President Trump is a modern conservative. You don’t have to be doctrinaire to be conservative. You only have to know that sh*t costs money. He has governed more conservatively than either Bush.
Where is the defunding of NPR and PP?
Trump will end up being more conservative than all of the so-called conservatives in DC if he just does the simple things he promised on the campaign trail. And I have far more faith in him than any of the GOPeunuchs.
What the pseudo-conservative media call conservatism is not Conservatism:
It is Neoconservatism, which is Trotskyism.
Conservatism does work, but the RNC has no intention of governing in a conservative manner, precisely because they know it would work, and as part of the leftist Uniparty, they do not want that.
Yes, it has failed. It is an utter failure. Where it succeeds and will always succeed is on the small scale of independent living.
Even after the socialist collapse of America, it will be those who are conservatives will survive, thrive, and succeed all the while the city socialists and those conservatives trapped in the cities will have a tough, tough time. Many rounded up into slums and eventually shipped off to some detention camp for the good of the whole.
Modern Conservatism can’t succeed, it’s destiny is failure.
All of this silliness ends the moment real hardship arrives. It’s no longer fun to tinker with ancient social structures when failure means certain death. Women’s foolish notions of “compassion” are thrown out the window immediately when faced with annihilation. Hard to make fun of “Dads” on TV when your ass would starve to death without him. Our Nation exists in a nursery with soft pink walls, for now.
“pretty cushy jobs, prints some magazines, hosts some websites, publishes various books, and puts on conferences”
I’m a 65 y.o. RETIRED “old guy”, who has no need for any of those things, and still believes that old time conservatism is exactly what the doctor has ordered, for the turn around of my country.
The Democrats have inflicted over 40 years worth of damage, so it won’t get repaired none too quick.
One mind at a time.
First of all, that's a pretty big "other than": state or collective ownership of the means of production was the heart and soul of socialism.
Secondly, what are we talking about here? Social Security? Medicaid? Workmen's Comp? Is it a surprise that rich countries adopted some social programs?
Is there -- other than a complete collapse of the economy -- any realistic chance that the country or the world would willingly go back to how things were in 1900?
Rich countries, like rich people, don't willingly do without things they think they can afford (whether or not they really can afford them).
Maybe expecting that to happen is setting the bar too high and inviting disappointment.
The author rants a lot but fails miserably in his objective.
Who represents “modern Conservatism”; so we can judge their “Conservative positions? He fails to say.
Who are the advocates of “modern Conservatism”; so we can judge their Conservative positions? He fails to say.
What exactly is “modern conservatism”; so we can judge “modern Conservatism” against some Conservative standard? He fails to say.
If, instead, his argument was that Conservatives - of which I think there are million in the U.S. - were not winning often enough on their Conservative agendas, in their chosen political vehicle(s), I’d say he is right, in a “hardly often enough sense”.
I think that may be a tide that is turning or going to turn.
The main obstacle has been that all the national information distribution sources in the U.S.- from the media, the intelligentsia, the permanent regulatory state and academia - have been arrayed and deployed against Conservatism, particularly and increasingly since World War II & FDR.
In spite of Barrack Obama’s election, or maybe because of it and what understanding Obama’s views teaches most logical thinking - it’s possible the information tide is turning, going to turn or is about to turn.
The one thing I am not is a defeatist, and I think some of the most important fights we Conservatives have, and have in us, are ahead.
The one thing to NOT believe and rely on is any idea that the GOPe (long time incumbent elite in Washington D.C.) represents MOST of the millions of GOP party members, among which I think a very good many are more Conservative than many of the GOPe leaders. The GOPey represent their own positions of power more than anything else and fail, consistently, to honor and live up to ANY of the promises that get them elected - promises made on Conservative ideas. That is an institutional failure a ton more than any philosophical failure.
I don’t confuse those phony leaders as representing “modern Conservatism”. It might represent some element of politics, but more of political organization than political philosophy.