Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pat Buchanan Explains It All For You

“Go, Pat, Go!” was the theme when he ran for President, egged on by the young turks who formed the "Buchanan Brigades." He served in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations. He is an heir apparent of the Reagan legacy. And for all that, he is not just another conservative.

For one thing, Buchanan isn't one to jump on the bandwagon that requires our nation to respond militarily unless our national interests are directly threatened. This, as opposed to simply not getting our way. At the same time (and his autobiography Right From The Beginning should bear this out with a vengeance), he is never one to walk away from a fight. He is a real conservative, inasmuch as he endeavors to conserve the ideals spelled out in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the way in which our Founding Fathers intended. He looks at reality, without resorting to the childish name-calling of the modern-day news pundit. He is a student of history, seeing the patterns of the human condition, and the Powers That Be bring their followers to the precipice of oft-repeated errors.

It is from men like Buchanan, that we learn how to learn from history -- both the mistakes, and the victories.

If history is any guide, the pendulum will swing back in 2010.

After all, in 1952, Eisenhower was elected in a more impressive victory than Obama's, and ended the Korean War by June. And, in 1954, he lost both houses of Congress.

Lyndon Johnson crushed Goldwater by three times the margin of Obama's victory. He got Medicare, Medicaid, voting rights, and a host of Great Society programs. And, in 1966, he lost 47 House seats.

Ronald Reagan won a 44-state landslide in 1980, cut tax rates -- and proceeded to lose 26 sets in 1982.

Bill Clinton recaptured the presidency for his party in 1992 after 12 years of Republican rule. In 1994, he lost 52 seats and both houses of Congress.

Click on the quotation. It gets better. For a bonus, we have an eight-minute public television interview from about a year ago, on a variety of topics.
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