James Poulos on the future of conservatism

5 November 2008, 2000 EST

I would be doing our readers a great disservice if I failed to point them to James’ fascinating discussion of the future of the conservative movements after 4 November 2008. A taste:

Politically, on the right, nobody is dead now. Nobody is discredited. Everyone will decide for themselves. The wagons could be circled even tighter. But the herd is being thinned, and it is hard, for instance, to think of exactly why, say, Elizabeth Dole should still be serving in the U.S. Senate. There is nothing wrong with Liddy Dole, of course; but Republicans are going to have to do better than that. Yet the important thing for Republicans to remember is that this would be true even if McCain won. Not idiocy but irrelevance is the dangerous charge. Misplaced emphasis. Which raises a string of important issues.