Have Conservatives Killed the Republican Party?

Sam Tanenhaus dicusses The Death of Conservatism

By U.S. News Staff

September 25, 2009 RSS Feed Print

The GOP claims to be conservative, but is it really? Sam Tanenhaus argues that classical conservatism has disappeared from modern politics, replaced by a radical movement of revenge. In a detailed narrative history, The Death of Conservatism, he outlines the Republican Party's political transformation. In this week's Washington Book Club, Tanenhaus, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Whittaker Chambers: A Biography before becoming editor of the New York Times book review, chatted with U.S. News about conservative politics, the role of intellectuals, and the possibility of a revival. Read excerpts from the interview in our digital weekly and weigh in below. Is conservatism dead?

Is Conservatism Dead?



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Republicans have abandoned the principles of true conservatism and therein lies the explanation for their impotence. The Republicans were given the public trust and they squandered it.

Mr. Tanenhaus has a shallow knowledge of the history of American politics if he thinks that the revenge factor is a new phenomena. It is all about who will exercise power over whom.

The Tarheel of SC 3:57PM October 01, 2009

Big government, big spending, big deficit, borrow-and-spend conservatism as practiced by George Bush is synonymous with big government liberalism, so in that sense it lives on with Obama and Democratic control of Congress.

The Christian conservative and neo-conservative campaign to "drain the swamp" by crusade against Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia withered and died in Iraq.

Pockets of tax break conservatives who simply abhor taxes remain, but have been marginalized by deficit fear. Pockets of Christian conservatives who want to push religion into politics remain.

Linda of IA 3:22AM September 28, 2009

A true conservative in the United States is a strict constructionist. Simply put, he or she reads and interpets the Constitution and its amendments exactly as writen, using the word meanings of the time. Thus, nearly all of the actions associated with the New Deal and other liberal or progessive progams are in fact in direct violation of the Tenth Admendment and thus unconstitutional.

Karl Hammerle of TX 1:17PM September 27, 2009

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