Vanderboegh: An Open Letter to Jonathan Chait

Folks,

Jonathan Chait of The New Republic has proclaimed the death of conservatism and free markets here in an article titled "End of an Error: The Twilight of Conservative Rule" in the magazine's 22 October 2008 edition.

I just posted the following reply on TNR's comment page, although God alone knows how long it will last. I'd like to think I ripped the rose-colored glasses off his gloating face and stomped them suckers flat, as Lewis Grizzard would say.

If you like it, kindly forward it on. Maybe we can get the faint-hearted panty waists of all political stripes hyperventilating once again.

Sebastian, is that you? ;-)

Mike Vanderboegh

III

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An Open Letter to Jonathan Chait

Jonathan Chait of The New (People's) Republic magazine has proclaimed the death of conservatism, exulting that it is "the end of an error." As someone who has watched from afar for lo these many years, cursing the Big Government, sell-out-their-own-mothers so-called "Republicans" of whom George W. Bush is the prime example, I would like to pose a question or two.

How is it that an idea can fail, if it's never been tried? How is it that a governing principle can "fail" if it's never been allowed to govern? I tell you truly, Jonathan Chait has yet to see a government run by the Founder's principles. He also has yet to see our economy run according to free-market principles.

In a free market, businesses whose stewards make stupid mistakes are allowed to fail. In a free market, the government does not intervene in capital markets to artificially expand the class of "qualified" borrowers because it believes itself to be the omniscient arranger of "fair" outcomes. (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.) In a free market, the government does not manipulate money policy to the advantage of one class over another (i.e., the Federal Reserve).

In a free market, the government does not regulate some businesses out of existence and give other businesses taxpayer dollars, thereby forcing all businesses into the corrupt practice of lobbying out of simple self-defense. For if they do not play the game, their competitors will. In a free market, this would not be tolerated. Nor would the over-weening oppressive nanny state that Chait and his collectivist friends have been pushing for the past 80 years have been tolerated by the Founders.

Chait is right in one respect. The era of conservative poseurs is over. They have been discredited for all to see.

But even that has unintended consequences.

For the past 24 years, true conservatives, true free market advocates, true advocates of individual liberty in this country, have tolerated the lies and manipulations of the poseurs like the Bushies, because the alternative (they thought) was worse.

Now it would seem that Chait will get his wish. The alternative will be here without political recourse for those of us who disagree. But you may recall the old Chinese warning about being careful what you wish for.

With the fakirs and sleight-of-hand artists gone, there is no hope for the rest of us true conservatives in an Obama presidency, backed up as it will be by an absolutist Democrat majority in the House and Senate. Chait and his ilk will take this opportunity to dictate to us, believing that having the votes of a majority will entitle them to victimize the minority, starting, I will predict, with gun control.

Having no more credible political alternatives as a buffer, the Chaits of this country and their predatory collectivist policies will be in direct contact with the lives and the liberties of true conservatives. Without the lubrication provided by the faux conservatives, that friction will generate heat.

And heat, gentlemen and fair ladies, can generate fire.

The truth of the matter is that the Chaits of this country needed the faux conservatives more than we did. Now that they will be swept, hopefully along with the entire "Grand Old Party," into the dustbin of history, the collectivist Chaits are going to come against, for the first time in a long time, the true conservatives, the true believers in free people and free markets.

Believe me, they are not prepared for that.

In the land they create where the Constitution and the rule of law are overwhelmed by "democratic majority rule," political power, to quote one of their revered elder collectivist statesmen, "comes out of the barrel of a gun."

Mr. Chait, look around.

We're the ones with the firearms.

Just exactly what is it that you're celebrating?

Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com