Fraters Libertas

Drop A Bomb With David Strom?

The First Ringer fondly recalls William F. Buckley's quixotic run for mayor of New York City in 1965:

A voice of conservatism in the ideological and political wilderness, Buckley was a young man in the zenith of his career, having founded National Review just a mere 10 years prior, whose campaign was more the forbearer of Jesse Ventura than Ronald Reagan, making a run at an office that by his own admission, he had no chance of winning and even less interest in.

For a brand of political thinking stuck in neutral for nearly four decades and seemingly exemplified by dour, angry, old white men (one of whom had just been soundly thrashed in the electoral college and popular vote), the 39 year-old Buckley's candor and humor presented a mold breaking package both in substance and style from what citizens in one of the great denizens of liberal thought had heard or seen. For once, conservatism was not just mantras on lower taxes or international isolationism, but related to the hurdles and issues of a major metropolitan city---issues average people could better understand than esoteric debates on political philosophy of which conservatives like Buckley excelled but were often of little political value.

And uses it as a springboard to float an idea for another unconventional mayoral campaign:

A candidacy of the one of the leading voice of conservative thinking in Minnesota, David Strom, President of the Taxpayer's League and already a Minneapolis resident, in 2009 would do little to threaten Richard M. Erdall's position as the last Republican mayor of the city but would bring enormous attention to conservatism's potential solutions to the problems of urban centers. With a City Hall rife of corruption charges and a slow but steady return to the days of "Murderpolis" as the city was dubbed in the mid 1990s, a Strom candidacy would at least articulate a vision of the heart of Minnesota's metro area not wedded to decades of policy drenched in monolithic liberalism. And having been portrayed by his ideological opponents as symbolic of supposed conservative vitriol and anger, residents of Minneapolis might be pleasantly shocked to discover a polite, affable and extremely knowledgeable individual who happens to be conservative. A Strom mayoral candidacy, dedicated more to debate than defeating an opponent---and honest about it's chances---could do more to advance the discussion of solutions to Minneapolis' ills than a truckload of well-heeled moderate Democrats or liberal Republicans reaching for their slice of power in Minnesota's central city.

He's tan, rested, and ready. Well, at least he's ready. Let the groundswell begin.