Adaptation
Lots of blame to go around in the current decimation of the conservative movement. I wanted to just break down my own thoughts on some of the competing interests here. So far we have...
Tagged: conservatism
The Salad Bowl
Jonah Goldberg makes an odd claim in his latest column: The mainstream perception that conservatives are close-minded and dogmatic while liberals are open-minded and free-thinking has it almost exactly backward. Liberal dogma is settled:...
a quote for the morning
“Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.But here’s the thing:...
Down with the ship….
One thing that’s always funny to me about judicial nominees and the whole messy, partisan process of getting them seated is how the side out of power (now the conservatives) rails endlessly about how...
Taking Leave of Our Senses
“But the argument isn’t going away. It will be with us as long as the threat of terrorism endures. And where the Bush administration’s interrogation programs are concerned, we’ve heard too much to just...
left conservatism revisited
So my wife tells me yesterday that I’m not conservative. She asks me how exactly I consider myself to be, in any sense of the word “conservative” and I go through some of my...
The Problem with the Tea Parties
Okay, I’m still trying to figure out why these Tea Parties bother me so much. There’s a number of things that just feel wrong, on a sort of intangible level. I’m constantly reminded of...
I think…
…that before any news commentator states that waterboarding isn’t torture they should at least have to experience it first.
Intellectual Insecurity
To follow-up briefly on the recent discussion regarding intramural conservative debate, there’s an odd tendency among certain mainstream conservatives to unduly concern themselves with enforcing intellectual orthodoxy. Case in point is this hysterical blog...
Tea Time
What can be said that hasn’t already about the Tea Party Phenomenon? Perhaps phenomon isn’t the right word. The Parties have been, it appears, co-opted (or hi-jacked) by the larger conservative movement; perhaps out-Foxed,...
A Plea for Engagement
Via the American Conservative, I see that Sean Scallon’s challenging article on Jimmy Carter is getting some well-deserved attention. And for that, I’m glad – it’s an interesting take on a fascinating historical figure. ...
Tradition and Ideology
J.L. Wall, writing in response to Scott’s treatise on 21st Century Conservatism, writes: There’s a danger in a self-conscious tradition, and a tradition in which it’s acceptable to toss off a limb for the...
A Eulogy
This piece in the Washington Monthly is a pretty insightful look at the short life of Culture11.
Regarding Rush
I suppose the reason I haven’t commented much on the resurgence of Rush Limbaugh into the national spotlight, is I have never, ever taken the Great Bloviator seriously. He’s always been just another talk-radio...
quote of the day
“Conservatives seem to have spent the last year rapidly regressing from cheering on lame politicians who could at least intelligently recite their platitudes (Romney) to worshipping pseudo-populists who could not even do that (Palin)...
Leaving the Right to Save the Right
Amongst several others, Ross Douthat has some really good thoughts on my arguments for a more liberal libertarianism. So good are a lot of these responses that I could probably spend the next month discussing them (don’t worry, I won’t). But Ross’ points are probably the most comprehensive.
Killing Frankenstein’s Monster
Downblog, Chris puts together a fantastic post that quite well explains the ways in which modern liberalism and classical liberalism (ie, libertarianism) have a tremendous amount in common at the fundamental “first principles” level,...
The Tone-Deafness of the “Statism” Charge
Jonah Goldberg argues that a left-libertarian fusionism is not only doomed to failure but is in fact likely to lead to a less libertarian, more “statist” society: As for it being undesirable, I am...
the foul rag and bone shop of real politics
You may have to put some of this in your Helen Rittelmeyer-style “things I believe but cannot prove” file. Fair warning. I read stuff like this, from John, and am intrigued, and I always...
