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21 Nov 2008 10:09 am

The How, Not The What

Ross makes an important point:

This problem is not, repeat not, a matter of conservatives needing to abandon their core convictions in order to win elections, as right-of-center reformers are often accused of doing. Rather, it's a matter of conservatives needing to apply their core convictions to questions like "how do we mitigate the worst effects of climate change?" and "how do we modernize our infrastructure?" and "how do we encourage excellence and competition within our public school bureaucracy?" instead of just letting liberals completely monopolize these debates, while the Right talks about porkbusting and not much else.

I agree we need to get much more policy-specific. I haven't, really, and the big difference between my book and Ross' and Reihan's is they get in the policy weeds. I felt and still feel that the deeper philosophical questions need confronting first if we're talking about a revived conservatism, as opposed to a revived Republicanism. But I hope to lay out an agenda for the right in the coming months and air the policy questions more thoroughly.

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