Lance Fairchok

The Silent, Conservative Majority is Awake
September 12, 2008

Middle America might as well be Middle Earth as far as the Democrats are concerned. They spend so much time shaping the political environment with push polls, information suppression, media message management and covert smears that they always miss the pulse of the citizens that do not live in the urban bastions of progressive liberalism. They are deaf to what America is and what most of its citizens want it to be. We are a conservative country, with a loud, ill-mannered and bad-tempered “leftist, liberal, progressive” minority; however, progressive, defined as moving forward, they are not, and liberal, as in open to other perspectives, they are not. The only accurate descriptor is “leftist” with all that it entails.

Americans consider themselves conservative. Not the caricature of conservatives that the left paints, but conservativism simply defined as counting one’s blessings while conserving them with the traditions and values grown so successfully from the diverse immigrants and cultures that built lives and homes here. They are consistent in their self-identification, however fickle they can sometimes be at the voting booth.

Bruce Walker outlines that national self image in his article, The Biggest Missing Story in Politics, about the Battleground Poll, which in August of 2008 revealed that 20% of Americans considered themselves to be very conservative, 40% of Americans considered themselves to be somewhat conservative, 2% of Americans considered themselves to be moderate. Contrast that with the 27% of Americans who considered themselves to be somewhat liberal, and the 9% who considered themselves to be very liberal. The missing 3% of Americans did not know or refused to answer. These numbers have been within a few points for well over a decade.

The current Democrat candidate wishes to change that of course. With every word, he tries to convince us we are a national failure, which only he can turn around. Obama’s messianic rhetoric is nothing but a shallow, glitzy collection of reworded leftist canards, the same entitlement and grievance formula the Democrats have used for far too long with far too little benefit to the nation. He ascribes to an ideology that calls for income redistribution, social “reform,” government domination of the lives of citizens, and the loss of those individual freedoms deemed “inappropriate” to civil society. He will never ever come out and say it, he works hard to disguise it with nuance and obfuscation; but the underlying message is clear. It is socialism disguised and camouflaged, but it is socialism nonetheless. The silent majority seems to have noticed.

With this in mind, the impact of Alaska’s superlative Governor Sarah Palin on this presidential race is not such a surprise. The silent majority, that consistent 60%, has been reinvigorated by a conservative message called out by one of their own; family, faith, country, honor and honesty has a clarity the Democrats cannot understand and cannot duplicate. There is no convoluted nuance or contradiction. Sarah does not claim to love a country she demeans at every opportunity nor apologizes for it; she is not ashamed.

Voters are not impressed with pandering political circuses or Greek columns and fire works. Obama’s predictable oratory falls flat after a few speeches, the resonance of his voice is not matched by a record of achievement. His theatrics may bring Oprah to tears, but the rest of us are not so easily duped. Sincerity is in short supply in politics, so voters were impressed with a gutsy hockey mom who knows what she believes and says so. The old war hero who poured his heart out on national TV and had the wisdom to choose her will make a fine President; his love for this country was crystal, Obama’s attitude is far cloudier. Tearing down America, focusing only on what is wrong while ignoring the enormity of what is right does not sit well with Main Street. An Obama presidency is not the done deal the Democrats hoped you would believe.

The wildly pro-Obama coverage by the press has become so transparent to the public that reporters are now heckled and booed, and rightfully so.

The smears of Governor Palin have been petty, crude, insulting and demonstrably false.  They have thrown away any public loyalty they might have salvaged with balance and integrity.  I admit to some schadenfreude at their fall from grace, their hubris and condescension has long been infuriating. The Democrats have taken for granted that the press is in their pocket, and the coverage of the McCain/Palin ticket is a clear example of prejudice and contempt. There is little confidence in press objectivity and honesty anymore, and their pundits dig the hole deeper with every arrogant word. Their reporting on Sarah Palin indicts them. Every petty criticism, every fabrication and every insult ensures more Americans will vote Republican in November. The Democrats’ true colors are coming out; their hateful, hypocritical and absurd belief system is exposed for all to see. Their issues are chosen to bring them to power; they are not seeking power to confront issues. Service is not their objective, control is.

The numbers do not lie, the Republican convention was watched by millions more than the Democrat extravaganza, and the message was well received. The silent majority is awake. Americans do want change, just not the leftists’ version of it. McCain and Palin have an American vision, one that speaks to the heartland and the citizens who do not want government to be a social experiment, their tax dollars stolen for entitlements and special interests or the national identity redefined by “progressive” radicals. They want to be left to the business of raising families, building a better future, keeping our democracy strong and being unabashedly American.