restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Why the Defection, Pat?

 David Alan Black

In a recent article, Sheldon Richman complains about our two party politics being too tied to pragmatics but then fails to suggest the obvious alternative. He talks as if Kerry and Bush are the only candidates running for president and thus falls into the trap of pragmatism himself.

Pat Buchanan, once a third party candidate himself, has fallen into the same snare in his latest book by not endorsing the only true “conservative” in the race.

Pat, who once expertly crafted speeches for Ronald Reagan, is known for his pithy one-liners. In 2003 he said, “It is the height of hubris to believe America can indefinitely defy the whole world.” Indeed it is, Pat. Then why not publicly endorse a candidate who lacks such hubris? You know full well that both John and George will perpetuate our war-mongering.

In 1999 Pat told supporters that the nation’s two-party system had no home for them. “Sometimes party loyalty asks too much, and today it asks too much of us,” he said. “Our two parties have become nothing but two wings on the same bird of prey.”

Never were truer words spoken. Then why not act upon them, Pat?

Remember, folks, this is the same Pat Buchanan who tried to represent the Republican Party in three elections. He left the GOP because he claimed the party no longer tackles so-called right-wing issues such as abortion and immigration.

“Neither [party] fights with conviction and courage to rescue God’s country from the cultural and moral pit into which she has fallen,” he said. He promised his supporters that he would fight “without compromise” against abortion, protect jobs against unfair trade, curb immigration, rebuild U.S. defenses, avoid foreign entanglements, and reform Social Security and Medicare.

Hmm, sounds pretty good to me, Pat. But do you really believe Bush will take such an “uncompromising” stand?

If I had any clout at all I would ask Pat how he can support Mr. Bush and yet condemn the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I would ask him if he still thinks that both major parties are the wings of the same bird of prey. I would appeal to him to use his considerable political clout to back the Peroutka candidacy. Since I lack such clout, I must be content to stand afar off and wonder what might have been.

So much for the “new patriotism” Pat urged back in 2000.

September 6, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book is Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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