In an editorial at PJ Media, Roger L. Simon makes a good case for Newt Gingrich. While I do not take serious issue with anything he says, I have such a serious problem with Gingrich’s status as the nation’s leading Drug War advocate that I did something I don’t do often, and left a comment.
Roger, please forgive me if I am too passionate here, but I must speak my mind. Newt’s professorial arrogance and smug attitude are minor in comparison to his stated positions — and actual record — on the war on drugs, which Gingrich wants to ramp up as never before. On that issue alone, I am convinced that the man is a mortal danger to American freedom. It is beyond dispute that wants real war, including executions, SWAT Teams, a total negation of privacy — in short, the worst sort of tyranny imaginable.
Anyone who thinks he is merely spouting rhetoric or floating bad ideas would be wise to read this piece by Radley Balko:
http://www.theagitator.com/2011/11/19/newt-gingrich-drug-warrior-extraordinaire/
While I will never, ever vote for Obama, I am debating whether I will be able hold my nose, take a barf bag to the polls and vote for Gingrich. Even if I possibly can, it would be a moment of personal shame.
Gingrich makes me ashamed to be a Republican.
Whether Newt’s big time Drug War revivalism will prove a total deal-killer for me, I don’t honestly know. Perhaps it is time to do some soul searching. Am I being too much of a libertarian purist? Maybe I am not fully getting the big picture, which is that defeating Obama is Absolute Goal Number One. Maybe I will be able to temporarily overlook my strong opposition to what I see as totalitarian police statism, and pull that God-awful Gingrich lever. Or grit my teeth and punch that despicable Gingrich hole. Or grip whatever ballot marking device they give me and seal my fate as a Gingrich voter by making a mark that will make me live in shame for the rest of my life. Whatever; I am a corrupt enough person that I actually could see myself stooping that low.
I am frankly ashamed to be writing these words. Unfortunately, I have a long history of Gingrich making me ashamed to be a Republican. Back in the mid 90s, I was all gung-ho as a newly minted Republican, and I even imagined that I might be a conservative. Newt threw cold water on my conversion as no one else could have, and I will never forget it:
Gingrich has had a uncanny knack for souring me on conservative politics like no one else. Back in the mid-1990s, when I felt drawn to a genuine flirtation with conservatism by Bill Clinton (for whom I had voted in 1992), I got involved with a congressional campaign by a guy who seemed truly refreshing, and I was all set to help him beat the liberal incumbent. Until that is, he received a public call from Newt which beamed out to the assembled supporters that he couldn’t wait to see the guy I was supporting get elected “SO HE CAN COME TO WASHINGTON AND HELP ME FIGHT AND WIN THE WAR ON DRUGS!”
I will never forget the way that call from Gingrich took the wind out of my sails. My rosy new-found, born-again enthusiasm was stopped dead in its tracks, my heart sank, and I felt genuinely sickened and ashamed of myself. I knew then and there that I was not and could never be a real conservative.
Over the years, though, I have learned that not all conservatives are like that. And even though Gingrich (who wants to use the Singapore-style death penalty against drug offenders) is still there, I refuse to let him make me lose all hope. But the fact is, there is no one on the conservative side who makes me feel more distrustful or more cynical.
So, once again, while I might be able to vote for him, showing any enthusiasm is impossible. A potential candidacy by Newt also raises serious questions about whether I am a “real” Republican. It’s tough to deny that a party’s presidential candidate is its standard bearer, so if a given Republican is not behind that candidate at all, it raises questions over how much of a Republican he really is.
Of course, there were lots of Republicans who couldn’t stomach McCain in the last election, and no one questions their bona fides. Hell, many of them actually refused to vote for McCain, and they derided him as a RINO. Could I get away with calling Gingrich a RINO? Actually, draconian drug war policies were a defining characteristic of Nelson Rockefeller, and Gingrich has already been accused of being a Rockefeller Republican, so maybe that’s not too much of a stretch.
