Why the conservative talking heads are wrong

  I don’t listen to the nationally syndicated conservative talk show hosts all that much, preferring instead to listen to local talk radio programs, but I do usually tune into Rush Limbaugh at lunch for a few minutes to hear what he has to say, and I do put on Sean Hannity on the way home from work when Howie Carr is on a commercial break.

  Rush Limbaugh is almost totally unpalatable because–when he isn’t too busy talking about himself or promoting his iced tea–of the way he revels in the bad economic news, and the joy he seems to take over the unemployment numbers while ordinary Americans are feeling the pain of those numbers is off-putting. And while I find Sean Hannity’s show to be more realistic and down to earth I find these two talk show hosts–and frankly, most conservative talk show hosts to be missing the larger issue.

   From what I have been able to glean from my admittedly small listening sample of these two conservative talking heads it appears as if Limbaugh and Hannity seem to feel that all we have to do is elect Mitt Romney, or any other Republican, and all our prayers will be answered; the country will miraculously turn around, and we will be saved from the impending doom. I believe they either don’t understand the true depths of the economic calamity about to befall the nation or they are so blinded by party loyalty that they are purposely ignoring the truth and are touting what is best for the party but not necessarily is best for the country. I do not think it is a case of not understanding.

    First, here is where they are right; if Barack Obama is reelected he will hit the gas pedal and drive us over the cliff at a high rate of speed leaving America burning in small little pieces on the ground below. But here is where they are wrong and what they are ignoring; while they believe that anyone but Obama would be a better option, the truth is that while Mitt Romney will ease off the gas pedal he will gently steer us over to the cliff before we teeter off. America will still be left burning in small little pieces on the ground below, the only difference will be the rate of speed at which we plunge over the cliff.

   And the same is true for whomever the Republican nominee would be; the only man talking about making real cuts in spending, and not  just slowing down the rate of future spending, is Ron Paul–and he is considered a kook for talking about real cuts–but even if he were to somehow win the nomination he will never get the support of the Congress needed to enact his agenda and we will still be headed toward the proverbial cliff.

  This is where the problem lies, it is going to take more than one elected official to make the changes needed to stave of the economic meltdown, and I don’t see any way in the near future enough people will make it to Washington based on a truly fiscally responsible platform to make any difference because the people really don’t seem ready to hear the hard truth. We also have to change the entitlement mindset that has infiltrated a growing portion of the population and that is not going to be an easy task at this point. The mere fact that Ron Paul is considered a kook for proposing real changes shows us how difficult a proposition this really is.

  America needs more than simply an alternative to Barack Obama if we are to survive, and that is what the conservative talking heads seem to be ignoring or forgetting; ridding ourselves of Barack Obama would be a fine start indeed, but if it isn’t coupled with electing a person who is willing to take a stand and put his political career on the line–the way Scott Walker did in Wisconsin–and unless it is coupled with a Congress serious about making the tough choices then it is all for naught. Again this leads back to the people; are they ready to give the reigns over to the type of people who will make the tough decisions even if it means a cut in government benefits?

  Mitt Romney is not that person, he will bend to the polls on all issues because he has no core political beliefs, and quite frankly with the exception of Paul Ryan, I don’t think there is anyone in Washington who truly understands what will happen to the United States if we do not make serious inroads in the very near future at curbing our debt and our spending. Yet the conservative talking heads are speaking as if Mitt Romney is the answer to all of our problems and they are doing this based on the fact that he is not Barack Obama, not on what he stands for because nobody really does know what he stands for. Ann Coulter’s sudden conversion into becoming a Mitt Romney supporter is a perfect example of this; she vehemently opposed Mitt Romney and stated he needed to be stopped at all costs, until the day when she suddenly reversed course and basically called him the Republican savior and the only person who could turn this country around. This is where a person loses credibility and this is what is wrong with the conservative talking heads.

  The conservative talking heads are trying to put a smiley face on this election because they want the people to rally around Mitt Romney and help him defeat Barack Obama simply because he is a nominal Republican. In doing so they ignoring the depth of the problem and all this does is help to mask the problem and we will all be worse off because of it. Any conservative who is being honest with himself cannot look at the Bush years and consider that period in our history to be a fiscally responsible time. Sure, the spending under Bush looks tame compared to the current regime, but spending has been out of control for many years and both parties have been responsible for it.

  Until the politicians of the country get serious about this issue, and unless the people finally come to the realization that this level of spending is unsustainable, we will continue to head towards the cliff and the only question will be, who is driving the bus? Simply ridding ourselves of Barack Obama isn’t enough, and that is what the conservative talking heads are missing and that is why they are wrong.

  Until we get our entire system under control we will continue down the same path. Many of our political leaders on both sides of the aisle have been corrupted by special interests and once elected the first thing they must do is repay the special interests for their loyalty or risk losing their support in the future, this naturally means that the people they are elected to represent take a back seat as the agenda of the special interests are pursued.

  John Carey of Sentry Journal has written an excellent article entitled “What are conservatives trying to conserve” in which he talks about the ills of simply following one party because one thinks a certain party is the lesser of two evils. Here is how he opens the article:

Some time ago I wrote an article titled “I’m not the same conservative I was five years ago.“  In it I tried to explain my own evolution from being a conservative who blindly followed the establishment narrative to one who no longer was willing to give the establishment a free pass.  I learned that big government statists were not limited by party affiliation.  In fact many statists can be found in our own conservative party.  I decided it was time to take off the party goggles and view the issues through the eyes of an American who loves liberty.  It took some time and a great deal of reading to course correct my direction but when I did I realized how wrong I had been about many things.  It made me take a hard look at myself and ask what I was trying to conserve as a conservative

  By definition the lesser of two evils is still evil and John Carey gets this, and he has helped me to get this as well. Now if our politicians–and those talking heads who loyally support the politicians simply based on party affiliation–would get this we would all be better for it. The conservative talking heads are still talking about protecting the status quo, the only difference being which party is in charge of the status quo, and that simply isn’t good enough because that is how we got into this problem in the first place.

 This is more than a fight between Democrats and Republicans because we have reached the tipping point in this country; this is a fight for the future of our country, for the heart and soul of America, to determine what type of nation we will be living in for generations to come. We need to return this country back to its founding roots, anything less will be the end of the country as we know it.