Blogs For Victory

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. – Barry Goldwater, July 16, 1964

While the groundwork was laid by others, it was these words by Barry Goldwater which launched modern American conservatism on its path – initially to crushing defeat, eventually to sublime victory. Goldwater was much criticized for those few words, with some holding that the use of the word “extremism” doomed his candidacy in 1964. If that is the case, then never was defeat more glorious. Goldwater stood forth and, in an America which had been fed on liberal, Democrat lies for three decades, told the truth.

We are faced, here in 2011 and going in to 2012, yet another of what Ronald Reagan called, “a time for choosing”. We will decide, over the next 21 months, just what sort of America we’ll have. We will either rise to the occasion and rescue our nation from the last gasp of liberalism, or we’ll fail and our nation will suffer calamity. As we go through the battles of the next two years one thing we will need is unity. All of those who are in favor of liberty – religious, personal and economic – must unite against the common foe. Only thus can we be sure of victory – and a victory resounding enough for us to obtain the power necessary to undo what amounts to a century of folly. In pursuit of this unity, some are calling for a muting of what we fight for – a truce, as Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana termed it. A burying of the social conservative/libertarian hatchet in favor of victory in 2012. Daniels explains it:

…Here I wish to be very plainspoken: It is up to us to show, specifically, the best way back to greatness, and to argue for it with all the passion of our patriotism. But, should the best way be blocked, while the enemy draws nearer, then someone will need to find the second best way. Or the third, because the nation’s survival requires it.

Purity in martyrdom is for suicide bombers. King Pyrrhus is remembered, but his nation disappeared. Winston Churchill set aside his lifetime loathing of Communism in order to fight World War II. Challenged as a hypocrite, he said that when the safety of Britain was at stake, his “conscience became a good girl.” We are at such a moment. I for one have no interest in standing in the wreckage of our Republic saying “I told you so” or “You should’ve done it my way.”…

Indeed, Churchill did do that – and one should note that back in 1911, the British Empire spanned the globe. One fourth of the world’s people were under the British crown. Now Britain is a decidedly second-rank power – really dwindling to no more than the island off the coast of Europe it was in days long gone by. While Winston Churchill’s claims to our affections will never die – he did stand up against monstrous evil when others were willing to compromise with it – in the end he did compromise with evil. Sure enough, to fight an immediately more threatening evil…but when you shake hands with barbarians, you will lose. At the end of his life, Churchill noted that he had accomplished much to, in the end, accomplish nothing at all. What he fought for – a strong Britain as a pillar of the liberty and peace of the world – was done for.

There is no first, second and third best way to do things. There is a right way to do things, and a wrong way. We must always try to determine the right way to go, and then go that way. Nothing must ever deter us from doing what is right – certainly, we must not surrender part of what is right to defend another part more immediately threatened. Governor Daniels is absolutely correct that, at the moment, economic and fiscal matters predominate. We must get our financial house in order and we must restore our economy – but we must never lose sight of why we need to fix our financial and economic systems: because of the need to provide a financial basis for decent, hardworking men and women to create, grow and defend their families in the world. The family is the foundation of all – right now, it is besieged by a host of enemies, and the frail economy and threatened national bankruptcy risk the whole institution.

It will, though, behoove us nothing to have restored the economy if, in the meanwhile, the enemies of the family are able to advance the other parts of their destructive agenda. If, say, we’re concentrating on lower taxes while they are concentrating on advancing gay marriage. If we’re busying eliminating the Department of Energy and they are expanding pornography and violence in the popular culture. If we enact a balanced budget amendment while they indoctrinate yet another generation of kids via the public school system. We have to do what is right – not just in one area, but in all areas. Temporary expediency has its place in politics and compromise is always a requirement in democratic republic…but never, ever surrender the battle. Never declare a truce, because the other side will never abide by it.

Pleas don’t think I’m picking on Governor Daniels here. He’s just the most articulate and reasonable advocate for the so-called truce over social issues. He’s clearly a man who has thought about things and isn’t acting from any animus towards social conservatism. He’s just, in my view, got it wrong. We must fight the whole war – lest in winning one battle, we lose the whole thing.