Nationalist and populist conservative Pat Buchanan has advanced some controversial ideas during his tenure as a commentator, pundit, and short-lived presidential candidate.
He floated unsubstantiated caution during one episode of the McLaughlin group, citing his growing concern about the rising number of Jewish legislators in Congress, whom he feared were promoting a blind pro-Israel lobby.
His economic nationalism, denigrating NAFTA and slamming the federal government for refusing to protect manufacturing jobs in the United States, borders on national socialism. He has touted ever since his failed 1992 primary challenge against George Herbert Walker Bush that a culture war is waging across the United States, one that apparently spells the doom of the moribund Republican party in California.
Yet even confirmed liberal Eleanor Clift is more upbeat and optimistic about the right in the state of California and throughout the country. The rise of minority Republican Governors in the South, for example, foretells a bright and vibrant party that pushes for less government, lower taxes, and greater individual liberty. The Newsweek contributor also pointed out that a growing number of Hispanics are identifying themselves as white. The Republican party can and will regroup and refashion itself to take in minority candidates and marginal views. The United States can declare a welcome and respectable moratorium on social issues, especially since the country is overwhelmed with debt, deficits, and a dysfunction monetary system that prints too much, spends too much, and intervenes all too often.
The strong strain of social issues that have united blacks and Hispanics on many issues may lead them to support conservative candidates in the near future. If Susana Martinez could switch registration then rise to the Governor's post in a matter of years, all in a heavily Democratic state, then the Republican party certainly has room for growth and improvement in the wake of shifting demographics and diverse migratory patterns.
Buchanan's "white whining" is just a bunch of white noise from a columnist who wants to advance a distinct narrative in contrast to the "tax nothing, spend less" conservatism which does not ignite national headlines.
