1 Boring Old Man

Bill O’Reilly has a new book, Culture Wars. But he’s just, as always, a hanger on, capitalizing on the long-standing rhetoric of Patrick Buchanan.

Patrick Buchanan was a journalist for the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat for forty years before he became  the unflinching anchor for his particular brand of American Conservatism. He made the move from journalism to politics proper as an advisor to Nixon’s campaign for the Presidency in the mid 1960’s and later Nixon’s advisor. After Nixon’s resignation, he moved to become the regular voice of the far Right on television talking-head shows. In 1992, he made a credible run for President against George H. W. Bush, running again in 1996 [Republican Party] and 2000 [Reform Party].

The agenda Clinton & Clinton would impose on America — abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat — that’s change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God’s country.

While Patrick Buchanan has remained on the edge of government, he has been, in my mind, the catalyst that has facilitated the modern Conservatism. In my mind, he’s been a stong force in adding the Religious Right, the anti-immigration movement, the war on the judiciary, the anti-homosexual intitiatives, and the Pro-Life agenda to the more traditional Conservative plate.

His consistent message is that the Left, the Liberals, are trying to change America – to create a hegmony [the dominance of one cultural group over all others] through control of the media. I recall the Republicanism of the past, traditional Conservativism, Goldwater Conservativism, and they weren’t this color. At least in my mind, they have taken on a distinct Buchanan hue over the years.

I may be giving him more credit than he is due. He may be articulating what many others are saying. But, he’s such an outspoken, rebellious sort, I doubt that he’s a "mouthpiece" for anybody. I, at least, see him as a source. He’s still at it.

It’s time for rebellion against judicial tyrants

By Patrick J. Buchanan
October 27, 2006

If Gov. Jon Corzine wished to make himself a hero to Middle America, the opportunity is at hand. All he need do is inform the New Jersey Supreme Court he will neither submit nor sign the law it has ordered enacted – to put homosexual unions on a par with marriage.

At root, what that 4-3 decision ordering the Legislature to enact a new law sanctioning civil unions or gay marriage is about is: Who governs New Jersey? It is about who decides what law shall be – elected legislators or judges appointed for life.

…

"Who rules?" That is what is at issue in New Jersey.

For 50 years, this nation permitted the Warren Court, and its successors and imitators in the state courts, to create a body of judge-made law that has altered the character of our country, very much for the worse.

Again and again, the people have voted for candidates for president, Congress and governor who promised to bring down the curtain on this half-century of judicial tyranny. But still the judges persist in issuing orders that have no basis either in precedent or in the written constitutions they have sworn to defend.

Such judges need to be defied and they need to be impeached. Not obeyed.

Patrick Buchanan is a smart man. He is somewhat correct that there is a Left leaning hegemony in the movie industry. Maybe there was in the Press, though nowhere near the level he proposed. But now, the opposite has been true. The prominance of the Right and the Religious Right has been deafening. To my way of thinking, Patrick Buchanan has been one of the forces that has fueled the divisive and prejudiced climate in America – a climate that threatens to destroy a lot of what has been great about this country. In the article cited above, Buchanan rales on and on about the court governing. He thinks that if a majority of Americans want to relegate homosexuals to a marginal place in society, that’s the way it should be.

A careful reading of our Constitution says the opposite. Our Founders recognized that Democracy can be mob rule. They put in a system with checks and balances to specifically deal with that possibility – the courts – which monitor the majority rule for violations of the rights of certain groups. He wants to control the character of our country by defying the courts. America is a dynamic country, built to change with the times. Buchanan’s "freeze-dried" America – frozen in the 1950’s, is neither part of our system of government, nor desirable. Whether Patrick Buchanan is the author or a just a supporter of modern Conservativism, for all of his brilliance and influential rhetoric, he is, at the end of the day, simply a selfish and prejudiced man.