Charles Davenport Jr.: Slumbering giant shows it still has a pulse
If we imagine politics as a tug-of-war contest, Tuesday, Nov. 3, represented a dramatic shift of momentum. Only a day earlier, liberals stood on dry ground, as conservatives wallowed in the waist-deep muck into which they were (deservedly) pulled a year ago.
By late evening on Election Day, it was clear that the right, with the help of independents, had dragged the left knee-deep into the pit. In the days since, it has been fascinating to observe the reaction of pundits, journalists and political activists, in Greensboro and elsewhere.
Let us begin with an observation from the home front. Asked about the victory of political newcomer Bill Knight over Mayor Yvonne Johnson, the Rev. Cardes Brown, head of the Greensboro chapter of the NAACP, said he doesn't know Knight very well, but continued as follows: "I certainly think as a community, that person who is in the position of mayor should be concerned about all of us being one community rather than having a divided community."
Isn't this ironic? The NAACP cultivates and thrives on a "divided community." The Rev. Brown speaks for an organization that, by name and in its deeds, seeks the advancement of colored people, to the exclusion of others. Doesn't it stand to reason that we would become "one community" much more quickly in the absence of race-based, racial-agitating organizations? Mayor-elect Knight reportedly "does not want Greensboro to dwell on racial issues," and most of us consider this a refreshing attitude.
Greensboro is a microcosm of national election results in the sense that, in many contests -- most notably the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia -- voters expressed a preference for smaller, more efficient government.
Since last November, champions of the Nanny State have overreached. The Democratic Party has awakened the sleeping giant of conservatism by several means: a failed economic stimulus plan (the unemployment rate remains above 10 percent); a job-destroying and environmentally ineffective cap-and-trade initiative; a prohibitively expensive and arguably unconstitutional reform of health care; and a weak-kneed foreign policy that appeases tyrants.
In many quarters, prior to Election Day, the slumbering giant was mistaken for a corpse. In his new book, "We Are Doomed," the hilariously misanthropic John Derbyshire writes, "If I stare hard enough at the corpse of American conservatism, I sometimes fancy I see a slight twitch or a passing flush of color." Derbyshire must have been astonished by the Election Day results.
Chris Fitzsimon certainly was. Fitzsimon, executive director of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch, authored an op-ed that appeared in these pages last week in which he argues that the election "did not provide compelling evidence that voters have rejected President Barack Obama and thrown in their lot with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh."
Fitzsimon repeatedly sneers at "the tea-party crowd" and denounces congressional candidate Doug Hoffman (N.Y., District 23) as a "hard-right conservative," a "right-wing talk show darling, praised by the likes of Beck and Limbaugh."
As evidenced by Fitzsimon's op-ed, progressives have an apoplectic fit at the mere mention of Limbaugh, and the reasons are obvious: He is extremely effective, and liberals have no authoritative radio voice of their own. Therefore, "El Rushbo" has become the left's favorite bogeyman.
In truth, however, "hard-right conservatives" and the dreaded "tea-party crowd" listen to multiple radio hosts. They also gravitate toward Fox News and read books and magazines. Much to the dismay of tolerant, open-minded leftists, there are alternatives to The New York Times, the CBS Evening News and NPR.
Perhaps those "right-wing talk shows" are to blame for the defeat of gay marriage in Maine, a state that teems with homophobic, hard-right, tea-party types. (I jest.) Thirty-one times, in various states, the issue has been put before the voters; 31 times, it has been defeated. In all five states where gay marriage is legal, is was imposed by a judge, or written into law by a rogue legislature.
The people have never approved gay marriage. In fact, 30 times, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been voted upon; 30 times, they have been approved. Isn't it strange, how the zealots of direct democracy disapprove of direct democracy when it doesn't validate progressive opinion?
The traditionalist, the advocate of smaller government and lower taxes, does not take kindly to being maligned and dismissed as a "radical" or a "tea-bagger." His philosophy, we learned on Election Day, remains a force to be reckoned with. Barring a significant change of course, the conservative will announce his displeasure in even more dramatic fashion in 2010.
Charles Davenport Jr. (cdavenportjr @hotmail.com) is a freelance columnist who appears alternate Sundays in the News & Record.
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