Conservative Donnybrook

Hey everyone, remember me?

Just a quick note to mention, since secession is a topic that crops up here every now and then, that Daniel McCarthy has a thoughtful post up on the subject, in effect a paleo word of ambivalence on the subject.

In particular, on the issue of constitutionality in the case of the US, he writes:

The answer is that the Constitution neither allows nor forbids secession — the Constitution’s answer, in effect, is “don’t ask that question.” That’s the correct answer because responding to the question of secession in any other way would destroy the Constitution: even if only a few states secede, once the principle is granted, any state may leave whenever it pleases, weakening the Constitution to nothing. But if secession is not possible at all, the states may not leave even when the central government becomes overbearing, and if this principle is established in fact — as it has been — the result is the destruction of the federal system, rendering the Constitution a dead letter. The only way to have kept the Constitution intact was not to press the question in the first place.

Sounds about right to me; the arguments on the subject that I’ve heard, pro and con, have a certain legalistic character, a tendency to take some disparate historical and legal threads and try to weave an airtight case when it can’t really be done. The subject is left unaddressed in the Constitution for a reason. But granting McCarthy’s take on the subject, is a stable, decentralized, federalist system possible at all over the long run?

… it would behoove us here at the Donnybrook not to dwell on that sordid, pathetic tale. Instead, I would like to remember the life and death of another celebrity who recently passed away.

Edward McMahon, whose famous laugh on the couch next to Johnny Carson’s desk made Americans chuckle along, was an entertainer, father of six, and a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel. (He would later receive the rank of Brigadier General in the California Air Guard.) Having enlisted in the Navy in 1942, Ed studied flight in Texas, Georgia, and eventually at Pensacola, where he completed his Naval Aviator flight training and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He was denied the opportunity to fly in Pacific combat because the exigencies of the service demanded that his superlative skills (particularly at landing on the flight decks of aircraft carriers) be better used to train new aviation cadets, teaching in the famous Vaught Corsairs and Wildcats. Ed was discharged in 1946, but was reactivated during the Korean Conflict. He flew unarmed OE-1 Birddogs as a forward air controller/artillery spotter. He flew 85 missions. He was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious conduct while engaged in aerial service 6 different times. The OE-1 Birddog was an unarmed aircraft. The average return rate during the Korean Conflict for FAC/AS pilots was less than half. Ed stayed on in the Marine Corps reserve, retiring in 1966.

Ed has slipped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God. Rest in Peace, General McMahon.

Much has been made of Sarah Palin’s departure from the Alaskan governor’s mansion.  Pundits, hacks, “reporters” and the vast unwashed of the American public each have their own theory as to why Proud Palin punted political purveyor-ship.  The answer:  no one really knows.  No one, that is, except Roger Stone.

Veteran political consultant Roger Stone has enlighted the world with his version of Palin’s perplexing  punchout.  According to Stone, it was simply brilliant political positioning that not only saves the state of Alaska money and time, but sets Palin up for the perfect presidential posturing.  According to Stone, “In fact, resignation as Governor was necessary to preserve any prospect that Palin could be nominated and elected in 2012 or beyond.”  

Stone also goes to great lengths to show how Nixon did the same thing and, viola, a president was inaugurated!  Stone writes:

It was 1962. Richard Nixon had had enough. Enough of being called “Tricky Dick, the man no one would buy a used car from.” Enough of the elitist derision that had come his way since the Hiss case. He had had enough of the liberal media who consistently held him to a higher standard than his Democratic opponents and poked fun at his lack of sophistication – he being the son of a grocer. So Nixon blew. He announced the end of his career in seeking elective office; “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” Six years later he was inaugurated as President of the United States.
…

Sarah Palin

This moment came last week for Sarah Palin and her husband Todd. Sick of the derision of the media for her unsophisticated country ways, her plain speaking and consistently being held to a higher standard than her critics, Palin had had enough. Palin resigned as Governor and, like Nixon, did not reveal her future plans. A follow-up FACEBOOK posting for her legions of admirers was clearly written in her own hand as it is plain-spoken and blunt.

Palin has the most valuable commodity a Presidential candidate can have – a base. Roughly 23% of Americans and 68% of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin. She alone has this kind of intense following. She alone can fill a large hall or small stadium anywhere in Republican Country. This is similar to the following that sustained Nixon through two defeats and his ‘self-destruction’ in 1962 to win the White House in 1968.

Like Nixon, Palin needs some rehabilitation to her political image caused by the relentless attacks of the elitist media, the knife-work of the relatively talentless Republican Party pros like Steve Schmidt and her own self-inflicted wounds from the post election period that were born out of inexperience at this level of political combat. Like Nixon, Palin can re-make herself in the controlled environment of television. Instead of being tortured by smug media types like Katie Couric, Palin can demonstrate her better understanding of issues and articulate a case against Obama. She can be folksy and plain-spoken and above all, ‘smart.’ All hail the Conservative Oprah!

But there is one major difference between Palin and Nixon: Nixon was smart.  Palin, on the other hand, appears, well, jovial but not that intelligent.  Sure, she has a following but this is largely a reaction to the media’s constant lambasting of the Northern Nanny Stater.  She is hailed as a ultra conservative republican with the credintials to win elections.  Yet for all the talk, she often sided with the liberals and democrats in the Alaskan legislature.  She runs a state that is famous for its welfare state and federal subsidies.  As my father put it, her job is slightly less important than that of the Cook County dog catcher’s. 

I know, I know, she was unfairly targeted by Couric et al.  But if she can’t fend off the ”attacks” of a nincompoop like Couric,  she doesn’t stand a chance against real journalists.  I mean, since when is “where do you get your news from?” a hard question?  I applaud Palin’s family values, her gutsy entrance into American political culture.  But she is in over her head.  She simply is not smart enough, quick enough or conservative enough to get my vote for anything other than governor of Alaska.  And no amount of extreme make-over candidate edition from Fox News will cure that.  Let’s move on.