The Conservative Majority

I have to admit that I am getting a little nervous. I first realized I was a conservative while sitting at the City Drug Store in Jonesboro Arkansas, while sipping on a cherry coke. It was 1977. The next year I arrived at the University of Arizona only to be surrounded by people who viewed conservatives the way I viewed bell-bottomed jeans: as something that had best be forgotten. Almost all of my professors, and pretty much all of my fellow students (in so far as they had political views) were liberals. On a campus of some thirty thousand students, the College Republicans could sit around a single long table.

Those were the days! Being in a small, oppressed minority has a lot going for it. You can be righteously indignant, you can insist that everyone else is doing it all wrong, and no one will pay much attention to you, let alone consider your ideas. In such a position, there is no fear of repudiation. That state, safe and warm and well-nourished by the American Spectator and the National Review, came to an end in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected. Since then, conservatives in particular and Republicans in general have had to answer for what their elected representatives actually did.

Fast forward to the present, and it gets worse. Gallup's sample of likely voters this year shows that 54% consider themselves conservative, 27% call themselves moderate, and 18% identify as liberals. Wait a minute. Conservatives are a majority? When did that happen? Hint: the last two years had something to do with it. Compare those numbers with 1994. Back then it was Conservatives at 40%, Moderates at 48%, and Liberals at 12%. That's the year when Republicans captured both houses of Congress.

Liberals have always been a small part of the electorate. That's tolerable when 88% of the press and maybe a larger share of college professors, and pretty much every government bureaucrat or public union employee is part of the 12%.

I am not sure what to think when I am suddenly part of the majority of likely voters. It isn't just nationally, either. In Wisconsin, liberals make up 20% of likely voters, and moderates 33%. Conservatives are 47% of that group of people who will actually vote. That isn't a conservative majority, but conservatives outnumber liberals by more than two to one. Moderates are probably breaking Republican by two to one as well. No wonder Russ Feingold is in deep doo doo.

Just right now, conservatism is surging. God gave us Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. That doesn't mean that God is on our side. It might mean the opposite. If Republicans capture both houses of Congress, they will have to figure out what to do with them. I am not sure that anyone knows what to do. Conservatives have every reason to enjoy this moment. Next January, things are going to get tough.

Comments

[Betty]

The entire platform of the Constitution Party is on the web. That gives a pretty good idea of what Christian Reconstructionists like Jim Demint will be trying to use Republican senators to do. Dominionist (Christian Reconstructionist) strategies for social transformation, based upon the 7 mountains mandate, can be seen at the 7 mountains web site.

Christian Reconstructionist Republicans don't plan to compromise even with other Republicans.

[Bill Fleming]

I'm hoping these stats reflect a redefining of the word "conservative"
in the US, to mean "fiscally" as opposed to "socially" conservative.

Personally, I think they do, but this particular poll doesn't have sufficient
data to support my hypothesis. There are however, others that seem to.

[Donald Pay]

The interesting thing about these polls is that people will apply a label to themselves at all. And when you dig deeper, you'll find that about half of the people who consider themselves "conservative" actually support what many would consider "liberal" programs, policies and ideas.

[Bill Fleming]

Don, that of course, is because certain conservatives have spent a fortune making the
word "liberal" at once both an epithet and a pejorative. :^) Orwellian doublespeak at its finest.

[Bill Fleming]

(...some of them practically choke when they begrudgingly have to admit that ours is a "liberal democracy."

[Miranda Flint]

Well, that might work, Bill, if liberals didn't do the same thing to the word "conservatism." Because they do, I suspect there might be some other explanation.
Maybe it has something to do with the political performance of the current administration.

[Miranda Flint]

Also, there's got to be more to the cherry coke story!

[KB]

Again, Miranda, you nail me. There is a lot more to that story. It involves a teacher named Jeff Wallin, a book entitled "The Crisis of the House Divided" and another book, "Natural Right and History." Oh, and one more book: The Lord of the Rings. But the cherry coke was really good. They made them with thick cherry syrup.

