MISTAKE '08: What will we do now?

(originator of this graphic unknown - apologies)

All movements, when their demographic is graphically displayed, fit a bell shaped curve few are normally distributed ... that is, they're always skewed one way or the other.

Any movement organized to correct Mistake '08 must recognize the very elements which precipitated the mistake will be present in the new organization - i.e., elements from the movement's left and elements from the movement's right relative to the group's core philosophy.

Display their data graphically and the curve will lean in the direction which predominates.

I challenge you to name one political, social or cultural movement on the right which, once it moved left, was ever able to return to its original core principles, other than the Christian Church.

I also challenge you to name one movement on the left which ever moved strategically to the right.

A couple of decades ago, a portion of the conservative movement in American (aka - social conservatives or compassionate conservatives) moved to the left in order to appease liberal complaints that conservatives were too strident, too shrill, too racist, too authoritarian, and too fascist [pdf].

They believed a preemptive and voluntary move to the left would prompt the left to respond with an equal lean to the right. Wrong!

What the conservative right does not understand is that, for the left, moving right is contrary to their core philosophy, as moving to the left ought to be for a true conservative.

Thus, the lesson to be gleaned from Mistake '08 for true conservatives is gleaned from their ability to fixate on their core philosophy ... even to the point of deceit and duplicity in order to maintain that focus ... even to the point of lying to new recruits.

Immediately a weakness is revealed: it is contrary to the core philosophy of a true conservative to allow ends to justify means ... the liberal-left has no such qualms.

Therefore, conservatives can't and won't reverse Mistake '08 until they learn to focus on their historic core philosophy to the exclusion of the whining of their own leftists and the table pounding of their own extremists on the right, all while maintaining personal and corporate integrity. Ouch!

And, IMO, religious leaders need to be excluded or marginalized; simply because they're predisposed to polarization and can't help but skew the curve to the right.

Bell curve, Conservatism, Election 2012,
Post-election 2008, Leftists, Liberalism,
Mistake '08, Movements, Politics, Religion

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