Editorials/The Real Environmentalist/Bush and the Conservatives
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr.
EDITORIALS THE REAL ENVIRONMENTALIST by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. ne of the curiosities of the American environmental movement is that so few environmentalists look particularly suited for the...
...And they spend an enormous amount to preserve the environment both through voluntary contributions and through excise taxes and licenses...
...And there is worse news...
...The National Hunting and Fishing Survey, published at five-year intervals by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the federal government, reveals that in 1985 more than 50 million sportsmen went afield with rod or gun...
...Yet the true American environmentalist is not the aforementioned urban sophisticate with a tendency toward nerdiness...
...More frequently when the environmentalist ventures out of doors he is headed for a demonstration alfresco against some aspect of the twentieth century...
...Some of these organizations are quaintly named, for instance: the Ruffed Grouse Society, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the White Tail Deer Foundation...
...In the 1950s federal excise taxes were levied on fishing and hunting equipment, raising still more money for wildlife management...
...Of course, occasionally the paradigmatic American environmentalist picks up his butterfly net or straps on his walking shoes and heads toward the wilds of a nearby botanical garden or public forest preserve...
...And there is worse news...
...Most outdoorsmen recognize the true beauty of nature and the wonder of the creatures they pursue...
...Of course, occasionally the paradigmatic American environmentalist picks up his butterfly net or straps on his walking shoes and heads toward the wilds of a nearby botanical garden or public forest preserve...
...and here the unhappy news is that the conservative leaders are either dead or exhausted from the struggles of the past fifteen years...
...Noisy criticism from the right could weaken him the way noisy criticism from the left weakened Jimmy Carter...
...After all, the center cannot lead...
...Their problem is to keep each faction from becoming an embarrassment...
...Noisy criticism from the right could weaken him the way noisy criticism from the left weakened Jimmy Carter...
...or Irving Kristol around...
...Where precisely that will lead us then depends on the right...
...ne of the curiosities of the American environmental movement is that so few environmentalists look particularly suited for the great outdoors...
...The rallying points for American conservatism have always been personal liberty and anti-Communism...
...The hunter and the fisherman have an abiding interest in keeping the environment unpolluted and congenial to their quarry...
...Actually, as economist Martin Anderson notes, from 1980 to 1987 the Reagan Boom allowed an 84 percent increase in social welfare spending, America's largest increase in social welfare spending ever...
...Most look as though they would be more at home in the public library or listening to a lecture on the porcelain of Byzantium, assuming Byzantium possessed porcelain...
...If sheer numbers matter, if monies spent to protect the natural habitat are considered, the true American environmentalist is the hunter, the fisherman, the outdoorsman...
...And they spend an enormous amount to preserve the environment both through voluntary contributions and through excise taxes and licenses...
...What is more, some of this century's encroachments upon the natural order have, indeed, been catastrophic...
...Actually, as economist Martin Anderson notes, from 1980 to 1987 the Reagan Boom allowed an 84 percent increase in social welfare spending, America's largest increase in social welfare spending ever...
...Here again is evidence that the conservatives are not leading his center-right government...
...for the poor, Depression...
...Some of these organizations are quaintly named, for instance: the Ruffed Grouse Society, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the White Tail Deer Foundation...
...A man of character, possessed of the instincts of a fine officer, he is ceaseless movement, carefully scheduled...
...terests...
...More frequently when the environmentalist ventures out of doors he is headed for a demonstration alfresco against some aspect of the twentieth century...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 11 EDITORIALS THE REAL ENVIRONMENTALIST by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr...
...He really relishes the environment and has willingly paid to keep it natural...
...Here again is evidence that the conservatives are not leading his center-right government...
...That movement's intellectuals have devised appropriatesolutions to social problems that have defied the Democrats' favorite solution, big government...
...The detumescence of conservatism is not all that helpful to this Republican President...
...The critics have also murmured in one sustained concerto gross° of gloom about the conserand $300,760,758 for state governments' wildlife management...
...He is a member of Ducks Unlimited and Bass Unlimited, too...
...That has now been made clear...
...Most look as though they would be more at home in the public library or listen...
...A man of character, possessed of the instincts of a fine officer, he is ceaseless movement, carefully scheduled...
...If the Marxist menace really were to wither away, American conservatism might go with it...
...He ventures into the great outdoors eagerly, rain or shine—and even into those purlieus where nasty insects and unappealing reptiles swarm...
...Finally, there is one other reason President Bush needs a vigorous conservative movement...
...Most outdoorsmen recognize the true beauty of nature and the wonder of the creatures they pursue...
...The Democrats have a dozen highly charged factions to support them...
...If the Marxist menace really were to wither away, American conservatism might go with it...
...Rightly or wrongly in this age of Communist self-doubt and reBUSH AND THE CONSERVATIVES 10 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 trenchment it is difficult to maintain one of those major rallying points, anti-Communism...
...Recall if you will the writings of one of the country's first and most effective conservationists, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican...
...The Reagan Administration lowered marginal tax rates, and the economy flourished...
