John Holbo (2008): Douthat on Conservatism: "This has to ...

John Holbo (2008): Douthat on Conservatism: "This has to be a complete failure.... Take out the parenthetical bit and you have something that is much closer to a definition of ���liberalism��� than ���conservatism���, at least in the American context...

...I���ll just quote Douthat himself, who obviously agrees with me about this:

his ���revolution or bust��� tendency has defined traditionalist conservatism for some time now, with an alienation from actual-existing American politics coexisting with sweeping visions for what American politicians ought to be doing with themselves instead.... You start by telling yourself that retrenchment ��� whether to the age of Gingrich or Reagan or Robert Taft���is the path to victory, and you end, when victory doesn���t materialize, by embracing defeat as a badge of honor, and pining for either the barricades or the monastery...

Liberals are more resistant to ���Revolution or Bust��� because they tend to be more attached to ���the particular habits, mores and institutions of the United States against those socioeconomic trends that threaten to undermine them.��� I don���t expect Douthat simply to agree to that. But the fact that there is considerable truth to it means that just saying the opposite will never do as a definition of ���conservatism���. Being as generous as I can be: Douthat���s definition, minus the parenthetical, is a statement of something liberals and conservatives have in common, rather than what separates them. What does Douthat���s parenthetical add?... [Either] the false claim that ideologically-driven desire for radical change is more a feature of the American left than the right... [or] that... ���conservative��� must mean 'right-winger with a bad conscience'. As a liberal, I���m half inclined to say my suspicions are confirmed...

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