George Packer on the state of Conservatism
3rd June 2008
Another great read from the New Yorker. Packer shows that while Republicans have been able to win recent elections by tapping into voters’ conceptual dislike of taxes and politicians, they are losing their places in government because they don’t care much about governing. Just as Americans hate Congress but love their own senators and representatives, they hate big government but like the government programs that they benefit from. (They even want government to provide help for other Americans, like Katrina victims.) If you get worried sometimes that the Hannities, Limbaughs, and Severins are saying what a vast number of Americans are thinking, you’ll get comfort from this article.