Politics

Gunfight at the DU Corral

Yours truly, blazing from the right, will face syndicated columnist David Sirota, firing lefthanded, in a University of Denver classroom on three Wednesday evenings starting Jan. 23. It's a noncredit course for adults, part of the enrichment program of DU's University College. "Politics 2008: The Battles from the Statehouse to the White House" is the title. David and I will team-teach one session on the presidential race, another on contests for the US House and Senate, and a third on state legislative races, all featuring the predictable liberal-conservative disagreements between us, but kept civil by our shared love and respect for the American political process.

The prolific Sirota has already invited signups for the course via two local blogs, Square State and Colorado Pols, as a well this Editor & Publisher item two weeks ago under a New York dateline (woo woo). I am hustling to catch up with him in the self-promo department, using the mighty platform of my radio show and this website, as well as the PoliticsWest.com site where we blog together..

If you enjoy a hot crossfire of ideas -- cooled by facts -- why not join us for the political preview course four weeks hence? Fee is nominal and some spaces remain; the limit is 50. Click for details and registration.

Flash: Santa is a conservative

The worst Christmas song I've heard this year has to be Bruce Springsteen's tuneless rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Yet by forcing me to think about the lyrics, the Boss delivered a flash of insight: conservatives do the jolly old elf a grave wrong in calling him the patron saint of something-for-nothing Democrats. We should claim Santa as our own. Listing who's been bad and good, naughty and nice? Warning us not to cry (play the victim) or pout (cast blame and act entitled)? There's little difference, when you think about it, between St. Nick and St. Newt. George Will himself could hardly be more stern and judgmental. Santa Claus rightly understood is a far cry from the unearned redistribution of John Edwards or the syrupy hope of Obama.

Even if recast from the unnerving red-clad (red, Republican, get it?) bearded geezer of yore to the more kid-friendly persona of Mr. Rogers, as David Grimes recommended in Sunday's Denver Post, Father Christmas remains a no-nonsense apostle of good conduct, rigorous standards, and time-honored traditions. The "Santa's Coming" song, even when butchered by Springsteen, is just the opposite of that favorite left-liberal anthem, "Anything Goes."

Jeffrey Bell, writing in the Weekly Standard, offers a great Christmas gift for all of us on the right with this masterful summary of what the left really wants -- a total repudiation of St. Nicolas and his strictness, a hot revolution that would melt the North Pole faster than you can say Al Gore:

    "The goal of the left is the liberation of mankind from traditional institutions and codes of behavior, especially moral codes. It seeks a restoration (or achievement) of a state of nature, one of absolute individual liberty--universal happiness without the need for laws. The proposed political way stations chosen by the left in its drive toward this vision have [included]: abolition of private property (socialism); prohibition of Christianity and/or propagation by the political elite of a new civil religion to replace it; confiscatory taxation, especially at death; regulation of political speech to limit the ability of certain individuals or classes to affect politics; the takeover of education to instill new values and moral habits in the population; confiscation of privately held firearms; gradual phasing out of the nation-state; displacement of the traditional family in favor of child-rearing by an enlightened governmental elite; and the inversion of sexual morality to elevate recreational sex and reduce the prestige of procreative sex."

Some agenda, huh? It adds up to the exact opposite of "be good for goodness' sake." And notice, by the way, that this injunction from Santa Claus, courtesy of songwriter Haven Gillespie, doesn't merely appeal to utilitarian self-interest. Rather it invokes a moral absolute which, when obeyed, is its own reward. A pitch-perfect echo of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" and "Theory of Moral Sentiments," in what you thought was just an empty Yuletide ditty. Mirabile dictu!

Lest we forget, however, the true reason for this season is neither St. Nick on the right nor Holiday Hillary on the left, but the baby born in Bethlehem. The Prince of Peace transcends liberal and conservative. He is a miracle even more mysterious than a large man ascending a small chimney. None of us is good enough to deserve His unspeakable gift, salvation and life eternal, yet none of us is so bad as to be disqualified from it. Here indeed is a present worth unwrapping. A merry and, yes, a holy Christmas to all.

Tancredo did 'Isaiah's job' well

Not only has Tom Tancredo exerted the greatest leverage of any Coloradan who ever ran for President. His endorsement of Mitt Romney is one of the most important the former Massachusetts governor has received, and it couldn't come at a better time for Romney's embattled campaign. Tom's backing will help Mitt say, "See, I'm your guy," to voters leaning toward all his major rivals in Iowa, New Hampshire, and the other early states. Against Huckabee, Romney can use the endorsement to show he's acceptable to a leading evangelical congressman and to heighten the contrast between his tough immigration position and Huck's mushy one. Ditto, as far as immigration is concerned, for Romney's urgent task of blunting the McCain surge in both Iowa and NH.

