The passing of the father of modern political conservatism, Ronald Reagan, has begun a debate about American conservatism and what some are calling the 'death of liberalism' in America.
Al Gore's brainchild, the all-liberal talk radio network, "Air America" is doing so poorly that Al Franken started doing his radio show for free. The network was unable to meet its air-time bills and lost four of its six biggest markets within months of making its debut.
Since it started, Chairman Evan Cohen, Vice Chairman Rex Sorensen and Head of Programming David Logan have left while co-founder Mark Walsh has stepped down as chief executive to take a smaller role in the organization.
Air America's failure is alternatively being blamed for mismanagement, poor programming, overly-optimistic financial forecasting and even sabotage by conservatives.
Air America has gotten so much free publicity, from Al Gore's speeches to endless stories in the mainstream media extolling the need for an 'alternative' voice, that none of those reasons make sense.
It might be more accurate to say they don't UNDERSTAND the real reason.
In the 1950s and the 1960s, very few people identified themselves as conservative. In 1964, John Kenneth Galbraith, an economist and author, said: "These without doubt are the years of the liberal. Almost everyone now so describes himself."
Things have changed. Polls now indicate that 41 percent of Americans identify themselves as 'conservative' while only 19 percent view themselves as 'liberal'.
The liberals don't realize that. All their friends are liberal. Liberals control the bias in movies, television programming, news reporting, etc. Even Mickey Mouse is a liberal.
So they can't see why liberal talk radio hasn't taken off like wildfire.
Despite the dominance of the liberal worldview in the media, arts, politics and Hollywood, America as a whole has been steadily moving to the right.
Even when compared to the citizens of Great Britain, America's closest ally, Americans are markedly more conservative on a variety of political, moral, and social issues.
For example, only 17 percent of the British are against legalized abortion while 46 percent of Americans oppose it. American political tradition calls for power to rest with the individual, where the British tradition doles out power to the top and is handed down through the ranks.
About 60 percent of Americans believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their goals. Sixty percent of the British, however, believe the role of government should be to guarantee that no one is in need.
Europeans and liberals have a hard time understanding American conservatism. When Europeans come to the United States, they tend to visit places like Los Angeles or New York City. They seldom venture into the Red States. This in part helps to explain the growing transAtlantic rift between the 'Crusader' US and socialist Europe.
American conservatism is rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic. While not all conservatives are Christians, most Christians are conservative. (There are some exceptions to that rule, I suppose, but I don't see how a Christian can support abortion)
American liberalism shares Europe's secular humanist worldview, which is why so many liberals continue to cry out for America's submission to the United Nations.
And why Air America is doing so badly.
