKK turn its opponents, the party of Lincoln, into the party of racist while claiming for itself  the mantle of protectors of the oppressed. Now they are attempting to take it one step further by turning Martin Luther King who was a life long Republican into a champion of socialism. This is just one aspect of what the twentieth century American liberal/progressive movement has wrought like a cancerous puss on our great nation.

An example of their myopic vision the only vision modern day leftist have, is to be found in their denial of political trends. The fact that many on the right buy into this denial is a testament to the power of the media and institutional bias that has become ingrained in the American psyche . A denial that is quickly being exposed by simple truth and the cold hard facts of reality. Consider these political events since the 2008 elections;

March 2009  The beginning of the Tea Party Movement
August 2009 The Congressional Town Hall upheavals
September 2009 The Tea Party march on DC
November 2009 NJ and VA Governor elections
January 2010 Scott Browns election in MA
November 2010 Historic landslide victories for GOP in mid terms
September 2011 NY 9 GOP victory, NV 1 landslide GOP victory

Where is the comparable trend on the left?

 It is true that as a matter of actual policy accomplishments the Democrats have accomplished a great deal, the stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank etc. and they are infecting the Federal Government with their bureaucratic rule making, but where is the momentum to maintain their gains ? Does anyone doubt that a similar reverse in political make up in the federal government from the right will not undo most if not all of this in short order? Perhaps not if there were no strong grass roots political movement to insure it, but the political trends, the wave of change, indicate that is what will happen.

Is there a counter movement to offset the momentum of the Tea Party Movement? Based on election results alone, which is the most important trend, the answer seems to be no. But is one developing?

On Saturday the left attempted to create a "grassroots movement" with a "Day of Rage" hearkening back to their glory days of the late sixties and early seventies. The show case was to be to Occupy Wall Street. Here is the final words on this "major" event from the New York Times:

As a chilly darkness descended, a few hundred people realized one of the day’s objectives by setting foot onto Wall Street after a quick march through winding streets, trailed by police scooters.

At William Street, they were blocked from proceeding toward the stock exchange, and the march ended in front of a Greek Revival building housing Cipriani Wall Street. Patrons on a second-floor balcony peered down.

As some of the patrons laughed and raised drinks, the protesters responded by pointing at them and chanting “pay your share.”

Yes, a political force to be reckoned with indeed.

While the media and the establishment of both parties fixate on the Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnel aspect of the Tea Party Movement the fact is Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Allen West, Nikki Haley and scores of other Tea Party Movement candidates at all levels of government are settling in. I have written before that the greatest impact of TPM, in the long run is at the local level. In my e-mail inbox right now is a notice from my local Tea Party informing me of an upcoming candidates forum for local elections which they are hosting and which they have hosted several of over the past couple of years. They also invite state and national candidates to speak at various functions and they make a point of coming to speak to Tea Party groups not only here but all around the nation.Who and where is a similar movement on the left?  In the above NYT article about the "Day of Rage"  I find no mention of a politician being involved. We hear a lot about union activity in politics, but does anyone who is paying attention seriously believe that we are about to see an infusion of union activist into the political process? On the contrary support for unions in America is at historic lows as are their membership rolls.

The progressives have dominated and been the activist and guiding force of the Democratic Party for a decade now but who are their leaders? Nancy Pelosi? Consider this press release the other day from the Congressional Progressive Caucus

Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva and Keith Ellison were joined by colleagues Jan Schakowsky, Lynn Woolsey, John Conyers, Charlie Rangel, Jim McDermott and Barbara Lee today to introduce the Rebuild the American Dream Framework and emergency jobs legislation.

Other than Kieth Ellis who on that list would even remotely be considered an "up and comer" less alone a young up and comer in national politics? Raúl M. Grijalva (62) barely held off the young Tea Party candidate Ruth McClung to retain his seat in the House this past election. Two other young up and comer progressives come to mind Anthony Weiner and Alan Grayson and we all know how they are doing politically. They like liberal/progressive ideology itself were exposed for what they are, corrupt and mean spirited at its core and in order to maintain a constituency it must grow ever more so as time goes on.

So then who are the next generation of Progressive politicians? Yes when I think about the future the first person that comes to mind is Charlie Rangel. To put it bluntly, the progressive movement is growing old both figuratively and literally. It is dying a slow but painful for America death.

A new wave is coming ashore. It is not as the left tries desperately to portray it as something drug up from white wigged  old men reading from dusty old parchment, only the tried and true foundation principles left to us by them.

When a grand mother advises to "eat your vegetables" the advice is no less sound because it comes from aged wisdom. So it is with governance grounded in principles of individual liberty and limited government  time and age makes the precepts no less wise and relevant. In fact I would argue and history has shown that the more complex and diverse society becomes the more important it is to maintain the simplicity and common sense direction laid out to us by the founding documents amended as time and the evolution of societal changes require.

If we wish to reinvent the wheel it will only be made possible by a free people operating in free markets in a free society not by the dictates of a bureaucratic soviet centered in a far away capital governed by those whose idea of progress always leads to the point of a bayonet. But the default position of humanity is always towards freedom for that is from which we came and it is towards freedom which we always seek to return.

As a great cloaked conservative minstrel once sang "Time is on My Side"