The Price of Incoherence

It's nice to see that conservatives are finally abandoning the Bush administration, citing Iraq, overspending, and failure to deliver on conservative social policy. But do you know what bothers me? That conservatives weren't alienated by the rampant corruption and failure to protect civil liberties. As far as I'm concerned they're still pseudo-fascists.

Many believe that the Republicans are going to take a pounding in the midterms, but that the long-term future of the party is still bright. I'm not so sure. The Republicans are a coalition between corporations, nationalists, cultural traditionalists, and libertarians. If any of these factions actually get what they want, then the coalition runs into trouble. Corporate domination leads to low economic growth and corruption, while influence by "values" voters alienates independent voters and libertarians. Imperial expeditions like Iraq inevitably end in disaster. Harsh ultranationalism alienates emerging swing constituencies like Latinos. And small government conservatism requires massive cuts to social spending that people actually like.

So it turns out that conservatives have an enormous problem cementing majority status, because they simply can't deliver the goods. Boo-hoo.

In other news, I think Dean is right, and that this should be our position on immigration.