...vatives' other popular program, the military buildup, though it accomplished precisely its purpose, an end to Soviet expansionism...
...After all, the center cannot lead...
...His latest policy suggestions for child care and the environment come dangerously close to the old Great Society charlatanry...
...ne of the curiosities of the American environmental movement is that so few environmentalists look particularly suited for the great outdoors...
...His latest policy suggestions for child care and the environment come dangerously close to the old Great Society charlatanry...
...The critics have also murmured in one sustained concerto gross° of gloom about the conserand $300,760,758 for state governments' wildlife management...
...We see it in his presidential decisions, his style, his holiday amusements in faraway Kennebunkport...
...It is true that a vigorous conservative movement might fetter his freedom of action...
...That movement's intellectuals have devised appropriatesolutions to social problems that have defied the Democrats' favorite solution, big government...
...Yet when similar legislation was aimed not long ago at the butterfly nets, the binoculars, and the other equipment of nonhunting and nonfishing environmentalists, they raised a ruckus of fearful proportions...
...though critics of the Reagan Boom have always reported on that Boom as though it were a weird Depression—for the better off, dancing in the streets...
...though critics of the Reagan Boom have always reported on that Boom as though it were a weird Depression—for the better off, dancing in the streets...
...or Irving Kristol around...
...Finally, there is one other reason President Bush needs a vigorous conservative movement...
...For one thing, the conservatives' most popular positions have already been implemented and to good effect...
...Those conservatives in their sixties who popularized the views of conservative economists, social scientists, and strategic thinkers are weary...
...It is the major political base supporting the party...
...It surprised me not at all this spring when President George Bush placed environmental concerns near the top of his political agenda...
...Controlling the federal budget, pressing for democracy in Nicaragua, legislation to sustain the traditional family, and continuation of the Strategic Defense Initiative are all dear to the hearts of conservatives, but all need leadership...
...The hunter and the fisherman have an abiding interest in keeping the environment unpolluted and congenial to their quarry...
...That same year 16.7 million hunters spent 334 million days hunting and $10.1 billion on the hunt...
...His government is going to be what the Europeans would call center right...
...Without market solutions, say, to pollution or to child care, all George Bush is left with is a cheap version of the Great Society...
...He is upright, energetic, can-do...
...The conservatives are not so extreme...
...All that I can see that might replace anti-Communism as a rousing conservative tenet is patriotism, but among such highly individualistic people as American conservatives patriotism would hardly be a summons to much more than mild goose bumps as the flag passes by...
...for the poor, Depression...
...Few Americans have a deeper respect for the environment than the hunter or the pursuer of trout, bass, and less esculent fish...
...Without market solutions, say, to pollution or to child care, all George Bush is left with is a cheap version of the Great Society...
...He is a member of Ducks Unlimited and Bass Unlimited, too...
...That same year 16.7 million hunters spent 334 million days hunting and $10.1 billion on the hunt...
...He is upright, energetic, can-do...
...For one thing, the conservatives' most popular positions have already been implemented and to good effect...
...The conservatives are not so extreme...
...I do not know of one...
...Just over 46 million fishermen, 16 years old or older, spent 976.6 million days and $28.1 billion on their sport in 1985...
...Well, I am all for protesting the twentieth century, the classical fashions of the eighteenth century being more to my liking...
...Such private organizations as Ducks Unlimited willingly pick up the bill to protect as many natural habitats as they can...
...It is true that a vigorous conservative movement might fetter his freedom of action...
...As for those conservative policies that have yet to be implemented, it is not clear there is a sufficient constituency supporting them or a galvanizing leader capable of creating that support...
...His devotion to nature, even to the creatures he pursues, is genuine...
...In 1985, 29,673,190 fishing licenses and 15,879,572 hunting licenses were purchased, raising respectively $282,342,746 G eorge Herbert Walker Bush is the paradigmatic American of the present moment...
...and here the unhappy news is that the conservative leaders are either dead or exhausted from the struggles of the past fifteen years...
...America loses 400,000 acres of wetlands annually...
...The rallying points for American conservatism have always been personal liberty and anti-Communism...
...Is there a younger William F. Buckley, Jr...
...In 1985, 29,673,190 fishing licenses and 15,879,572 hunting licenses were purchased, raising respectively $282,342,746 G eorge Herbert Walker Bush is the paradigmatic American of the present moment...
...All that I can see that might replace anti-Communism as a rousing conservative tenet is patriotism, but among such highly individualistic people as American conservatives patriotism would hardly be a summons to much more than mild goose bumps as the flag passes by...
...Recall if you will the writings of one of the country's first and most effective conservationists, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican...
...terests...
...Since Ducks Unlimited was founded in 1937, it has raised $337 million for the maintenance and reclamation of some 3,000 wetlands projects...
...As for those conservative policies that have yet to be implemented, it is not clear there is a sufficient constituency supporting them or a galvanizing leader capable of creating that support...
...It is the major political base supporting the party...