Thompson arguably has a purer hardline stance on securing the border than Romney does -- yet Mitt can now say that Mr. Immigration himself, Tancredo, looked the field over and picked him, not Fred. Likewise, Giuliani is unmatched in talking about taking the fight to the terrorists -- yet Tancredo, the most candid of them all in calling out radical Islam (think of his shopping-mall ad and his comments about bombing Mecca), didn't sign up with Rudy. No, the big Tank wheeled in alongside Romney's Rambler.

So there had to be joy in Mittville today. There should also be pride and gratitude in Tomtown. As many others have said, Tancredo put the illegal immigration crisis smack in the middle of this presidential campaign -- for both parties, no less -- when it was being ignored before he got in the race, and would likely still be ignored today had he not gotten in. He took on what Albert Jay Nock in a classic 1936 essay called "Isaiah's Job," the lonely prophetic task of saying what no one else will say at a critical time. As Nock imagines the Lord telling poor Isaiah back around 700 BC:

    "There is a Remnant there that you know nothing about. They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can. They need to be encouraged and braced up because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build up a new society; and meanwhile, your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it."

Tom Tancredo is my congressman and my friend. I hoped he would run for president, and wrote an early column predicting it. I've used this blog to cheer for him and sometimes to chide him. I sent him a biggish check, and Romney a smallish one, and they are the only two candidates I've donated to this year. On this day, his 62nd birthday, and on Tuesday, Christmas with his well-loved family, Tom deserves to feel much satisfaction that the battle -- this round of it, anyway -- is over for him, for now, and that it has sharply awakened our political elites, as he hoped it would, to what the preservation of nationhood requires. Job well done, Isaiah.

Congratulations, Rep. Bruce

"The name of Douglas Bruce is synonymous in Colorado with fidelity to the Constitution, protection of the taxpayer, and selfless dedication to the common good," a leading conservative wrote prior to Bruce's win on Dec. 1 for a state House vacancy appointment in Colorado Springs, adding: "Never have those qualities been more needed in state government than in these times of secular progressivism on the march." The endorsement letter, now posted at DouglasBruce.com, concludes: "You have my gratitude for two decades of heroic work in the cause of TABOR, and my best wishes in winning the HD-15 seat." It was signed by yours truly -- from which it will be obvious that my evaluation of Bruce's usefulness in the legislature differs sharply from the negative appraisal in David Harsanyi's recent column for the Denver Post.

I wish my friend David, in seeking quotes about Doug Bruce from ex-legislators, would have gone a few more clicks into his rolodex and called former Sen. John Andrews instead of, or in addition to, former Sen. Norma Anderson, who is the very essence of a big-government Republican, a bossy grandma closely allied to that nanny state which Harsanyi so dislikes, and herself a master of the same acid, superior tone which supposedly disqualifies Bruce from effective public service.

I could have topped all of Harsanyi's anecdotes about the off-putting Bruce style twice over, based on long personal experience back to my 1990 campaign for governor against Roy Romer, when the TABOR author was simultaneously my valuable ally and a frequent complication to my efforts. But I would have pointed out, bottom line, that TABOR did run 10 points ahead of me that year, barely losing, and that since its ultimate success on the ballot two years later, it has made more of a beneficial difference for liberty and limited government in Colorado than anybody (me included) who served, or hoped to serve, as governor.

Libertarian conservatives like David and me should make no mistake about it: much credit is due Douglas Bruce when the history of our state from 1980 to 2020 is finally written. The laws, made by legislators and governors, are where the government tells the people what to do. But the constitution is one level higher; it's where the people tell the government what to do. For his leadership in altering Colorado's constitution back toward the intent of our power-suspicious Founding Fathers, Representative-elect Bruce deserves the gratitude of all, even of those who don't happen to know it.

That said, why do I believe his influence as a member of the General Assembly will weigh more in the plus column than in the minus, for friends of freedom like Harsanyi and Andrews? Because I believe, as stated in my endorsement letter to Douglas Bruce, quoted above, that the times call for the telling of hard truths and the drawing of bright lines -- even when some of the resulting discomfort, mainly felt by Democrats, may also spill onto my fellow Republicans. And Mr. Bruce, while he's no cuddly Sudanese teddy bear, is one of the few who can and will take on that thankless role.