[Miranda Flint]

I knew this hammer had to be good for something.

I have never thought of combining Lincoln and Tolkien, but apparently they mix well when you combine them with Cherry Coke! One of these days, I hope you'll consider blogging the rest of the story.

[KB]

Okay, one day I will.

[Dzumavo]

This is so mind numbing I feel my IQ drpoping. First of all Oikophobia is more appropriately used towards fear of the familiar as in fear of your house and the appliances therein not culture or nation. What has been described herein is more closely related to Xenocentrism the antonym to Ethnocentrism.Next why do so many right wing politically biased blogs have to resort to Al Gore punching he's a has been and has been that way for a long time so moderates and liberals don't really give a damn. Prince hasn't been popular in years I failed to even realize he was a muslim... and then I failed also to give a damn about it imagine that.Then next point it goes on to say that the top are who cause the fall? Hardly! The one's with this wealth and power are the minority. They have never caused the fall of an empire all great nations have fallen to the hands of the middle class who hold the majority. Also I am curious how do I use Critical Theory to become persuasive? That's oratory my friend simply sharing Critical Theory gets no where. Nuclear plants are acceptable. CO2 is proven to be a greenhouse gas and harmful so coal out and yes scientists have proven global warming it is only in america where it is used as a political tool that anyone denies it.As a blog in general I give you a 3 out of 10 good sir. You were off topic often jumping between persons who don't necessarily have any relevance to the topic to things which aren't even related (such as gas coal and nuclear and greenhouse gas). Then to blame it on Hollywood. On vocabulary usage grammar and speaking I give you a 4 out of 10 you tried to use big words but for the wrong things which lost you points but your a good story teller which I give you some points for. Lastly as a patriotic american I give you an 1 out of 10. Because it's political left-right squabbling and idiocy that has reduced our triple A credit to double A which I find to be the most unpatriotic unamerican thing possible trying to polarize each other to turn on our fellow man. Now straighten up and get your act together!

[Negro]

Great question!Republican is a party afoiailtifn. Conservative is a set of beliefs and principles like small govt., low taxes, individual responsiblity, freedom, etc. Many conservatives are republicans but not all republicans are conservatives.On the left side, most democrats would say that they are liberal or progressive. There are so-called moderate democrats but I've never seen one. They all seem way too liberal for my taste.

[Yira]

100 years ago, it was "I am not a racist, I am a Republican." Now, it's "I am not a Republican, I am a Tea Party Bagger/Racist." Whats next? The Order of the White Sheet?Sorry I just had to go there. Glenny boy gives eeovyrne plenty of raw meat to chew on, and then spit out in disgust.

[Pika]

This is a very broad definition you are asikng for. Not only that, you'll find liberals that have some conservative views (like me) and conservatives that have some liberal views.Abortion: Liberals typically are pro-choice, conservatives are typically pro-lifeWar: liberals typically try to stay away from war if possible. Conservatives will try to stay away, but will do it before exhausting as many possibilities for a peaceful resolution as liberals.Death Penalty: typically, I find Liberals tend to be against it, conservatives for it, but this one really varies from person to person.Religion: Conservatives tend to be religious, Liberals tend to believe in a religion, but aren't as religious. Some extreme right wingers try to shove religion down everyone's throat, Some extreme liberals that are atheist, try to shove atheism down everyone's throat.Gun control: Conservatives tend to be against any form of gun control, liberals tend to be for gun control that is used in crimes, etc., but not guns used for hunting or typical self defense.Taxes: Conservatives tend to be for lowering taxes, and in recent years spending money and making us go into debt. Liberals tend to be for increasing taxes to pay for their programs.Social Welfare: Conservatives tend to be against social welfare, but will be for it in certain cases. For example, where people are laid off, so long as they are required to try to gain employment. Liberals tend to be more for social welfare programs.Environment: Environment is cool and hip, and both sides seem to be for the environment now, but it was only recently that conservatives were for it, because they came to realize that the general populace is for it. You'll still find conservatives that are pretty much against any environment friendliness.There are tons more, but I hope this helps.