re: It's Only Day One
[Rod Dreher  02/21 08:36 PM]

Yay! Controversy! I ought to be having dinner now, but Kathryn Lopez, I just cain’t quit you. Regarding Abramoff and the GOP culture of spending, I don’t think it’s persuasive to look to those fruits of the conservative movement that we don’t like and pretend that they’re not in some sense our responsibility. Does Jack Abramoff and the spendthrift Congress amount to the sum total of conservatism? Of course not, and I think NR, among others, has been exemplary in calling Republicans back to conservative principle regarding reform and spending restraints. But whether we like it or not, the fiscally irresponsible Republican Congress (and Jack Abramoff) represent the worst of our movement, and in fact a betrayal of some pretty important principles. And that’s the face we represent to many who might be sympathetic to what conservatism has to offer. All I’m saying is that if we as a movement were sufficiently concerned with what we ought to be about, instead of the perks of power, we wouldn’t have this fiscal mess, and Abramoff wouldn’t have become such a power broker. NR is on the right side of these issues. Bully for NR! But NR isn’t the whole of the conservative movement either. Conservatives brought the GOP to power. For better and for worse, they are our responsibility.