There was a joke going around among conservatives, a few years back, that if the Democrats were to introduce a bill to Congress that required the beheading of all white males, Bob Dole, a.k.a. "the tax collector for the welfare state," would mount a huge campaign... to demand that it be phased in over a three-year period. Sadly, Dole's attitude of "absorb the evil slowly" is typical of most Americans who call themselves conservatives.
Conservatism, to these, is a preference for stability, rather than a political philosophy with hard edges. This sort of conservative is really more concerned with not allowing the status quo to change out from under him, than he is with enduring principles of right and wrong or the proper protections for liberty and justice.
Yes, "conservative" books, talk radio, and Internet sites dominate their respective spaces. But even so, the Left's agenda makes slow, steady gains. George W. Bush himself has helped to advance several Leftist ideas: prescription drugs for free, anticompetitive tariffs for several industries, a huge farm welfare bill. Yet Dubya is probably the most admired politician of our time after Ronald Reagan -- another conservative during whose tenure the Leviathan State made huge gains.
"Absorb the evil slowly" conservatism is entirely consistent with the political devolution of the United States since the beginning of the Progressive Era. A principled conservatism that demands, in Thomas Macaulay's words, "patience, respect for rights, and the strict observance of public faith" would never have accepted such things as the income tax, the profusion of unaccountable alphabet agencies, the welfare state, a court system that punishes private vices more harshly than murder, public schools controlled by a special interest group and used to spread propaganda, bureaucrats with job security to which no one else can aspire, and so forth. By contrast, the do-it-slowly conservative has often aided and abetted the Left in the steady erosion of American liberties.
The great task for the principled conservative in our time is to convert the "absorb the evil slowly" conservative to our own kind. It will not be easy. We have dwindled to a remnant. But there is no other course with long-range potential.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
It isn't as hard as you make it out to be. Just have to learn how to shift gears is all.
I don't want to hijack the thread, so this will probably be its own thread. Just thought I'd chime in here on your assertion(s).