Except calling people RINOs doesn’t set well with me. I don’t like the RINO label and I never did. Besides, the way people get worked up, I could easily imagine the same people who called McCain supporters RINOs calling Gingrich opponents RINOs.
Maybe I should just get used to being a RINO.
Shame on me.
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19 Comments until now
I had the good fortune to be a Libertarian from the 1988 election until 11Sept2011.
I voted for Ron Paul when he was on the ballot.
And I also had the honor of voting for Obama over Keyes.
Me a RINO? I’m barely a Republican (I voted for Bush in 2004 and Palin in 2008). Even in name.
I guess I’m one of those rascally independents. I owe allegiance to no party. I do lean Republican except when they are raving lunatics like Keyes. Or Gingrich.
My latest comment there reads: “Yes, a good argument for Newt. But you have to admit that whether one contemplates Newt, Mitt, Rick, etc… one always gets the sensation of a small bit of vomit , a brief eructation, for a small moment in the back of the throat. Not a lot. Just a little taste.”
Thanks Simon, and thanks Gerard. I have to disagree about Gingrich being a raving lunatic, though. He is a very intelligent, highly articulate, well-read man. I believe his advocacy of ramping up the Drug War is utterly serious, and I think that unlike the usual demagogues, he would actually do what he promises. He is therefore far more dangerous than those who pay the usual lip service.
Hi Eric – I used to read your blog a lot. I first followed a link from InstaPundit, as I recall. I agree that I got a more wide-ranging impression from your posts than that you were a Republican.
I haven’t seen the stuff yet about Newt Gingrich and the War on Drugs. I will look at that later as I am interested to inform myself about Newt’s policy on all areas.
I wonder if you have had a chance to watch other of his speeches. I watched on over the past weekend from 2009, at The Breakers, David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend.” Newt is prescient in some ways in what he said, and his analysis of what the American people need to do to return the country to a constitutionally law-based track. I also highly recommend “MICHIGAN MUST CHANGE OR DIE,” which he gave at the Mackinac Institute in Michigan in June, 2010. Then take a look at his speech to the Staten Island Tea Party from Dec. 3rd, the College Board interview with Paul Gigot, “The Future of American Education,” and “Strong America Now,” a speech in Iowa from earlier this fall.
I have read a lot of Radley Balko and I like him very much. I have also read a lot from others who explain why the War on Drugs is not workable, is not good public policy, distorts the criminal justice system and the prisons, and is not the way to help our people vis-a-vis drugs.
If you take a look at the model of governance Newt is envisioning, you will see that he is asking for help designing better solutions. I heard a teleconference he did on Dec 6th with Small Business (also on YouTube) and he straigh-up asked those on the call to help him design a better EPA (one of the participants said the EPA is killing them, that you have to tie yourself to a tether just to walk near a basement wall). Newt asked him and the other to help him redesign a safety agency that WORKS.
Newt talks about the world that works and the works that fails. He wants us to join with him to create the world that works and transform government to be transparent and accountable and to get off the backs of the American people.
If Newt’s approach appeals to you, you are in an ideal position to help redesign our approach to drugs.
Newt wants to use social media to get feedback from the American people. This is the Quality Improvement model, and they are planning to to use the Lean Six Sigma method.
So I offer these thoughts to you. The beauty of the situation is that you have total power to go and listen to the speeches if you want to. No one can stop you from forming your own opinion based on actual facts. No one can filter the information. It’s all freely available on the internet. So awesome.
It’s essential that we elect people at all levels who love freedom and liberty. The new technology could be used to track citizens and make us all subservient clients of government. Government needs to protect us from government.
After months of watching his speeches and interviews, I now support Newt. It’s impossible to know if what he is proposing will work. It depends entirely on the American people and whether we rise to the occasion.
I think we will. I definitely think we can if we want to . We are the 100%. I want every American to have the opportunity to pursue happiness, which, as Newt reminds us, means wisdom and virtue, not hedonism and acquisition.
I think if Newt is the nominee it is highly likely that we will have a decisive victory. We can use the new technology to transform the way government gets done. We can elect people who understand that the government is the servant of the people.
