Correspondence

...To me it seems like the triumph of desire over reality...

...Besides, they know that drumming Pat Robertson out of the party will reduce neither the condescension of the liberal media, nor the fear and disdain felt by so many economic conservatives and independents...

...Would that it were possible, but the time is not ripe...

...These setbacks say nothing about the shift in public mood...

...McCain for the arrogant, sanctimonious gasbag that he is...

...We need a leader who will not only look after U.S...

...It harks back to the Catholic principle of subsidiarity outlined by Pope Leo—namely, that we should attempt to solve our most pressing social problems with the resources closest to the problem: Begin with the family, then move to the church, civic associations, the town, and upward...

...If this lineage is too sectarian, one could also trace the idea back to Tocqueville's Democracy in America, where he suggests that a large part of America's ability to resist the worst tendencies of the democratic age (radical egalitarianism and individualism) can be found in the strength of her civic associations and local governments...

...Any issue can work at any time, given the proper pitch from the right salesman...

...This "creative destruction" idea sounds like it came from the mouth of a college freshman who sits in some cafe wearing a beret and reading Turgenev and Bakunin...

...Because these labels are unfair, similar attacks on religious conservative leaders are considered equally unfair...

...McCain, we are told, genuinely wants to reform our political system and reconnect us to the concept of civic virtue by uniting us "to serve a cause greater than our self-interest...

...As to the issue of whether McCain's campaign represents a chance for a philosophical renewal of the Republican party, on this point, McCain seems to be all talk and no substance, especially when compared to Gov...

...Thankfully the rank and file saw through this McCain farce and rose up to quash it...

...Without communism as a threat, economic conservatives see little need for a moral crusade...

...What exactly is this "cause greater than my self-interest" that McCain is calling me to realize...

...Would it be so hard for McCain to rail directly against the power of the teachers' and labor unions, the trial lawyers' association, and radical environmentalist groups that seek to limit property rights, as well as tobacco and business groups...

...Moral crusades and patriotic movements in today's cultural climate...

...MATTHEW C. AMES Fairfax, VA IN "THE POLITICS OF Creative Destruction," William Kristol and David Brooks argue that the McCain coalition may be the future of the Republican party...

...This notion that the old Republican issues like tax cuts won't work anymore is garbage...

...As near as I can tell, it is simply voting for McCain...

...Bush's truly is the most noble cause...

...Economic conservatives and independents should be able to support policies that address some of the social conservatives' concerns and consequently reduce the tension surrounding social issues...

...But any attempt to jettison social conservatives, minimize their role, or deny them the respect they deserve for their loyalty and service to the party as a whole can only lead to the destruction of the Republican party, or its relegation to permanent minority status...

...After all, the chief appeal of the Perot-McCain reform agenda has been the emphasis on procedural rather than substantive reform...

...Are Kristol and Brooks saying we should just smash up the party to see how the cookie crumbles...

...GLENN SHELLER Pickerington, OH...

...This is only a makeshift solution, but present circumstances do not allow for more...

...Yes, the GOP has a big problem...

...In short, the Bush campaign supplies a challenge to Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves in a way McCain's campaign does not...

...But is that really a new paradigm, or the same kind of status-quo thinking of which they accuse the party faithful...

...Where in the McCain plan am I seriously challenged to be a better human being or citizen...

...The Republican party unquestionably must adapt or die, and the tension between social and economic conservatives is a potentially fatal genetic trait...

...Furthermore, the authors assume that the party can sanitize itself by "jet-tison[ing]" a few prominent religious conservatives...

...Leaving aside the flaws in John McCain that contributed to the collapse of his campaign, as a general proposition, Kristol and Brooks's proposal is misconceived...

...George W. Bush has...

...Charlottesville, VA WILLIAM KRISTOL and David Brooks are on the run...

...it fails to address the real problems that threaten Americans...

...We need a leader who will rally us to build the bonds of community that have slowly dissipated...

...And what would be the basis for a "moral crusade" or a "patriotic movement...

...This is no bad thing, but in a crass, amoral culture, it is increasingly difficult to do...

...The philosophy behind George W. Bush's compassionate conservative message, on the other hand, has a long pedigree...

...Kristol and Brooks have no wine to pour into the old bottles...

...Of course not, but if he did, the mainstream press might not have been so sycophantic...

...Neither Al Gore nor John McCain has offered a mechanism for fulfilling that role of the president...

...They seem to be enamored of the concept of reform and national purpose that McCain portends...

...My support for Gov...

...What is this nonsense...

...DENNIS LOGUE JR...

