NEWS: RIP Neoconservatism, 2006

Leg's point isn't that Republicans won't get re-elected, it's that neoconservatism won't be resurgent because various high-profile neocons are disavowing it. Republicanism and neoconservatism aren't identical by any stretch of the imagination, except in the past couple of years.

Well, and this isn't to point the finger at you specifically, but high profile members of the SG Conservative group (and outspoken conservatives on this site generally) were very loathe to say anything at all negative about the Bush administration here on the CE boards. Negativity towards the US government was taken to be the usual whining of the dominant SG "liberal intelligentsia". I myself wrote extensively in the nascent newswire about the don't-tax-and-spend embrace of deficits by Shrub's team, and was howled down by one conservative after another who were convinced that the economic outlook in the US was about to be made miraculously better by the provision of wealth transfers to the wealthy by means of selective tax cuts.

When I pointed out that deficit-financed tax cuts are really transfers of the tax burden into the future, I was sneered at by more conservative commentators than I can count telling me that "Well, my tax refund check looks real to me!" It's as real as your bank refunding this month's mortgage payment but then tacking it on to the end of your repayment plan, with interest.

I even had Mike try to claim that there was never a budget surplus under Clinton. After I explained (several times) that Mike was confusing budget deficits with government debt, he just got annoyed at having been shown to be mistaken, and put me on Ignore.

So, my point is, while I do not believe the words intelligent conservatism to be an oxymoron in principle, I am repeatedly made sad in principle by the low level of quality of intelligent discourse -- the defensiveness, the name-calling (Stirfry's repeated "liberal pussies" comes to mind), and the complete unwillingness to engage in proper debate -- that has characterised most of the political discussion here on SG.

And, sadly, I think that's typical of how political discourse has been shaped in the US since (at least) the mid '90s.

And I don't see signs that there's a huge groundswell of thoughtful, careful, intelligent conservatives who were willing to criticise Bush from the early days and who are now looking forward to rejuvenate the Republican party as a serious and respectable alternative party of government.

I wish it were otherwise. The US polity continues to worry me.

(Like I said, this isn't a fingerpoint at you. You've been more of a free thinker than most.)

Uh. There was only one person who wasn't actively participating in the mockery of the "your" chain.

Trust me, it bugs me just as much as any other person who respects the English language, but if you're going to call someone out on it, make sure they weren't being facetious in the first place... Thaaaanks.