Jim, you’re no kid, you should know better. Let’s face it, 1994 wasn’t that long ago. ‘The era of big government is over’ and all that.

There is an ebb and flow to these things. I’ve seen the pendulum swing about 4 or 5 times in my lifetime alone.

Liberalism is definitely rising again (who would have thought that in 1994?), but mark my words, it will overreach its hand, probably sooner rather than later. That’s just how these things go.

We Americans been having discussions about what role the federal government should play in our lives for about 250 years. And there have been about 50 or so times in American history where short-sighted people considered the question ’settled’.

In the grand sweep of American history, this moment is a mere blip. Sure, we’ll have a superficial “first” in November, but the underlying philosophical questions will still be there, and in 10 or 15 years, someone will post a question asking, “Is liberalism dead?”

Oh, and the most terrifying year for tornados in Middle Tennessee was 1974:

http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/tennessee.html

I was overseas then. No wonder I didn’t remember it. Were they as common then? I don’t remember that they were.

The pendulum has swung back and forth, but not all that much recently. I think the swings of the future will be dampened as a reaction to the discord between the two parties but that may be wishful thinking - or senility- creaping in.

Slarti, well put. couldn’t have said it better.

Jim: You tanked up on the Clinton cool-aid this morning, didn’t you? :-Þ

Hey, people are reading and commenting on this blog after all.

You know what else I don’t remember from my childhood? Entire school systems shutting down “due to illness.” I mean, what the…? I do remember having to get re-vaccinated for mumps in high school, but never did we miss school because everyone was sick. Nor was there ever a case of bacterial meningitis. And I grew up in Memphis, not some small town.

People might comment more if you put back the Recent Comments feature. Some of us just aren’t going to keep scrolling back to a post, clicking through to the comments, and then scrolling down to see whether anything is new. And we’re not going to keep playing around with feed readers. Indulge us, huh?

This may be the only time you’ll ever see nm and I campaigning for the same thing.

Please reinstate the recent comments! Pretty please?

Oh, no, Slarti, I’m pretty sure we can both get on board the More Korean Restaurants ticket.

Alright, alright, you win this round, people.

i don’t know if the Republican party lost it’s way so much as that a lot of the ‘94 Conservative office-holders claimed a moral high ground and then found it impossible to legislate “values” and led the party into a maze of scandals, social engineering experiments, and a disregard for the Constitution.

there have been bribe scandals, business scandals, sex scandals, a GOP majority in Congress who had zero fiscal restraint, that expanded an historic intrusion of government into every nook and cranny of American life, and which mandated revisions of basic Constitutional tenets … then the blame-throwing at media, at judicial decisions, demonizing the other political party, and other such examples also showed a failure to accept responsibility for their own errors and a lack of leadership skills.

Ivy,

Let me be the first to say thank you!!

Smooches for Ivy! Big sloppy wet ones!

[…] She’s listening. The “recent comments” section is back. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]

[…] at Music City Bloggers asks the question “Is Conservatism Dying?” He mentions the nomination of McCain as an example, but as much as we conservatives […]

I heart Ivy.

BTW, I have no doubt that the modern conservative movement is about to spend an amount of time in the desert.

However, it is also a given that liberals will misread this as “America wholly believes what they believe”, and they’ll make attempts to remake America into Europe light, forgetting the truism that Americans hate soccer, socialized anything, drinks with no ice, and Continental smugness.

We will then do what we always do as a country in times like these - emulate the Japanese.

Slarti, are you suggesting that the good people of the heartland, where there are soccer leagues all over the place, aren’t American? Is this a slam against German-Americans? I’m shocked….

[…] what Jim Voorhies is saying: Conservatism arose in a time when the marginal tax rate went as high as 70%, the economy was […]

nm, let me clarify. I meant “soccer as national sport”. I’ve known enough soccer moms in my time to know that most of them choose the sport because they mistakenly think there’s less chance little Wolfchase or little Courtney will get hurt.

But, when Courtney and Wolfchase grow up, they end up watching football and March Madness with everyone else.

Want to go to Gerst Haus?

We need to have a blogger gathering where there is an abundance of spätzle and beer.

… the modern conservative movement is about to spend an amount of time in the desert.

However, it is also a given that liberals will misread this…

without a doubt in both cases. These days middle of the road has taken on the hue of liberal.

Slarti, we already had a mini-meetup at Gerst Haus and we, um hated it.

No, Conservatism is just “reloading.” And on many of the issues you referenced, the policy arguments have not been made in a compelling fashion. Ironically, I think that someone like McCain may be able to make them in a compelling fashion (e.g., insufficient revenue isn’t gov’t’s problem, and spending restraint is a Conservative, not Liberal, value). I think progress almost always moves at a 3-steps-forward-2-steps-back pace.

lesley, hate is too kind…

[…] Stooksbury has linked to this post, in which I refuted Jim’s statement that conservatism is dying, by declaring it […]

You could have titled this post “proof by anecdote.” Unfortunately, that logical fallacy is ubiquitous among candidates and the media that report on them.

Had my purpose been to prove something, I might have been a better title. Since my purpose was to start discussion and comments, I didn’t.

Sorry, as a first-time visitor to this blog, I am not acclimated to the dynamic here. You are right, I suppose - drawing vague and nebulous conclusions using logical fallacies is likely to provoke comment. See, e.g. the NYTimes editorial page or any talking heads news show. Here’s hoping you experience Chris Matthews-like success rather than ‘Crossfire’-like failure.

Neil, Jim,
Before this gets out of hand . . .

Here’s this a pic of the waitresses at the Gerst Haus gathering . . . looks like fun to me.

Neil:

I’m guessing you’re not a liberal.