Conservatism

Last week, I argued that President Bush's Iraq war has demolished the foundations upon which the Republican Party had, until 2006, built a national majority. Paradoxically, the war has nevertheless been a huge victory for conservatism. To explain this paradox, we begin with William F. Buckley's famous definition of conservatism as "to stand athwart history, yelling, `Stop!'" Setting aside the dismal implications of this mantra for conservatives - a life where change is inherently bad, new ideas and peoples are threatening, social and technological advances must be resisted, and the future always frightens - conservatism's first principle is that slower is better, particularly in matters of governance.

WASHINGTON -- At times during their high-octane campaign swings last week, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush sounded as if they had swapped speech writers. The Texas Republican read from the Democratic hymnal when he insisted: "The purpose of prosperity is to make sure that people aren't left out." And the vice president practically recited one of Mr. Bush's signature lines when he declared that America must be measured "not merely [by] the value of our possessions but the values we possess."

WASHINGTON -- The off-year voting 20 years ago was conservatism's sunrise. In June 1978, Californians presaged the national tax revolt by passing Proposition 13, limiting property taxes. And in November, five liberal Democratic senators were defeated.Today, sentient conservatives know that the sun also sets. And that the future is up for grabs.Politics today is governed by a familiar dialectic of democracy: Ascendant parties are undone by their successes, and vanquished parties are thereby revived.

LOSER by a landslide, Barry Goldwater nevertheless has had a greater impact on American politics than any of the winning presidential candidates of the past half-century. A grandiose notion, perhaps, but consider:Since he won the GOP nomination in 1964, liberal Republicans of the once-dominant Eastern establishment have become extinct; conservative ideology is triumphant as the country moves rightward; the GOP lock on the South has led to the Republican capture of Congress, and Democrats, having given up on the welfare state loathed by Goldwater, cannot seem to find White House winners outside the old Confederacy.

THE ELECTION of new school board presidents and County Council chairmen is generally of more importance to the officials themselves than to the public, since the job is titular. Nonetheless, citizens have an interest in this matter. A leader who can build consensus and set priorities can make the whole body more effective. And the choice of leader carries symbolic weight.That is especially true in Baltimore County, where the African-American community was hoping to see Dunbar Brooks named as the first black president of the school board, on which he has served for eight years.

Last year will not be remembered as a high-water mark in pop music history. There were no breakthrough albums released, no singer or group that captured the nation's imagination. Sales were flat, touring was down and general enthusiasm was low. All in all, it was a lousy year for music fans.But that should make this a great year for Grammy watchers.How so? Because for once the Grammy contest is shaping up as a real horse race. With no obvious favorites and little sign of industry consensus, this year's nominees are harder to handicap than ever before.

"The Patriot" by Gary Hart. The Free Press, 186 pages. $21.We live in a time of great change, and we must learn to master this change or we shall be its servant. We need leaders who combine wisdom, courage and virtue. We must shun narrow special interests and work toward the common good.If these thoughts strike you as penetrating insights into the plight of modern America, then Gary Hart has written the book for you. You will learn that, "Poverty, misery and hunger offer the seed bed for violence."

Tomorrow's primary: TV blitzes. Debates. Shouting matches. The season of presidential primaries is not yet half over but is already notable for its surplus of advertisements and bad temper. But there also is talk about issues. The major contenders for the Republican nomination have debated foreign policy, social issues and each other. And the talk may be especially noticeable today, one day before voters in Maryland and seven other states (Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont)

Also in the coverage of Agnew's career, a photo caption gave an incorrect date for Agnew's confrontation with black leaders in Baltimore. It took place after the riots of 1968.The Sun regrets the errors.Spiro T. Agnew may be best remembered as the harsh voice of conservatism of the Nixon years who finally was silenced by his forced resignation in disgrace from the vice presidency. But that conservatism came via a circuitous route that really marked him as more a political pragmatist, or even an opportunist.

THE STATUS QUO prevailed Tuesday among Carroll County voters, who seemed like most of the nation to prefer things politically much as they are. It was an election favoring conservatism with a small "c."Voters retained two different-thinking incumbents on the Carroll Board of Education, despite a well-financed, high-profile assault by an ultra-conservative tandem ticket.The 2-1 margin for Ann M. Ballard and Joseph D. Mish Jr. showed the electorate was largely unswayed by the challengers' ceaseless attacks on school budget priorities, administrative pay and student achievements.

