conservative crusades
Paul at Alien & Sedition has a commentary about economic conservatism that solves a bit of cognitive dissonance I’ve had with the GOP’s libertarian/wingnut coalition:
…economic conservatism does not provide a principle for governing, so it begets government without principles. I think that many of these conservative intellectuals would like to create a libertarian paradise, but their policy ideas, failing utterly to bring us any closer to such utopia, therefore serve only to clear the way for the raiders and the pillagers who follow the conservative standard they carry. The Crusades never had any hope of Christianizing the holy land, despite the fevered prayers of the true believers who promoted them - but they did provide a golden opportunity for those who mainly sought to rape, plunder, and destroy.