I have been engaged in some intense rethinking of my own conservatism. My fundamental political principles remain the same as ever: free markets, American leadership in the world, and intense attachment to inherited moral and cultural traditions. Yet I cannot be blind to the evidence that we have seen free markets produce some damaging and dangerous results in recent years. Or that the foreign policy I supported has not yielded the success I would have wished to see. Or that traditions must evolve if they are to endure. There are new principes too that must be included in a majority conservatism: environmental protection as a core value and an unwavering insistence upon competence and integrity in government.I appreciate this statement on America's "leadership in the world."
That commitment will be restrained, unfortunately, if American leadership is compromised on the altar of the left's ideological doctrine of environmental globalism.
This idea of a "commitment to moral and cultural traditions" is good, but how much must they "evolve" if they are to endure?
We're seeing enough evolution right now with the coming of Barack Obama, whose positions on the issues seem to be "evolving" in a way that's not so great for moral and cultural traditions.
Other than that, great.
Frum will be intitiating a group blog on conservative politics sometime around the time of the inauguration (we'll see how "conservative" that turns out, yo, Peggy Noonan!).
5 comments:
I'm not sure we have seen truly free markets in the decade. When government forces banks to give loans that they have little chance of recovering that's not a free market. I know, some banks took advantage of the gov't interference in the market. In a normal situation, they give bad loans they lose money, they go out of business. With the govt propping them up they had nothing to lose. They made a killing because the govt backed them up and gave them the opening by messing with the free market.
Thanks LOT!
will these people ever go away?
Didn't we just nominate their candidate John McCain?
Enough with the democrat-lite BS
Kathleen Parker is the worst ... she has to go
Mr. Frum sees economic damage resulting from the operation of free markets. I agree with LOT. What free markets? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government created organizations, with much of its management government appointed or employed by
patronage. These institutions provide an artificial market for mortgagees to sell the mortgages they provide. The government basically sets the interest rate through monetary manipulation. A mortgage closing is so controlled by the government that instead of just a mortgage and note to be signed there are dozens of documents and affidavits to be signed in compliance of rules and regulations. It was the government that created the current crisis by its interference in the mortgage market. So what free markets are Mr.Frum writing about? In addition, social mores may evolve which is the opposite of being obliterated.
Post a Comment