Think back to the spring of 1968. The U.S. is mired in Vietnam. The country is in turmoil. The sitting Democratic president abruptly pulls out of his campaign for re-election, and the leading conservative columnist of the day neither gloats nor does a victory dance. It's nearly impossible to imagine this happening today. We could chalk this up to the deterioration of civic discourse and the rise in political polarization. But it's really part of a much more significant shift that has fractured the right side of the political spectrum.

It was a good Fourth of July where I was - no Republicans or Democrats, just a crowd of sunburned people sitting on the grass, and a brass band played amid the smell of hot dogs. Clarence and Ralph, two World War II vets, described their European tour of 1944-45 from Normandy through the Hurtgen Forest, and it was duly noted that the Revolution was not going well in the summer of 1776 when Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Hancock put their names to the Declaration of Independence, an act of treason and great bravado, and then the crowd stood and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and discovered that, in the key of G, it is a fine piece of music and very singable.

So it seems George W. Bush is not really conservative. Nor are Mitt Romney, John McCain and, indeed, the vast majority of the Republican Party. Or so I'm told by a number of readers who took exception to a recent column lambasting Mr. Romney for his speech at the GOP convention. In it, Mr. Romney declared that the way to fix Washington is to turn it over to conservatives. If you didn't know any better, said I, you'd think conservatives had not been in charge most of the last decade. This kind of babblespeak, I argued, has become increasingly characteristic of the political right.

By common consent, William F. Buckley Jr., who died Wednesday, was the father of modern conservatism. But he also ended up as one of the Bush administration's most trenchant critics. His death not only represents the loss of one of America's leading intellectual figures but also underscores the extent of the collapse of the conservative movement that has so decisively shaped politics for decades. Like no other personality, Mr. Buckley pulled together the disparate strands of the conservative movement to endow it with panache, self-confidence and a sense of being on the cutting edge.

At a recent Republican presidential debate in Michigan, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was asked what he thought was the biggest long-term threat to the U.S. economy. "Our sense of optimism," he replied. "America has to be optimistic and recognize that there's nothing we can't overcome." Forget the trade deficit, the collapsing real estate market or the lack of credit. Forget that during the Bush years the federal debt has increased by half, from $6 trillion to $9 trillion - about $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

Too many of our conservatives in the United States want to run up enormous deficits and hope that some way, somehow, someone else will pay for it. That's not conservatism, that's alchemy at best, or if you like, lunacy."

Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency By William C. Harris University of Kansas Press / 412 pages / $34.95 In a speech to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Ill., in January 1838, Abraham Lincoln reflected on ambition and immortality. The Founding Fathers, he claimed, had had "their names transferred to counties and cities, and rivers and mountains ... to be revered and sung, and toasted through all time." But his generation - the post-heroic generation - was likely to be less lucky. With America already invented, their accomplishments would "fade upon the memory of the world."

Last week, I argued that President Bush's Iraq war has demolished the foundations upon which the Republican Party had, until 2006, built a national majority. Paradoxically, the war has nevertheless been a huge victory for conservatism. To explain this paradox, we begin with William F. Buckley's famous definition of conservatism as "to stand athwart history, yelling, `Stop!'" Setting aside the dismal implications of this mantra for conservatives - a life where change is inherently bad, new ideas and peoples are threatening, social and technological advances must be resisted, and the future always frightens - conservatism's first principle is that slower is better, particularly in matters of governance.

Republican strategist Karl Rove's political foes have given him many nicknames, including Darth Vader, the Antichrist and several unfit for print in a family newspaper. "The Architect" is what President Bush called him the morning after they won re-election. That should make him an excellent profile subject. And the Frontline episode "The Architect" is fascinating, but ultimately disappointing. It tells us what Rove has accomplished and what he would like to do. But who Rove is and why he is so devoted to conservatism is underexamined.

PRESIDENT BUSH sincerely sees his push to change Social Security as compassionate conservatism. But conservatives ought to be troubled by the plan, which would let younger workers invest some Social Security assets via payroll taxes in corporate stocks and bonds, presumably through mutual funds. The proposal and its underlying assumptions breach rules that conservatives ought to hold dear. Among them: Keep business and politics separate. The world spent the 20th century learning the bad things that happen when the state owns the means of production.