Comments on: Towards A Conservative Vernacular

By: Pete Spiliakos

Pete Spiliakos — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:12 +0000

JDP, if I have any thoughts that I think add even the slightest value, then I’ll share them.

By: JDP

JDP — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 06:08:10 +0000

i actually was wondering what you, personally, thought of same-sex marriage (i know it’s First Things but i figured maybe the pomocon blog had “heterodox” views on this for better or worse.) i read a lot of Captain Obvious pieces in conservative media generically mentioning how “times have changed” and the numbers are on its side but we all know that. if you’re against it i’d be curious to know how you would have the GOP reframe its opposition.

i myself have a maybe residual Catholic sense that man-woman marriage has a certain uniqueness that deserves specific recognition, though i realize that’s vague

By: Scattered Thoughts » Postmodern Conservative | A First Things Blog

Scattered Thoughts » Postmodern Conservative | A First Things Blog — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:43:14 +0000

[...] of days ago I wrote about how some younger strongly Obama-approving voters had inclinations that overlap with the center-right. I’d like to add that I don’t think any statistically significant number of these voters [...]

By: SUNDAY GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit

SUNDAY GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:47:33 +0000

[...] Towards A Conservative Vernacular – Pete Spiliakos, PoMoCon / First Things [...]

By: Larry Sarto

Larry Sarto — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:20:14 +0000

The author’s comment that what is missing is “a lot of context that this audience just doesn’t have” points to the underlying problem: the collapse of public education at all levels in the last 30-40 years. I have 20 years teaching in a state university. It is difficult to convey just how profoundly ignorant our college students have become. I do not feel that I have ever actually taught at the college level; my constant concern is how to reach the students while still maintaining standards that are beyond high school. Students regularly tell me that overall, college is _less_ challenging than high school was. Quite ordinary newspaper-reader kinds of concepts are beyond the understanding of MOST of my students: “labor union,” “tariffs,” “pope,” “World War II,” “communism,” etc. The list is depressingly long. And of course, morality is nothing but a personal preference. So the author’s recommended approach is, I think, the correct one: simplify, simplify, simplify; assume _nothing_.

By: Pete Spiliakos

Pete Spiliakos — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:48:04 +0000

JDP, yeah, SSM is obviously a problem for the GOP with the population I’m talking about but, as things stand, so is everything else. They’ve never heard anything that makes sense on taxes, health care, abortion…

“on partial-birth abortion/Obama’s views, you’ve pressed this before and the thing is it’s gone and not coming back,”

Actually it is one Supreme Court Justice from being a constitutional right – again. There is a much, much better chance that the partial-birth abortion ban gets struck down than that abortion gets banned in cases of rape – which we heard a lot about this last campaign.

“but sometimes these stances are more symbolic and they find a way to look past them during a campaign.”

I think that one of the reasons those beliefs are so easy to look past is because Republicans invest so little in dramatizing what is wrong with late term abortion on demand (and think this would also tend to produce a nonzero shift in opinion about first trimester abortions.)

“i would agree it would be useful if the GOP pushed back over the typical framing of it, which i remember Ryan did a bit at the end of the vice-presidential debate, though not as much as i’d’ve liked.”

Ryan was who I had in mind when I wrote about ineffective communicating on the issue. Republicans and their allies are probably going to have to take the initiative on the issue if they are going to make gains. Juat talking about your values of how life began and about his daughter isn’t going to get it done. Though I give Ryan credit for sincerity (which is more than Romney deserves.)

By: JDP

JDP — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 08:37:44 +0000

never get the sense what this writer thinks about same-sex marriage, which is inevitably brought up (probably as too exclusive a factor) when discussing the youth vote. would be curious to know, although even though i’m wary of History arguments on just about everything it’ll obviously resolve itself one way or the other.

on partial-birth abortion/Obama’s views, you’ve pressed this before and the thing is it’s gone and not coming back, so i don’t get the idea that pushing it would’ve done much of anything. obviously a lot of people, young people included, don’t share the Democratic Party’s official NARAL absolutism, but sometimes these stances are more symbolic and they find a way to look past them during a campaign. “Roe” though, i would agree it would be useful if the GOP pushed back over the typical framing of it, which i remember Ryan did a bit at the end of the vice-presidential debate, though not as much as i’d've liked.

By: Towards A Conservative Vernacular | cathlick.com

Towards A Conservative Vernacular | cathlick.com — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 06:54:01 +0000

[...] Over at Commentary, Jonah Goldberg writes: The vernacular of conservatism derives from a time when the country was churched and defined liberty as personal sovereignty. It needs to change to engage Source: Postmodern Conservative [...]