Julien Sanchez peers into the soul of conservatism, finds reflection of himself

Robert Stacy McCain had an excellent post regarding Julien Sanchez and his take on the current state of the conservative movement.

The long and short of Sanchez's piece is that the ascendancy of Sarah Palin represents a psychological dysfunction that will forever consign the Republican Party to irrelevance.

"Ressentiment is a sense of resentment and hostility directed at that which one identifies as the cause of one’s frustration, an assignation of blame for one’s frustration. The sense of weakness or inferiority and perhaps jealousy in the face of the “cause” generates a rejecting/justifying value system, or morality, which attacks or denies the perceived source of one’s frustration. "

and

"Ultimately, this is a doomed project: Even if conservatives retook power, they wouldn’t be able to provide a political solution to a psychological problem, assuming they’re not willing to go the Pol Pot route. At the same time, it signals a resignation to impotence on the cultural front where the real conflict lies. It effectively says: We cede to the bogeyman cultural elites the power of stereotypical definition, so becoming the stereotype more fully and grotesquely is our only means of empowerment."

It is a rather highbrow and myopic view of the political landscape. If Mr. Sanchez is looking for "a sense of resentment and hostility directed at that which one identifies as the cause of one’s frustration" he need look no further than the rank and file left, with their palpable hatred of GW for all sorts of imagined sins, from the plundering of Iraq to supposedly expand his personal oil profits to the hair brained notion that he was in on the fix of the 9/11 attacks.

"If the goal is just to antagonize liberals, making her the Republican standard-bearer seems tactically bizarre, since ideally you want someone who isn’t so repugnant to independents as to be unelectable. If the animating force is ressentiment, the leader has to be a loser to really deserve the role."

Palin should not have been made the Republican standard barer because she is a loser.

Right.

So, if she is such a loser, why is she earning interest from the likes of you?

The fact is, Mr. Sanchez, she rose to prominence on the national level when John 'don't mind me' McCain chose her as his running mate, perhaps the only sound decision he made during the campaign. She accepted, and conservatives were energized and given voice by her. The popularity she has among conservatives is a reflection of her willingness to espouse and defend conservative principles, a refreshing change from the rest of the herd like Republican party types.

Excellent post, Stace.