House of Eratosthenes

First of all, I think you should read this. It’s a list of the comments Neal Boortz had to make about a new book by David Frum, about how Republicans need to stop being Republicans and conservatives need to stop being conservatives. It’s got a bunch of comments under it. Twenty-something last I looked…but now, up to 76. I can tell you back when it was just twenty-something comments, that pretty much each one was meritorious and more than worth the time taken to read it. I don’t know if that’s still true.

Elisabeth’s viewpoint comes closest to my own…

I think the author [Frum] is an idiot. Just look over the past few decades, the further Republicans get away from conservative ideas the greater the flop. The more they stick to conservative ideas the better they do. George Bush ran in 2000 on much more traditional conservative values, such as a humble foreign policy. McCain went much further away from true conservative ideology, and look where that got the party.

Sure there are a lot of liberals out there, but the real problem is that the Republican party is alienating a lot of potential supporters by getting away from the conservative values! Those who voted for McCain are die hard and will vote Republican no matter what. There are others who vote on ideology and they are jumping ship and moving to third parties!

Here’s your winning formula for 2012: Policies, policies, policies. The Republican candidate should hit the campaign trail for about twenty months, consistently sounding-off on a common theme: YES Barack Obama is one cool cat, because He has to be. It’s His policies…they don’t work. You have to have really cool people with lots of charisma, to sell policies that don’t work. This is why smart, experienced people tend to get skeptical when they’re sold things by charismatic people — and fools tend to keep on listening to the charismatic people. Which one are you?

You didn’t vote on policies in 2008. Now it’s four years later and you have a chance to redeem yourselves.

Next up…blogger friend Rick ran up an excerpt from Verum Serum that really made me think a lot, and I hope it makes you think too. I really can’t see a way to hollow it out or pare it down. So here is the whole thing.

THE CAVE PEOPLE (Adapted from a story by Max Lucado)

LONG AGO, or maybe not so long ago, there was a tribe who lived in a dark, cold cavern. The cave dwellers would huddle together and cry against the chill. Loud and long they wailed. It was all they did because it was all they knew to do. The sounds in the cave were mournful but the people didn’t know it, for they had never known the joy of life.

But then, one day, they heard a different voice rise above their pitiful wailing. “I have heard your cries,” it announced, the words echoing through the cave. “I have felt your chill and seen your darkness. I have come to help.”

The cave people grew quiet. They had never heard this voice. The message of hope sounded strange to their ears.

“How can we know you have come to help?” asked one of the tribe.

Out from the shadows stepped a figure they had never seen before. “Trust me,” he answered. “I have what you need.”

The cave people peered through the darkness at the stranger. He was stacking something, then stooping and stacking more.

“What are you doing?” one cried, nervous. The stranger didn’t answer.

“What are you making?” one shouted even louder. Still no response.

“Tell us!” demanded a third.

The visitor stood and spoke in the direction of the voices. “I have what you need.” With that he turned to the pile at his feet and lit it. Wood ignited, flames erupted, and light filled the cavern.

The cave people turned away in fear. “Put it out!” they cried. “It hurts to see it.”

“Light always hurts before it helps,” he answered. “Step closer. The pain will soon pass.”

“Not I,” declared a voice.

“Nor I,” agreed a second.

“Only a fool would risk exposing his eyes to such light,” declared a third.

The stranger stood next to the fire. “Would you prefer the darkness? Would you prefer the cold? Don’t rely on your fears. Look to the light and take a step of faith.”

For a long time no one spoke. The people hovered in groups covering their eyes. The stranger stood next to the fire. “It’s warm here. Come, join me.” he invited.

“He’s right,” one from behind him announced. “It is warmer.”

The stranger turned and saw a figure slowly stepping toward the fire. “I can open my eyes now,” she proclaimed. “I can see.”

“Come closer,” invited the fire builder.

She did. She stepped into the ring of light. “It’s so warm!” She extended her hands and sighed as her chill began to pass.

“Come, everyone! Feel the warmth,” she invited.

“Silence, woman!” cried one of the cave dwellers. “Dare you lead us into your folly? Leave us and take your light with you.”

She turned to the stranger. “Why won’t they come?”

‘They choose the chill, for though it’s cold, it’s what they know. They’d rather be cold than have to change.” The stranger looked sad.

“And they would rather live in the dark?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, they would rather live in the dark,” said the stranger.

The now-warm woman stood silent, looking first into the darkness and then at the man in the light.

“Will you leave the fire?” he asked.

