Conservative Survival in a Progressive Age
Big government and the social revolution are here to stay. The conservative role is to shape both for the better..
12/12/12
By PETER BERKOWITZ
Political moderation is a maligned virtue. Yet it has been central to American constitutionalism and modern conservatism. Such moderation is essential today to the renewal of a conservatism devoted to the principles of liberty inscribed in the Constitutionand around which both social conservatives and libertarians can rally.
---
Conservatives can and should focus on restraining spending, reducing regulation, reforming the tax code, and generally reining in our sprawling federal government. But conservatives should retire misleading talk of small government. Instead, they should think and speak in terms of limited government.
---
Even under the shadow of big government and in the wake of the sexual revolution, both libertarians and social conservatives, consistent with their most deeply held beliefs, can and should affirm the dignity of the person and the inseparability of human dignity from individual freedom and self-government. They can and should affirm the dependence of individual freedom and self-government on a thriving civil society, and the paramount importance the Constitution places on maintaining a political framework that secures liberty by limiting government.
So counsels constitutional conservatism well understood.
Peter Berkowitz: Conservative Survival in a Progressive Age - WSJ.com
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEVqFB4WUo]Devo - Whip It (Video) - YouTube[/ame]
Big government and the social revolution are here to stay. The conservative role is to shape both for the better..
12/12/12
By PETER BERKOWITZ
Political moderation is a maligned virtue. Yet it has been central to American constitutionalism and modern conservatism. Such moderation is essential today to the renewal of a conservatism devoted to the principles of liberty inscribed in the Constitutionand around which both social conservatives and libertarians can rally.
---
Conservatives can and should focus on restraining spending, reducing regulation, reforming the tax code, and generally reining in our sprawling federal government. But conservatives should retire misleading talk of small government. Instead, they should think and speak in terms of limited government.
---
Even under the shadow of big government and in the wake of the sexual revolution, both libertarians and social conservatives, consistent with their most deeply held beliefs, can and should affirm the dignity of the person and the inseparability of human dignity from individual freedom and self-government. They can and should affirm the dependence of individual freedom and self-government on a thriving civil society, and the paramount importance the Constitution places on maintaining a political framework that secures liberty by limiting government.
So counsels constitutional conservatism well understood.
Peter Berkowitz: Conservative Survival in a Progressive Age - WSJ.com
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEVqFB4WUo]Devo - Whip It (Video) - YouTube[/ame]
