eulogies for conservatism
Austin Bramwell's piece in American Conservative, "Good-Bye to All That," is a long and deeply felt eulogy for conservatism:
Whatever its past accomplishments, the conservative movement no longer kindles any "ironic points of light." It has produced fewer outstanding books even as it has taken over more of the intellectual and political landscape. This trend will only continue. Worse, no reckoning will be made: they hope in vain who expect conservatives to take responsibility for the actual consequences of their actions. Conservatives have no use for the ethic of responsibility; they seek only to "see to it that the flame of pure intention is not quelched." The movement remains a fine place to make a career, but for wisdom one must look elsewhere.
Digby comments that "After living with 'movement conservatism' for so long it's actually a bit disorienting to see a conservative under the age of 70 or so with intellectual integrity." Harold Meyerson's "Conservatives in Denial" from the Washington Post begins by observing that "On their journey through the stages of grief, conservatives don't yet seem to have gotten past denial," and states that "one way conservatives defend the faith is to argue that the conservatism of contemporary Republicanism isn't really conservatism at all:"
Holding conservatism blameless for last week's Republican debacle may stiffen conservative spines, but the very idea is the product of mushy conservative brains unwilling to acknowledge the obvious: that conservatism has never been more ascendant than during George Bush's presidency; that the Republican Party over the past six years moved well to the right of the American people on social, economic, and foreign policy; and that on November 7 the American people chose a more pragmatic course.