I hope he's right, but...

Is the conservative movement really dead?  Well, yes, says Conor Friedsdorf.  "When an ideological movement's leaders stay fat and happy regardless of ideological advances, will things ever improve?"

... Have we seen any evidence of success since 1997 or so? George W. Bush created a new bureaucracy, expanded the federal role in education, approved a massive new entitlement, exploded the deficit, abandoned any pretense of a "humble foreign policy" that eschewed nation building, and left office having approved a massive government bailout of the financial sector. Then President Obama took office, presided over more bailouts and growing deficits, passed a health care reform bill that conservatives hate, and got reelected. Over this same period, the country has gotten more socially liberal. Gays can serve openly in the military and marry.

A majority now supports legalizing marijuana.

Circa 1997, if you'd told the average conservative that all those things would happen in the next 15 years, would they have declared the conservative movement finished? I suspect as much. ... The Atlantic

Let's get real here.  There is nothing in the least "conservative" about the conservatism our society suffers from.  It's about about "liberal for me, conservative for you."  "Big budget for my toys; limited allowance for your needs."   You could say their asses are where their heads should be, but I don't like that kind of language at my house.

Comments

[Susanna K.]

Actually, ALEC has helped make a lot of conservative progress (now THERE'S an oxymoron!) in the last two years at the state level: increasingly permissive gun laws and increasingly restrictive laws regarding contraception and abortion.

That's where they're excelling right now, and that's the next battle to be fought.

[PW]

Couldn't agree with you more. I keep writing about that, too, but I don't think many are listening. State politics aren't as sexy as national politics.