...Such private organizations as Ducks Unlimited willingly pick up the bill to protect as many natural habitats as they can...
...That splendid generation of conservatives that numbered within its ranks William Casey, Barry Goldwater, Clare Boothe Luce, and Ronald Reagan himself has passed into retirement...
...Most look as though they would be more at home in the public library or listening to a lecture on the porcelain of Byzantium, assuming Byzantium possessed porcelain...
...This summer, as you swat flies and evade the poison ivy, remember the outdoorsman...
...That splendid generation of conservatives that numbered within its ranks William Casey, Barry Goldwater, Clare Boothe Luce, and Ronald Reagan himself has passed into retirement...
...It merely absorbs...
...Those conservatives in their sixties who popularized the views of conservative economists, social scientists, and strategic thinkers are weary...
...It merely absorbs...
...All told, their membership far surpasses that of the more radical and politicized environmentalist organizations...
...But today's right is not exactly poised to lead...
...Rightly or wrongly in this age of Communist self-doubt and reBUSH AND THE CONSERVATIVES 10 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 trenchment it is difficult to maintain one of those major rallying points, anti-Communism...
...But today's right is not exactly poised to lead...
...What is more, some of this century's encroachments upon the natural order have, indeed, been catastrophic...
...Some of the most inspired laudations penned to nature have been written by devotees of the hunt and the deep...
...Some of the most inspired laudations penned to nature have been written by devotees of the hunt and the deep...
...Just over 46 million fishermen, 16 years old or older, spent 976.6 million days and $28.1 billion on their sport in 1985...
...Wetlands, the home of thousands of species of wildlife, are under constant assault, usually from agricultural inAdapted from RET's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...In the 1950s federal excise taxes were levied on fishing and hunting equipment, raising still more money for wildlife management...
...Their problem is to keep each faction from becoming an embarrassment...
...Few Americans have a deeper respect for the environment than the hunter or the pursuer of trout, bass, and less esculent fish...
...But the American conservative movement has provided the Republican party with vigor and with foot soldiers ever since 1964...
...America loses 400,000 acres of wetlands annually...
...Is there a younger William F. Buckley, Jr...
...Yet when similar legislation was aimed not long ago at the butterfly nets, the binoculars, and the other equipment of nonhunting and nonfishing environmentalists, they raised a ruckus of fearful proportions...
...vatives' other popular program, the military buildup, though it accomplished precisely its purpose, an end to Soviet expansionism...
...All told, their membership far surpasses that of the more radical and politicized environmentalist organizations...
...He ventures into the great outdoors eagerly, rain or shine—and even into those purlieus where nasty insects and unappealing reptiles swarm...
...The data available on America's outdoorsmen provide overwhelming evidence that when we think of the American environmentalist we should be thinking of hunters and fishermen...
...The National Hunting and Fishing Survey, published at five-year intervals by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the federal government, reveals that in 1985 more than 50 million sportsmen went afield with rod or gun...
...Since Ducks Unlimited was founded in 1937, it has raised $337 million for the maintenance and reclamation of some 3,000 wetlands projects...
...There is little to fear that they will embarrass the Republican party but rather that they will wilt away...
...Yet the true American environmentalist is not the aforementioned urban sophisticate with a tendency toward nerdiness...
...ne of the curiosities of the American environmental movement is that so few environmentalists look particularly suited for the great outdoors...
...Wetlands, the home of thousands of species of wildlife, are under constant assault, usually from agricultural inAdapted from RET's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...His devotion to nature, even to the creatures he pursues, is genuine...
...His government is going to be what the Europeans would call center right...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 11 EDITORIALS THE REAL ENVIRONMENTALIST by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr...
...That has now been made clear...
...Where precisely that will lead us then depends on the right...
...The data available on America's outdoorsmen provide overwhelming evidence that when we think of the American environmentalist we should be thinking of hunters and fishermen...
...Controlling the federal budget, pressing for democracy in Nicaragua, legislation to sustain the traditional family, and continuation of the Strategic Defense Initiative are all dear to the hearts of conservatives, but all need leadership...
...We see it in his presidential decisions, his style, his holiday amusements in faraway Kennebunkport...
...I do not know of one...
...Well, I am all for protesting the twentieth century, the classical fashions of the eighteenth century being more to my liking...
...But the American conservative movement has provided the Republican party with vigor and with foot soldiers ever since 1964...
...If sheer numbers matter, if monies spent to protect the natural habitat are considered, the true American environmentalist is the hunter, the fisherman, the outdoorsman...
...It surprised me not at all this spring when President George Bush placed environmental concerns near the top of his political agenda...
...There is little to fear that they will embarrass the Republican party but rather that they will wilt away...
...The Reagan Administration lowered marginal tax rates, and the economy flourished...
...He really relishes the environment and has willingly paid to keep it natural...
...The Democrats have a dozen highly charged factions to support them...
...The detumescence of conservatism is not all that helpful to this Republican President...
...This summer, as you swat flies and evade the poison ivy, remember the outdoorsman...
Vol. 22 • September 1989 • No. 9
