former Majority Leader Tom DeLay
Reminds me that he took our majority and made it into a former majority.
We win when security conservatives, economic conservatives and social conservatives work together (like, Gingrich, Armey and DeLay did). Not when one faction pushes out the other two, and relies on the pork barrel to re-elect incumbents.
An interesting insight that probably deserves its own vanity thread and when you write it up after some careful study I hope you will ping me.
Robert Novak in his prince of Darkness autobiography commented on how Gingrich, once Speaker, laid aside adherence to his own conservative principles as merely means to an end, in Novaks opinion. (I paraphrase, but that was the essence.)
The is a lot to be said that the values of conservatism are often held too lightly by those in the political class who claim them.
I don't look as social, economic and anti-collectivistic conservatives as separate believers but instead, often separated by motivators, leaders and politicians that are too small in their outlook to strike the broad consensus.