...The authors seem to want to recreate that coalition, presumably with some new common cause to hold it together...

...My civic virtue has been boiled down to a single vote or perhaps a series of votes, a prospect I don't find terribly ennobling...

...And how do you awaken patriotism in an established, wealthy, and self-indulgent society with no external economic or military threats on the horizon...

...Bush is not based on a desire to support a noble lost cause, as Brooks suggests in a recent Newsweek article...

...Their candidate crashed because anyone with a modicum of good sense and skepticism could see Sen...

...This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the psychology of social conservatives, who are the pariahs of today's politics...

...Yes, the party must appeal to moderates and independents to avoid the same fate...

...Their views on abortion, homosexuality, relations between the sexes, school prayer, child-rearing, and most of the other issues that define them are anathema in what used to be called polite society...

...But Kristol and Brooks do not explain how their proposed movement would differ fundamentally from the anti-Communist coalition of the '60s, '70s, and '80s that needs to be replaced...

...Where is the challenge...

...I vote for him, and he magically slays the monster interests...

...Attacking interests in Washington is feel-good politics...

...The GOP lost ground in recent years because of a crafty Bill Clinton and a miserable candidate in Bob Dole...

...When they attempt to protect themselves from assault by their own society, they are labeled uncompromising, narrow-minded, reactionary bigots...

...The great myth in political and media circles is that the public has definite views on matters...

...But if economic conservatives and others opposed to the statist and anti-rational politics of the left wish to prevail, they must develop a proper respect and appreciation for what motivates social conservatives...

...The American public is reeling from the devastation wrought on its character by the current administration and the tragedies in Littleton, Paducah, Jonesboro, and now Flint...

...DAVID K. KREITMAN Miami Beach, FL IN "THE POLITICS OF Creative Destruction," William Kristol and David Brooks assert that the Republican party can be renovated and expanded through a "moral crusade" framed as a "patriotic rather than a religious movement...

...Only a few Beltway conservative highbrows took his bait in a most public way, and are now thoroughly discredited...

...If they are correct, then the GOP will be superfluous, a sort of Democratic party lite, a clone of the Democratic Leadership Council...

...This does not seem very participatory to me...

...Economic conservatives and like-minded independents cannot out-vote the left's coalition of favor-seekers...

...Bush...

...Factor out the 1 percent of Americans who pay enough attention to policy to express a meaningful position, and you are left with an ignorant electorate at the mercy of the sexiest leader of the moment...

...Their argument is self-contradictory, they misunderstand the problem facing the GOP and their solution would only destroy the party...

...I support the governor because he has the most coherent plan to restore the party to its most cherished ideals: that our freedoms are based on the equal dignity of man, and that government should encourage, not supplant, the institutions that allow man to best realize that dignity...

...His tax cut enables Americans to improve their paltry rate of donation to charity (reported as 2.1 percent of income in a recent Weekly Standard article...

...That coalition was a patriotic movement, in which conservatives put aside their differences to pursue a moral crusade against communism...

...Once you start talking about substance, what looked like solid middle ground suddenly becomes quicksand...

...All they really want is to be free to raise their children and live their lives much as their parents did...

...One-party state, anyone...

...We live not in the strong-minded America of Teddy Roosevelt, but in the self-indulgent America that was disgusted with Bill Clinton yet refused to pass judgment on him...

...A more general case would be agreeing to limit federal involvement in many other social issues, allowing them to be resolved at the state and local level, and respecting ensuing local variations...

...So it is no surprise when even those social conservatives who do not necessarily agree with the more outspoken members of the movement close ranks, as they did in the recent primaries...

...In this spirit I would urge Kristol and Brooks to rethink their support for McCain and join Bush in his restoration of the Republican party...

...We need candidates who can help the two camps understand each other and work together...

...An attack on any member of the group is an attack on all...

...Bush calls on Americans to become engaged in their communities through faith-based programs...

...interests abroad, but who will call us to be better citizens than we are...

...And now we are treated to another of Kristol and Brooks's efforts to explain why the Republican party needs to refashion itself every few years with an ever-shifting, kaleidoscopic parade of interests— how they must get liberal to keep fresh and groovy...

...School choice is one specific example...

...McCain ("The Politics of Creative Destruction," March 13...

...Its most committed constituency is a large minority within the nation whose views on key issues are deeply held, but are not shared by the larger society...

...If McCain were really concerned about the problem of interests, he would not be talking almost entirely about "big tobacco" and the moneyed interests— groups most listeners associate almost exclusively with the Republican party...