‘The Hammer’ and the Decline of a Movement

The indictments for alleged money laundering of three of Tom De-Lay’s closest associates raise questions about the nature of contemporary conservatism. And deeper questions arise about the narrative arc of what happened to the purist conservative movement of 40 years ago, after it gained power.In the 1960s, the founders of modern conservatism, like Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and William Buckley Jr., were motivated by big ideas and vivid principles. I did not agree with them, but I could see they were serious people, with libertarian impulses, with deep convictions, and not out to enrich themselves.Once this insurgent movement became the establishment with Ronald Reagan’s election as president in 1980, a faction of conservatives started to become more shallow, opportunistic, and materialistic. And they became less committed to their big ideas like limited government, personal freedom, and a balanced budget.President Bush has created a $450 billion budget deficit, after inheriting a surplus, and the conservatives in Congress have not uttered a peep in defense of the principle of a balanced budget.Conservatism has changed since Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign. Tom DeLay has become the poster boy for shakedown fund-raising, partisan gerrymandering, and bare-knuckle tactics. That’s why his critics call the Texas congressman “the Hammer,” and he embraces it as a compliment.Alfonse D’Amato became a mercenary lobbyist after losing his Senate seat. He once boasted on New York 1 that he was paid $500,000 to make one phone call for a client. Ralph Reed, the moralist-turned-lobbyist, has been caught taking $4 million in laundered fees from gambling, even though he called gambling “a cancer” when he ran the Christian Coalition.To test out my hypothesis, I interviewed Wlady Pleszczynski, the executive editor of the American Spectator. He agreed with me.“Some elements of the current conservative movement,” he told me, “have become more interested in expanding political power than in remaining loyal to the ideas that brought them to power. They seem less interested in ideas than in personal advancement. They want power for its own sake.“More and more it has been obvious that some of those who came to Washington to do good stayed to do well, like Vin Weber and Tucker Carlson,” he continued. “Some of this generation of conservatives spends money like it is going out of style, when they used to believe in limited government. They believe you have to bribe the voter with new programs to stay in power. And this strategy contributes to the $450 billion federal deficit.”Please don’t misunderstand me. I know there are just as many liberal Democrats without ethics, such as Robert Torricelli and James Mc-Greevey of New Jersey and Brooklyn party boss Clarence Norman.The point I am trying to make is what happens to a movement after it tastes real power, drowns in money, develops a fixer class, and becomes a spent force intellectually. The same thing happened to fixer liberal Democrats like Clark Clifford, Abe Fortas, and Harrison Williams.Politicians in general are a bad breed. Ambition and avarice can ruin the best of them, if they don’t have a foundation of ideas and character.Both parties have become infected with lobbyists, campaign consultants, PAC money, and negative researchers.Because conservatives are now in power, that trend has become more severe in their camp. But if John Kerry wins, I suspect Terry McAuliffe will be sucking at his trough for contracts and clients.The things that are wrong with politics are things that are wrong with Tom DeLay. He is only about brutal tactics and shakedown fund-raising. He has no interest in the merits of solutions, or defending personal freedoms.A new book about the House majority leader, by Lou DuBose and Jan Reid, hits the bookstores this week. It is called “The Hammer.” It covers Tom DeLay’s whole career and has a lengthy chapter on the two-year investigation behind last week’s indictments of his associates for illegal corporate contributions, to a PAC Mr. De-Lay controlled.This book is the nail that can break the Hammer’s claw. And it helps illuminate conservatism’s decline from ideas and individualism to the shallowness of money and power.

‘The Hammer’ and the Decline of a Movement

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