Thanks for your blog and all you do. I hope we can all work together to make some real improvements. We’re the 100%.
I’m pretty sure we aren’t conservatives. I’m also pretty sure that party lines mean less and less.
And I just saw your post about the drone used against Americans. I’ve been reading on InstaPundit links an, I think, transterrestrial? — about the militarization of our police forces, the sale of military hardware to police, the military training being offered to our police.
The state is going to have technology that can be used to track us in real time. We must elect people how love liberty, who want us to have our freedoms because they believe in it. the new capabilities of technology makes this urgent.
The horror of thinking of an America in which people accept the idea that the government can put up cameras and fly drones overhead and just routinely watch us? Who will watch the watchers?
So I agree, this is very important. Thanks for your post.
Eric, although I don’t have the same visceral revulsion of Newt that you do, I am still not at all enthusiastic about him. As a matter of fact, I’m not enthusiastic about ANY of our potential Republican candidates. Which, from one perspective, is healthy–we should naturally have a certain healthy distrust of our political leaders (unlike the left had with Obama). It helps us keep a clear-headed view of their human foibles and failings, and keeps us vigilant.
As Bill Whittle has said, “Victory is a ratchet.” If you are forced to pull the lever for Newt in November, remember that he may just be a stepping stone on the long path to restoring liberty in America.
My comment to Roger:
Roger — No matter what he thinks (and that changes year-to-year, day-to-day), Newt does not have the ability to inspire. He is certain to be demolished by President Obama. Let’s hope for a clean slate of electable candidates in 2016 (Christie, Rubio, Daniels), because Newt is a certain loser.
Newt Gingrich has just found his salvation in the Roman Catholic Church. As someone who was raised in it, educated in parochial schools, and has been a Catholic most of his life, I can tell you that the cliche about converted Catholics being more religious is true, from my limited observation anyway.
It’s as though they must prove how fucking holy they are. The church would be draped in black during Lent, and with Rosary beads in hand we would make our way through the Stations of The Cross, moving from alcove to alcove. New converts would crawl on their knees, and after stopping to pray, jam a clenched fist into their stomachs as hard as possible with a “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” and then crawl onto the next station. No blood running down from the skull like the Shia, but nevertheless a purifying ritual cleansing the evil and seeking forgiveness.
That is what I see in the reformed Newt Gingrich – a man who is out to cleanse his soul and that of the nation. If it means torture, death for druggies, or holy war, all the better. He is unhinged from reality and is a danger to our country.
Pull the lever at your own peril.
Well, reformers tend towards reform. It may be in vain, but my hope is that Gingrich might be capable of seeing the wisdom of calling off the war on drugs, just as the Catholic Church once did with the Inquisition.
Just as it took Richard Nixon to reverse course on China, it might take a drug warrior to say enough is enough.
(Not that I am counting on such a thing happening, mind you. But I need my denial as much as anyone.)
My impression is that Gingrich is smart but likely to believe anything.
On the other hand, he changes his mind when persuaded about something outside his field.
So you can hope that a good argument will produce the right policy when he errs, unlike the current always-right President.
Economics might be one of those fields.
For me, the ability to own up to a mistake and say, “That was dumb,” goes a long way. I can guarantee you I won’t be smiling as I exit the voting booth, but that will probably change when I see the election results later that night.
Gingrich wants to use the Singapore-style death penalty against drug offenders.
+
Barack Obama has admitted to using illegal drugs.
=
Newt Gingrich wants to kill Barack Obama.
( Just speculating. This comment is not intended to be any kind of threat to the POTUS. )
RT, Gingrich is the one who should watch his back given his propensity for adultery.
Callista in a few years (channeling Vera Donovan)-
Husbands die every day, Dolores. Why… one is probably dying right now while you’re sitting here weeping. They die… and leave their wives their money. I should know, shouldn’t I? Sometimes they’re driving home from their mistress’ apartment and their brakes suddenly fail.
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