THE TRUTH IN PEGGY NOONAN

PEPPY NOONAN.

There is one journalist that I truly trust. That writer thinker is Peggy Noonan. She wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan. She has written inspirationally magic articles ever since. I have sought those articles out especially in those times when I needed inspiration.

I just read then reread her new article.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
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Her Article is in the Wall Street Journal. I was nearly in tears as I felt her heart break as she told the truth as she saw it about the state of the Republican party. She has that problem of telling the truth. On the second reading of her article I was again near tears as I realized how I had been spinning the news so it looked better than it really was. I was hurt by the truthfulness Peggy forced me into by reading her work and believing in her honesty. I had to face my honesty or lack of it.

I have been posting about how a lot of the things she sees as sure signs of our party’s failure hadn’t really been that bad and “look at the Dems and what they do”, I’d say with a cynical snark.

She is saying I think that the Democrats had a cat fight and now it’s almost over and they are still what they always were -- Democrats. Republicans have done pretty much nothing except get sucked into complacency, succumbed by success , sitting there twiddling their thumbs while Rome burns, except of course, she said it better. Why do I still blog this then? Simply to make her feel better. Will she read my blog. NO. I guess it is to simply make me feel better.

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They are also – Hill leaders, lobbyists, party speakers – successful, well-connected, busy and rich. They never guessed, back in '86, how government would pay off! They didn't know they'd stay! They came to make a difference and wound up with their butts in the butter. But affluence detaches, and in time skews thinking. It gives you the illusion you're safe, and that everyone else is. A party can lose its gut this way.
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She’s a writer, I’m a blogger. Perhaps if I can bear my soul through such heart breaking times as she can in search of the truth, then perhaps I too will find truth in places undreamt of as she can. Always in the past as I have read her articles I drew strength from her fearless reportage of the current state of affairs. I knew that she would tie the mess up and present a solution that would inspire me. Well the hurt came when I realized that she has quit being hopeful for this party. Notice the small p in party. I feel her hopes that the current leadership would change, return, realize they went astray and would come scurrying back have finally reached the end. For giving up that ghost I shed a tear with her.

Peggy Noonan used a surrogate, Mr. Reed to express the fallacies I have held and still do hold to a point. He expressed those ideas falsely held being that the Party was on the rebound. We were in the inevitable valley of a cycle. We had gone through Goldwater, then Nixon and Vietnam and Watergate and rose back to power. We can do it again. Then she let out her own heart felt misgivings about why didn’t we do anything when we had a chance to stand up for our principles when it mattered, when they were slipping away. The heartbreak I felt was that she knew why, I knew why, and all that was left to do was to ask the question. The time had past.

Today I went to the 2nd district Republican Roundup, my first. I truly wish I had read her article before I went. Congressman Pete Hoekstra was there and he said that perhaps the most important vote he made was to vote against “No Child Left Behind” Pete Hoekstra was one of the few of the original “Revolutionaries” left, one of the few who did stand up for principle. He though saddened to have to vote against his president, will sleep better tonight than I. During that meeting I mentioned Peggy Noonan’s name in relation to a style I would love to emulate and I saw a sharp piercing look shoot my way from Mr. Hoekstra. I wondered at the time what that was and I believe now he was hoping I would talk about her article. Share her feeling with the group. Perhaps he had read her article, perhaps I’m just thinking too much into that look, but something was there, perhaps just a shared admiration for her work.

Peggy Noonan when talking about the leadership under Bush, echoed the feelings I had and tried feebly to express at the roundup today about our local efforts.
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Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.
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I realize the leaders are what the followers allow them to be. In that regard we have let down the leadership, But I went to the Roundup looking for leadership, and they talked about the leadership of “followership” I was looking for serious leadership from thinkers about policy that I could take back to the people in my precinct to try and regain their trust in the Republican party, In Me. This as in all politics is a personal thing . Mr. Pete Hoekstra was the one shining star I saw I’m afraid for only a couple of minutes as the time was spent mainly on marketing the Brand.

My heart and prayers go out to Peggy Noonan. Also my thanks for the work she does.

She’ll be back. I feel better after my rant, she will too I hope. This new republican “non brand” needs some spiritual leaders, I know I do anyway. We’ve got a rebuilding job to do. It starts here, we can start it now. Us who are the new ones need to let Peggy and the others know that we can watch her back, she knows I’m sure Pete is there ,--- that there is spirit out there, that there is gut.

Regards, Liver Dangerously Be A Conservative.