In his candidate speech to the GOP House District 15 vacancy committee last Saturday, Bruce argued he scores pretty well on a "five I" test of integrity, intellect, issues, impact, and image. I recommend you read the whole thing on his website (see pdf file partway down left column). But notice in particular the candid self-awareness, and sardonic self-deprecation, in these closing paragraphs:

"The last 'I' test is Image. Here's where I am faulted. When liberals push silly schemes, I disagree. The media magnifies conflicts, so I'm called 'disruptive' by those who resent dissent. They wish our side would be silent, meek, passive, asleep, invisible. Fighting Big Government is always risky business. The Left hates to lose, so it takes revenge, using the politics of personal destruction.

"Yes, I am serious, intense, idealistic, and goal-oriented. I want to help all God's children to be free. Yes, I'm still working on my charm deficit. I plan to invite each legislator to a meal, one-on-one, to explore possible points of agreement. With liberals, those areas may be few, but I will still make the offer....

"Merely challenging the status quo is not 'making trouble;' it is the first step towards reform. To blow the whistle on wasteful spending requires making a noise! As for social graces, I admit I prize candor over coyness, substance over style, political principles over personal popularity. Tact is not my strong suit, but I'm trying. (Some would say I'm very trying!)

"I've always followed the advice that, before criticizing anyone, you should walk a mile in his shoes. That way, your opponent is a mile away, and barefoot!"

Douglas Bruce in the Colorado House of Representatives is going to be quite a spectacle, no doubt about it. Stay tuned for the fireworks when he takes his seat and the session opens next month. Barefoot opponents won't be the half of it.

You can expect Rep. Bruce to proclaim at every opportunity that the left-liberal emperor has no clothes at all -- bare naked yet shameless about it. If we want to revive the constitution and save the Republic, somebody has to say that. I believe Doug is just the man.

Where are the great?

(Denver Post, Dec. 2) Midgets everywhere. Rappers, starlets, shrinks, scolds, facilitators, litigators, hustlers, hucksters, victims, vegans. Ours is the age of the shallow, the small, the squalid. Where are the great? “There were giants in the earth in those days,” says Genesis. Granted, every era magnifies the memory of bygone times. But what now passes for excellence in manhood and womanhood, thought and expression, moral and civic life, would make our grandparents shake their heads. For a third of a century we’ve lived in a house I call Marcus Bend, after my mother’s father, who helped buy it. I’m here surrounded with books and mementoes as the old year wanes, sobered by Christmas clamor, candidate noise and war news, wondering and worrying: Where are the great?

Stacked on the desk are “From Dawn to Decadence” by Jacques Barzun, “America: The Last Best Hope” by William Bennett, “The Abolition of Man” by C.S. Lewis, Winston Churchill’s memoir “My Early Life,” an FDR biography by Conrad Black, books on Chesterton and John Paul II, “The Western Canon” by Harold Bloom, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Ivan Denisovich” and his Harvard address. Collectively they look upon 2007 and frown.

The scholarly Barzun, who turned 100 last week, is a great man of our time and a worthy judge of greatness. His book, a history of civilization from 1500 to the present, warns of today’s “urge to build a wall against the past…a revulsion from things in the present that seem a curse from our forebears.”

He writes of the 20th century as a time when elements that “made the nation-state the carrier of civilization… a common language, a core of historical memories with heroes and villains, compulsory public schooling and military service… were decaying and could not be restored.” He hopes for a 22nd century when boredom may stir new “radicals” to study afresh the old texts, “the record of a fuller life,” from which the West then rediscovers “what a joy it is to be alive.” Of the present century Jacques Barzun is less hopeful.

By what sickness of the soul could America and other nations blessed with the heritage of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia come to see all of this as “a curse from our forebears?” Solzhenitsyn, another contemporary great, gives the diagnosis:

“The West has finally achieved the rights of man, and even excess, but man’s sense of responsibility to God and society has grown dimmer and dimmer…. All the celebrated technological achievements of progress do not redeem the 20th century’s moral poverty.” It is not true, insists the Russian giant, that “man is above everything.” Nor is it right that “man’s life and society’s activities should be ruled by material expansion above all.”

Courage, faith, integrity, and honor, ordinary virtues harnessed to extraordinary gifts, constitute human greatness or the potential for it. Guy McBride, retired president of the Colorado School of Mines, and Vernon Grounds, retired president of Denver Seminary, have that heroic stature with me. Some of those books I’ve found so inspiring, by or about the great, reached me through them.

Great souls ennoble our world in big and little ways. Think of the late Bill Hosokawa of the Denver Post, or former Sen. Bill Armstrong. Is there a touch of that in Peter Groff, recently chosen as Colorado Senate President? We’ll see.

Over the centuries, nations flourish and fade in a cycle, the Scots philosopher Alexander Tytler is supposed to have said. Out of bondage come faith and courage, then liberty and abundance. But when these breed complacency and apathy, dependence ensues and bondage returns. If this sounds like an American self-portrait, we need to value greatness more.