Sunday, December 19th 2004
Terminate conservatives
Outrageous, but depressingly unexpected (at least by me), words from our Governator.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move “a little to the left,” a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has taken an unorthodox approach since winning office last year — standing by a promise to toe a conservative line on fiscal matters while veering leftward on social issues such as gay rights and the environment.
I’ve never really been an Arnold guy. He does do some good, like his speech at the convention this past summer. And if he brings in some new Republicans, who end up voting for other Republicans on the ballot, then that’s a plus. But I have no regrets about voting for someone else in the 2003 Recall. It was my first time voting, and I was glad I could vote for someone I really wanted. But Arnold won, and I was cautiously optimistic.
I really don’t think he has “toed a conservative line on fiscal matters.” He always seems to support the costly propositions every election. This state is in need of some major spending cuts, and we aren’t seeing much of that either. He is supposed to be a disciple of Milton Friedman, but President Bush looks better in comparison (haha, but at least he’s serious about social security and tax reform).
Notice that I haven’t said anything about going to the left on social issues. I would like him to take a more libertarian, laissez-faire approach to social issues. But he probably wants the government more involved in these things, whereas I would prefer it minds its own business. I doubt he would take a truly liberal stance on the War on Drugs, or other victimless crimes (which the Left doesn’t either). But none of this matters because, libertarians are also fiscally conservative.
That said, I’ll support Arnold in 2006 if he campaigns for Tom McClintock for Lt. Governor. So hopefully by 2010, we can have a real conservative Republican to save California.
Um, ok.
Schwarzenegger has said recently that the Republican party should swing left as compared to its current position. I wonder why?
Conservatives openly support this man as Governor and he isn’t cut from the same cloth as “real” conservatives. I mean, he even supports things like the Stem Cell initiative and so many more so-called “liberal causes” (as I do).
Also, isn’t he a typical Hollywood actor that conservatives love to hate?
I say be careful about what you ask for: it can come back to haunt you.
Comment by Nicholas Smith — 12/19/2004 @ 7:02 pm
Well, he thinks that by moving left, the GOP can capture a larger portion of the middle, and that they also would not lose any conservatives by doing this. I think that this is a flawed assumption.
California Republicans basically have no choice but to support him, because he is the product of our push to recall Davis. I supported McClintock, but Arnold is better (by a bit) than Bustamante would have been.
If we extend this to a national level, then the picture changes. These left of center Republicans, like Arnold or Rudy, are popular in their local areas (CA, NY) because those places are left of center themselves. But nationally, they are far too liberal to retain the conservative base.
You bring up the Stem Cell Initiative, which Arnold supported. I don’t see how he could support that and still call himself a fiscal conservative. Yet somehow everyone refers to him as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. That measure wasn’t even about pro-life or pro-choice, it was about whether or not we should control spending during a fiscal crisis.
And he isn’t a typical Hollywood actor anymore, he’s a politician. We expect him to express his political views, it’s his job.
All that I am asking for is that he governs as a fiscal conservative. If what he’s doing now counts as fiscal conservatism, which the media is trying to portray, then he is basically just another liberal. And if he wants the rest of the party to move this way, than that is what would really haunt me: the death of a once grand, old party.
Comment by patr — 12/19/2004 @ 7:54 pm