October 18, 2009

HAVE YOU EVER LISTENED TO A WORD HE'S SAID?

David Frum is absolutely wrong.  I would bet anything you'd ask of me that Glenn Beck would rather be penniless than to sell out on his values and principles.  I would guarantee it.  Frum is dead wrong, which makes me wonder if he's ever even listened to Beck in the first place.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:40 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Frum asked, "Do Limbaugh and Beck Believe What They Say?"

I'd like to ask him the same thing. I bet he probably does.

Some believe one thing and say another.

Others believe what they say, but not all of them retain the same core beliefs over time.

A lack of retention is not necessarily a bad thing. I myself have changed enormously over the years. Am I evil because I'm not a Leftist anymore?

The problem is when one becomes Y but still claims to be X.

Frum still regards himself as a conservative. Yet he has mutated into the perfect nominal opponent of the Democrats. Different, but not too different. Not too radical. Safe. Weak. Like the Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party in North Korea which can never threaten the Workers' Party of Korea.

Why does Frum call his site newmajority.com? Because he feels liberals are the majority and he wants to be part of it. He cares what others think. He wants to be one of them.

America has changed (= liberalized), so 'conservatives' must also change (= liberalize). Frum wants American conservatives to be like British and Canadians. Listen to him in this video starting at 0:03. I couldn't stand to listen to any more of it.

Perhaps Frum believes that those who have not become RINOs, who have not 'evolved' to a 'higher', more Leftist level, must be clinging to the past for profit.

Or perhaps it's all projection on his part.

I don't really care what he thinks. I have no idea. I shouldn't speculate. It is sufficient to condemn what he says.

You may want to read "Is Glenn Beck Good for Conservatives?" which is more like "Does David Horowitz Think David Frum Is Good for Conservatives?" The short answer is 'no'.

Frum is a disgrace. I don't envy him. Who wants to be a 'court conservative' surrounded by Leftists?

There will be no token liberals in the gulch.

Posted by: Amritas at October 18, 2009 05:29 PM (h9KHg)

2 Sorry, here's the correct link to the video:

Frum: Conservatives must adapt

Maybe I couldn't bear to link to it.

If Frum has gone liberal, I'm OK with that. I don't know him personally. I don't feel betrayed. People switch sides all the time. Personal beliefs don't hurt me.

What upsets me is how he wants others to follow his lead and build "a new [non-]conservatism that can [supposedly] win again". Frum can believe whatever he wants, but does he have to try to drag us down with him so he won't feel lonely?

Why should we support RINOs who are doomed to lose? Why would a liberal vote for a guy who offers almost as many handouts? Why would a conservative vote for a guy who offers handouts at all?

Winning isn't everything. Being small r-right is what matters. If only a few people are right, so be it.  I'd rather be one of them than part of Frum's new majority.

If most people start believing 2 + 2 = 5, Frum will advise us to believe it, or at least to 'admit' that 2 + 2 = 5 ... sometimes. I'd ignore him. Truth is not democratic.

Again, changing your mind is not inherently wrong. The question is, do you change it because you want to be (un)like everyone else*, or because you think you're closer to the truth?

(*Being a deliberate contrarian is as bad as being a lemming. Rejecting something just because everyone else believes in it is still a form of caring about what others think, of letting others determine your thoughts, of not using your brain's full potential. What a waste.)

One more thing: Although there is no inherent reason that the word conservatism has to mean what I think it does as opposed to what Frum thinks it does or something completely different, we need some degree of consensus on what a term means, lest it become meaningless.

'Fascist' is almost meaningless. Nowadays it simply refers to whatever the speaker doesn't like, regardless of whether it resembles Mussolini's ideology or not. It's just a more politically flavored synonym of 'bad'.

Will 'conservative' mean 'almost liberal'? Will a new term like 'traditionalist' arise to take its place? That term has its own issues: e.g., which traditions does traditionalism stand for? All of them? Some of them? Maybe there's no point in discussing a new term now if we should try to hang on to the one we've already got.

Posted by: Amritas at October 18, 2009 06:07 PM (h9KHg)

3 I think they do believe what they say. I mean, what a waste of an article. It's not like Olbermann, O'Reilly and all the other opinion hosts just woke up one day and decided they wanted to be famous and though really hard about what their tactic would be. That's such  a ridiculous statement from Frum, however, I do have to say that although I like the message, I don't like Glenn Beck. I mean, he really gets over the top sometimes...like when he starts crying about stuff...seriously? Come on, Glenn. You're not Oprah. It's supposed to be an opinion news show.

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at October 21, 2009 08:57 AM (irIko)

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