New Conservatism

The New Yorker has an interesting piece about the American Republicans entitled "The Fall of Conservatism". 

I don't necessarily agree with it.  Nor would I draw too many parallels with conservatism over here (we've been out of office this past decade, for a start ...)

However, it does underline that in order to succeed, conservatism ultimately needs intellectual verve and purpose.  Years of Big Government conservatism end in defeat and retreat - or a McClinton consensus, at best.    

All the more reason to read Douglas Murray.      

Comments

[Tommy]

It is an interesting article, although as much for what it missed out.

There is a conservative message that has generated enthusiasm and has reached people the Republicans have struggled to connect with in recent times: Ron Paul's.

Why did his new book - The Revolution: A Manifesto - reach number 1 on Amazon and number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, last month? Something is bubbling away. And his book isn't just a vacuous advocacy of "change" or "yes we can", it is a coherant piece of political thought.

The reaction to Ron Paul's campaign by the conservative establishment has been very revealing.

He has an impeccable conservative record on taxes, guns, abortion and spending, but as he disagrees with the establishment on foreign policy, he is cut dead.

Meanwhile those who take, or have taken in the past, stances on taxes, guns, spending and abortion that have long been reviled by the conservative establishment are forgiven, because they loyally adhere to a policy of war. Ultimately this is the only thing that now matters to today's Republicans.

[Ulster Tory]

Tommy, I think the Republicans realise that as the foremost power in the world, nothing can really get done without America (e.g. even the Good Friday Agreement had American input). Thus they know that the country needs to intervene - might be why they reject Ron Paul?

[Tommy]

I should also have added that while Douglas Murray's book, "NeoConservatism: Why We Need It", has generated nine reviews on Amazon.com since it was published almost two years ago, there have been 458 reviews of Ron Paul's new book since it was published just over a month ago.

[Simon Newman]

Ulster Tory:
"Tommy, I think the Republicans realise that as the foremost power in the world, nothing can really get done without America"

Since the Cold War ended America has being doing way too much anyway - Kosovo and Iraq for a start.. The world and America could do with the US doing a lot less.

[Ulster Tory]

Could the same result really have been acheived in (for example) Kosovo without the Americans?

They are an integral part of peacekeeping.

[Alexander King]

Ron Paul is a complete lunatic - and a virulent racist according to an in-depth investigation in The New Republic.

Conservatives in America are simply too rigid and partisan. Try reading The Corner over on NRO - it's like a football team's messageboard, full of angst and vitriole.

The state in America isn't all that big. There's no great need to bang on about the size of government all the time. Conservatives in the US should be talking about the woeful state of America's infrastructure - improving that would do more to increase productivity and economic growth than any number of ideologically-motivated tax cuts.

[Tommy]

Which Presidential candidate spoke about the injustices visited upon black Americans by the criminal justice system, in particular the wickedness of the war on drugs?

It wasn't Obama or Clinton, and certainly not John McCain who still uses a particular racial epithet to describe the Vietnamese.

It was Ron Paul. And if he is a lunatic, what does that say about the Framers of the Constitution, since it is merely their wisdom that he is drawing upon.