Conservatism
Nathan Smith at TCS daily offers this contrast between how President Bush and Sen. Jim Webb view the poverty question: President Bush has proposed an array of policies that confront different aspects of real deprivation as experienced by the poor here and abroad: bad education, lack of legal status and fear of deportation, lack of…
Using this site’s readers as a surrogate for conservatives, commenter “Klaus” put forth this question about the meaning of conservatism…My understanding is that the denizens of this site generally advocate low taxes, little or no gov’t regulation of industry/commerce, and are opposed to any sense of redistribution of wealth. Is that a fair and accurate…
In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., take some time to read his “I Have a Dream” speech. Also, there are quite a few pieces extolling the inherent conservatism (and Republicanism) of Dr. King. For instance, the Heritage Foundation held a lecture in 1993 concerning “The Conservative Virtues of Dr. Martin Luther King” and…
Two more comments about the Phillipe and Jorge column from this week’s Providence Phoenix. 1. In commenting on conservatism in general, Phillipe and Jorge do express strong approval of market-based ideas… When will we acknowledge that the free market system is not a panacea, but an excellent path with limits? Those shortcomings include health-care, education,…
Dan Quayle was taken to task many years ago for his “Murphy Brown” speech, in which he said: Ultimately however, marriage is a moral issue that requires cultural consensus, and the use of social sanctions. Bearing babies irresponsibly is, simply, wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong. We must be unequivocal about…
Without enough people noticing, liberals have mostly succeeded in redefining the term fiscal conservatism from its original meaning of “we must be extremely cautious about spending public funds” to something along the lines of “we must raise taxes high enough to pay for unlimited government spending”. Froma Harrop deserves credit for not falling for the…
Yuval Levin has written a piece that is getting some attention around the web. In it, he identifies what he calls the “parenting class” as being the new group to whom politicians will need to appeal: The worry of middle- and lower-middle-class families arises from a genuine tension between the two things they most eagerly…
I posted a couple weeks ago about Arthur Brooks’ findings that conservatives are more charitable than liberals. Last night, John Stossel (via Karen Woods) looked into whether or not we are “Cheap in America” and found that it was a myth. Working off of this, Woods draws a couple conclusions: Bureaucracies, government ones and even…
First, the New York Times focuses the soft-filter lense on the now dwindling ranks of GOP moderates in New England and : It was a species as endemic to New England as craggy seascapes and creamy clam chowder: the moderate Yankee Republican. Dignified in demeanor, independent in ideology and frequently blue in blood, they were…
Jonah Goldberg writes about the importance of tradition: Traditional rules of conduct emerge over time through a process of trial and error. To pick an extreme example, the Shakers banned sex and – surprise! – America is not overrun with Shakers today. Successful societies learn from their mistakes in time to make adjustments. Those adjustments…