Catkiller! poses the question:
If the conservative movement survived the New Deal, it will survive George W. Bush and Bill Frist.
It’s interesting that you set yourself apart from a movement that would be more than a little thrilled to see most of your agenda implemented. Moreover, is libertarianism really a “progressive” or “innovating” political movement? I’ve never seen it as such. The difference I see in conservative thought (books, not radio hosts) is that we want the right to live in communities whose uniformity goes no further than the local level. To me, that is the only road to diversity and liberty. I honestly don’t see how either conservatism or libertarianism seek to improve the human condition through government policy.
I have no doubt that most conservatives would be delighted if I were king for a day, or at least they would be once they got over the shock of seeing what I had in mind and saw the results of removing sovereign power from the central government and returning it to individuals and the states.
The reason I separate myself from conservatives is threefold. First, I have little in common with most of the politicians and commentators who call themselves conservatives. Second, I reject the popular conservative concept of using government to impose moral, communal and business standards on individuals and organizations. For example, conservatives want to use government to protect marriage – like that will work – whereas I want to see the separation of marriage and state.
Third, there is little about American society that I want to conserve. I believe it was Josh that described conservatives as those who see yesterday’s defeats as tomorrow’s victories; I think that is a cogent summation. Of course, as I pointed out in my column today, the word “conservative” has become rather nebulous, so perhaps we had better define the term more precisely before discussing whether or not it applies to various individuals.
As for survival, I’m not so sure. Conservativism itself will surely survive, but the movement in which it supposedly resides today may not.