The Political Hat

     At this point it has become stale trope to view anything other than an overt war with a strict demarcation of allies and enemies, must itself then be either an open enemy or a pernicious and subversive one. Much of this comes from a mistaken and inaccurate analogy that politics is war, when in reality it is oft more akin to spy-craft or other sub rosa machinations.

     As Machiavelli put it, to succeed one must be both the lion and the fox. Alas, some are to ready to demend all lion all the time while demanding a purge of the foxes with a hatred only rivaled by members of the U.K.’s Tories…

     Col. Kurt Schlichter, for example, seems to take this view in an essay presumptuously called “Conservatism Is Not A Suicide Pact“:

“The whiny wailing and rending of garments (mostly bow ties) by the True Cons over President Trump pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio brings to mind another president’s choice when a loyal supporter was the victim of a liberal witch hunt. President Bush was an honorable man, but the way he allowed Scooter Libby and the Libby family to be ruined and impoverished over what everyone knew was a skeevy liberal political vendetta before issuing a partial commutation is to W’s lasting shame. His excuse: the Rule of Law or something. “

     Right off the bat, the good Colonel is tied up with his own unwavering principles and gentlemanly way of fighting. This is not per se a bad thing, for restraint in actual war is necessary. But again, war is not a good analogy for politics. These superficial niceties exist for a reason. They allow one to maneuver, strike more efficiently, form necessary temporary alliances, and otherwise cover for one’s own side’s weakness. Additionally there is a justifiable concern that if we abandon principles to win, then those principles will never be regained; this is not a declaration of surrender, but merely dissuasion from this particular mode of attack.

     Assuredly, there are plenty Republicans who will happily sell-out, just as there are those who are honestly more moderate or even liberal at times. The Republican party is just a coalition of various interest groups and political philosophies. White the Left and their tool, the Democrat Party, have the benefit of orienting themselves not as a unified philosopher for one thing or another but of unifying against the perceived common enemy. In this way, Col. Schlichter’s and others’ call is not about being conservative, but about being strictly anti-Leftist.

“But, as anyone willing to see knows, today the Rule of Law is a unicorn and it has been for a long time. I like the Rule of Law, and I’ve been warning for years about what happens when it goes away. Yet we are where we are, whether we like it or not. We’re in a land where the law is only intermittently and selectively applicable. Allowing allies to suffer in an effort to pretend that all is well is not going to bring the Rule of Law back. Nostalgia for the Rule of Law no excuse for tolerating an injustice to an ally. Hell, undoing injustices is what the pardon power is for.

     Therein lies another assumption: That the rule of law and all constraints area already gone with the other side acting however they please, meaning that those conservatives who call for restraint and the rule of law are merely preemptively surrendering in order to “loss like a gentleman”. This is demonstratively false as if it were true, Col. Schlichter would have already been sent to a Gulag or worse.

     There are constraints and barriers. Even if they are hollowed out they nonetheless serve to not only constrain, or at least force the enemy to advance via pathways that are reverseable, but ultimately present a guide back to the rule of law that Col. Schlichter wants back.

     The simplified concept of just fighing back using the Left’s overt tactics assumes that that is the actual fight. It also presumes an otherwise equal footing, or even having superior positioning. Both are questionable, at best, assumptions, and belies a superficial understanding.

“What will bring the Rule of Law back? How do we get to the Conserva-Eden we are expected to act like we already reside it? Perhaps another statement of principle? Maybe another post on some unread conservajournal? I know – how about more complaining about how frustrated conservatives are uncouth and should just sit there and take whatever fascist garbage the left dishes out?

     As opposed to emoting and fulfilling that desire to scratch that itch to do something—anything–no matter how ineffective or even self-destructive it may be. Lashing out based on one’s feelz is not the most optimal strategy.

     This aversion to overt emoting is not based on some suicidal desire to die like a gentleman, at least for most, but rather an understanding that it is the open hostility and clear demarcation of friend vs. foe which stands as the gentlemanly fighting with one hand behind the back, and may be less effective than someone with both hands behind their back concealing a dirk or garrote.

     It is understandable why so many feel the need to have clear demarcations. Plenty of politicians have lied, sold-out, &c. But that is the nature of the beast, and the elected officials are not the core problem, they are the downstream result, and mere surface veneer of the true core problems. You can not win if you do not fight the core of the underlying problem, and to a large degree this means fighting sub rosa, and in a way that will not be emotionally satisfying or comforting to the scared and beleaguered.

“I always thought it was conservative to punish wrongdoers. The other side abandoned the Rule of Law, so I would think that they might – maybe – learn a lesson by experiencing the consequences of their bad choice. But apparently punishing wrongdoers is now off the table because some other principle, of which I was unaware during nearly four decades inside conservatism, requires we never ever retaliate. “

     If we are going to engage in transformative politics (or counter the same) then we must eschew the oh-so-gentlmanly thinking of virtuously punishing the wicked. Conservative principles are what we are fighting for, and by extension our American heritage and values; these are what we seek to protect–to conserve if you will. How these battles are fought are by more Machiavellian means, provided of course that those means do not become destructive of the ends, for the means do not always justify the ends that you will get.

“My plan is to cause the left so much pain by applying their new rules to them that they give up trying to grind their Birkenstocks into our faces forever.

“…

“See, I reject the notion we are ever somehow morally obligated by conservative principles to lose to liberals.”

     By tossing out the “rules of law” then you will have aided and abetted the Left by removing the schackles that they could not have taken off themselves, at least not yet at any rate.

     Col. Schlichter then asks:

“So, my finger-wagging True Con friends, what’s your plan? “

Well, by fist shaking angry-Con friend, let us examine some less histrionic alternatives!

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