Tanenhaus considers Edmund Burke and Disraeli as the definers of what conservatism really is. Politicians and writers like Dwight Eisenhower, Whittaker Chambers, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Nancy Kassebaum would be considered "classic conservatives."
Classic conservatives basically believe that government can be used to make a better society. They aim to keep what's good about government, and discard what the government doesn't do well. Classic conservatives believe that big corporations should be supervised, and that government is a benign force, if supervised and pruned back properly. Classic conservatives embrace our country as it is, but may want to make some adjustments here and there.
The "movement conservatives" of today believe that government is a malignant tumor that should be killed off in toto by cutting off the blood supply - tax dollars. The new conservatives believe in no real supervision of big business, that "the market knows best." The new conservatives believe "we've lost our country" and must find it.
The recent attacks on a Republican nominee for Congress in New York by Sarah Palin, Todd Tiahrt, Glenn Beck and others in favor of a third-party Conservative candidate forced her out of the race. Those who aren't idealogically pure must be uprooted like a tooth from a jaw.
Sam Tanenhaus describes these type of self-described conservatives as "revanchists," who distrust government and society. He argues that the "movement conservatism" of today is profoundly unconservative----because it wants to dismantle government in toto, give big business no rules, and wage a culture war.
The Kansas legislature was once run by classic conservatives: consensus-driven realists who believe in the virtue of government. For decades the legislature was run by a group of moderate Republicans and Democrats who wanted Kansas to have the best colleges, schools, highways, and law enforcement. Former legislators Mark Parkinson, David Adkins, Elizabeth Baker, Bud Burke and many others would be fine examples of moderates who just wanted Kansas to have a lean and strong government. They loved our state and it's institutions.
Those days are over. The group of 11 or so "rebels" or "movement conservatives" who
vexed Republican Governor Mike Hayden so much are no longer a fringe group - they are running the show. And the only announced candidate for Governor for next year is one of their ilk: Senator Sam Brownback. His constant mantra is to reduce, reform and eliminate government.
But isn't KU government? K-State is government. So is Fort Hays, Pitt State, and Wichita State. Why dismantle these institutions? Don't we want our colleges to be the best? The grade school down the street? Why defund that? The roads you drove on today, the police officers who kept your city safe last night? Why would you want to destroy them and defund them, so that they die on the vine? Why would you not want to honor KPERS commitments to teachers? Why not put the public good ahead of a few big corporations?
The "revanchists" in Kansas have led the Republican party into a deep canyon. And they are about to have full control of the governership, and both houses of state government. They are making a huge gamble that people want KU, KSU, the highway patrol, and every other state entity defunded. They want to dismantle the whole ball of wax, not to conserve what is good and correct what isn't.
I think people will reject this slash-and-burn movement, but it may take awhile. When schools close down, when KSU lays off 100 professors, when law enforcement runs short, and prisoners are released due to funding cuts, people will start to say: "What are they going to do next, take down the "Stop Signs" on my street?.
Yes, Senator Brownback and his ilk will tell you that they love KSU, that they love our teachers, that they love our KBI and Highway Patrol, and that these institutions are
not replaceable. But their governing philosophy jeopardizes these institutions whether intended or not.
Republicans with the governing philosophy of Dwight Eisenhower, Nancy Kassebaum
and Gerald Ford don't dare run for office in Kansas - because they can't win the primary. Things have gone to the right, to the right, further to the right. Things are to the point where the word "conservative" is no longer appropriate for many so-called "movement conservatives."
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