Striking castrated conservatives wherever I find them - #2

Today I have been reading another article written by a castrated conservative. David Klinghoffer III, a self-described conservative decided to share his disgust of the modern day conservative movement - and he evidently found a grateful audience among the readers of ultra-left wing Los Angeles Times. According to David III, once the conservative movement was led by such "urbane visionaries and builders of institutions" as William F. Buckley Jr. - but now conservatives are following unsophisticated, vulgar "crazy-cons". Among the most disgusting characters in the conservative movement, David fingered Andrew Breitbart, the "potty-mouthed Internet entrepreneur". Not satisfied with attacking Breibart, he also mentioned "the figures on TV, radio and the Internet who make their money by stirring fears and resentments." These unnamed conservative figures are busy "baiting blacks, Mexicans and Muslims". Moreover these yet unidentified "crazy-cons" accommodate "conspiracy theories, and an increasing nastiness and vulgarity". In short, David III, the castrated conservative, decries the shift of conservative movement from the Golden Age of the 1960ies into the "demagoguery and hucksterism."


My first impulse after reading David's dribble was to give him same treatment William F. Buckley had given to Gore Vidal: "Listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered." But on a second thought I decided that this treatment would have been too rough for David Klinghoffer. After all, poor Dave is not a tough guy who is ready to stand behind his beliefs. In real life, he is a pathetic creature hopelessly seeking to find a meaning to his own existence. David is not a conservative by conviction or logic - he is a "conservative", because it gives him "a profound vision granting transcendent significance to public life and hope in private life." Or, to put it another way, for Dave, conservative ideology is about "finding meaning in private life and public service". He also openly states that he would be hard pressed to even define conservatism - but he expresses conviction that conservatism that he believes in is superior to all other ideologies.

Truth be told though, David Klinghoffer is emotionally and intellectually a liberal - not a conservative. A true conservative believes his ideas are correct because they are validated by empirical evidence. A true liberal believes his ideas are correct because these ideas make him feel good about himself. David Klinghoffer does not believe in conservatism because small limited government, individual liberty and human rights are just and effective. As he confessed in the article - he needs conservatism in order to find meaning in his life. In short - he is a man who essentially uses conservatism as Psychotherapy - as wikipedia explains - in order to increase the sense well-being. How can an adult man fall so low as to use conservatism as a personal cane? Just ask David Klinghoffer, he knows.