She paused, and then answered, “I cannot. I cannot bear the cold.” Then she spoke again. “But nor can I bear the thought of my people in darkness.”

“You don’t have to,” he responded, reaching into the fire and removing a stick. “Carry this to your people. Tell them the light is here, and the light is warm. Tell them the light is for all who desire it.”

And so she took the small flame and stepped into the shadows.

As I read through this I had two thoughts…simultaneous, but directly contradictory with each other.

First, the stranger is Barack Obama. That is Obama’s message, you know. You poor shivering dimbulbs don’t even know what enlightenment is, and here I am to show you.

The second, is that the stranger is my message about conservative as it should be offered in 2012. Which means the Obama-fans are the fearful, clammy, starving simpletons.

Where the second analogy really comes to fit with reality, is with this ignorance the cave-people have with regard to what light is. That’s your overly-enthused Obama voter. Don’t forget — these are people who built their entire identities around politics in 2008, and yet in that year, thought Republicans were running the Congress. These are people who think the planet is gonna die, but if you unplug your coffee pot from the wall, by golly, it just might have a fighting chance. These are people who knew all about Sarah Palin’s son really being her grandson (which wasn’t true), and that she said she could see Russia from her house (which she never said), but never knew a single thing about Joe Biden’s frequent, almost daily, gaffes.

These are people who think our economy is going to get stronger when the rich are taxed so heavily that nobody makes any money doing anything.

These are people who, when you corner them with the poor logic of their so-called “arguments” — what is it they say? “Together we can do this.” It doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we do it together. So they huddle together for warmth, in the cold and in the darkness.

It fascinates me endlessly — Barack Obama is at one end of this equation in symbolism, from where He is in the equation in substance.

Neal, the answer to your question is self-evident. For conservatism to win in 2010 and 2012, all it has to do is be prepared to lose. Because deep down, we all understand that truth has no desire, no inclination, no urgency to be perceived right here and now. This is why when a car salesman tells you a deal is going to work in your favor today and today only, you should pick up all your stuff and run in the opposite direction as fast as your little legs can possibly carry you.

Conservatism should be the piper that you can pay now…or later. It is sound policy, whether it is popular this year or not. It is the truth you can accept when you’re in your twenties, or your thirties, or your forties. It is the notion that this thing works, and that thing does not.

That will win. Someday. And it won’t be long in coming.

Pretending to be an imitation-liberal, like David Frum wants…that could easily go a generation or two, maybe three, without a sensible voice in power for a single day. Like those disastrous years from Jimmy Carter’s administration, repeated for thirty or forty years.

The choice belongs to everyone. We’re all acting like our minds are made up. But in reality, everyone is listening to everybody else…because at this point, very few people really understand what a working strategy looks like. For parties, or for the country.

How can you be so right and yet so wrong? Politicians don’t drive policy, politicians conform to what society demands. That’s the only way to get elected? Policy, policy, policy? What do you think Rush Limbaugh does? What do you think Neal Cavuto does? What do you think Neil Boortz does? What do you think John Stossel does?

How popular are any of them? Could any of them get elected? Not a chance, but Al Franken can.

How did George Bush get elected? Because Clinton committed repeated felonies and acted disgracefully. And yet George Bush lost the popular vote.

Good policy is being broadcast to Americans daily, and has been for decades. Americans don’t listen, and the problem is getting worse, not better. With Obama campaigning for president of the world, Americans won’t even care that he’s campaigning at our expense.
- JohnJ | 04/09/2009 @ 00:03
And in 1933, liberalism was elected and stayed in for…twenty years.

In 1961 it was elected and stayed in for…eight years.

In 1977 it was elected and stayed in for…four years.

In 1993 it was elected and stayed in for…~~eight~~ less than two years.

We’re getting snookered alright, m’friend. But we’re not staying sold on it. Start saving up for that steak.
- mkfreeberg | 04/09/2009 @ 00:23
Cave people? Reminds me of Plato’s “Allegory of the cave”
(Greek Philosopher, 427?-347 bc)
Smart cat that Plato!
- Pixelkiller | 04/09/2009 @ 00:29
Yes, it’s based on that. I should’ve worked in a mention of it, by failing to do so I robbed it of some of the depth.

That is, after all, the whole point: If you’ve only known darkness and cold, warmth & light will be uncomfortable and strange to you even though your body craves them — and you wouldn’t know them if you saw ’em.
- mkfreeberg | 04/09/2009 @ 08:28

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Shivering in That Dark CaveWednesday, April 8th, 2009

Shivering in That Dark Cave
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009