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03 Dec 2008 02:15 pm

The Party Of God

Reihan responds to both Ramesh Ponnuru and Rod Dreher:

Both agree that upper-middle-class soft libertarians are not the “ducks” Republicans should be hunting. I agree with both of them, but with a small caveat. Like Ramesh and Rod, I think the Republican should be the more culturally conservative party. But, as I think both of them would agree, cultural conservatism is a moving target.

But this is a critical distinction, no? For Oakeshottian-Burkean conservatives, culture is always moving. For Straussian-Christianists, the truth underpinning social mores is eternal and unchangeable. In my view, that's the core divide within conservatism right now. That''s why the GOP has been unable to embrace civil unions for gay couples. It's the obvious pragmatic compromise, but any compromise to a changing society is impossible for God's law.

I reiterate what I wrote two decades ago. In a sane world, it would be conservatives who were insisting that gays get married and liberals who'd be backing civil unions. But religion has mutated those mutanda. Only a handful - like David Brooks - have not let prejudice cloud their thinking.

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