The Battle over Conservative Masculinity, from Bush I to Trump

[EasyAce]

Which type of ‘manliness’ should we respect?
By David French
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/the-battle-over-conservative-masculinity-from-bush-i-to-trump/

Significant moments frequently provide necessary reminders that history didn’t begin yesterday, that the raging debates of today are echoes of debates past, and that the fight to preserve virtue will never end.

So it is with the passing of George H. W. Bush . . .

. . . As we raise our sons, who is the better model? Is it the “wimp” who enlisted in the Navy at age 18, became one of the service’s youngest aviators, was shot down over the Pacific and rescued, went on to a lifetime of public service (including the presidency), led the nation in war, and managed the fall of the Soviet Union with calmness, ending a great-power conflict without triggering a cataclysm? Is it the beloved husband (of one wife for more than 70 years) and father — a man of real faith?

Or is it the “tough guy” who ducked his war, paid off porn stars, gloried in his adultery, married three women, built a business empire in part through nepotism and “suspect” tax schemes, bankrupted casinos, and now adopts his aggressive posture mainly through public insults and angry tweets? This isn’t the masculinity that we should respect. And it’s hardly “manly” to defend behavior that is barely removed from the posturing and strutting of the schoolyard bully.

I am grateful for a number of Trump’s policies. Some of his actions — including his Supreme Court nominations — have been better than Bush’s. Some have been worse. But a nation and a movement that is attempting not just to construct a government but also to build a culture would do well to abandon the fake masculinity of the current president in favor of the true character and strength of the man who has passed.

George H. W. Bush a wimp? No, he was a man in full. Decency requires strength. The conservative movement (and our nation) would do well to remember that vital truth.

[musiclady]

Wow.  Do I agree with this!

We raised our son in the model of GHW Bush, and they have become real men - strong, caring, serving.

[EasyAce]

Wow.  Do I agree with this!

We raised our son in the model of GHW Bush, and they have become real men - strong, caring, serving.

@musiclady

Bull's eye!

I was also always impressed by Samuel Johnson's (I think) description of Edmund Burke: that he chose his side like a fanatic but defended it like a gentleman.

I had a comparable example in my own family---my maternal grandfather, who likewise believed as he believed but upheld it like a gentleman. I never knew a more courtly man who knew that courtliness alone didn't equal substance. Grandpa Morris wasn't a complicated man and he wasn't exactly an intellectual, but you'd have been hard pressed to find a better role model for personal conduct and carriage. When he died, his surviving sisters made a point of remembering their criteria for the guys who courted them when they were younger. As one said (it was Aunt Ida, if I remember right), "They had to be as handsome as Harry [who married Grandpa's sister Shirley, God rest them and keep them] and as much of a gentleman as Morris." He's been with the God of his fathers since 1984 but even today I miss him and Grandma Diana (she died in 1998) most of all.