Two things are noteworthy about Fareed Zakaria's short column, "The End of Conservatism." First, Zakaria hitches conservatism's demise to an abandonment of conservative principles by conservative politicians. But even if we could agree on a set of conservative principles, that is something different from a set of conservative policy proposals, whose efficacy, Zakaria avers, were the result of a particular moment in American politics. It is quite true that appeals to law and order and proposals to shrink or eliminate the "socialist" bureaucratic welfare state -- while proposing a more muscular foreign policy -- were hallmarks of the late-70s, mid-80s conservative revival. But was this rhetoric popular because it was based on sound principle or because it was timely? Since ideological conservatives haven't given up on these policies, we have to conclude that it was the policy pitch that was salient, not any supposed principles undergirding them.
The second point concerns Zakaria's odd conclusion that John McCain represents, at least in the eyes of Republican primary voters, a return to these lost principles. He writes:
Political ideologies do not exist in a vacuum. They need to meet the problems of the world as it exists. Ordinary conservatives understand this, which may be why—despite the urgings of their ideological gurus—they have voted for McCain. He seems to understand that a new world requires new thinking.
If by "ordinary" Zakaria means "most" conservatives, then why didn't McCain win more than mere pluralities in past primaries where he actually faced competition? McCain's likely nomination, rather than being the product of a conscious choice by an introspective conservative base, seems instead to have been the product of luck: In a field of candidates, each unacceptable to one or more faction in the Republican coalition and each with their own unique flaws, McCain survived, ironically, because his campaign nearly died last summer and thus wasn't forced to spend treasure fighting his rivals for the second half of 2007. If anything, McCain was demonstrably the most "electable" Republican, despite his being despised by most of the base. This is light-years from the notion that McCain represents a turn towards "new" conservative ideas.
A fundamental conceit of the conservative movement is the notion that conservative principles resonate with a majority of the public. This is the conceit that argues Reaganism was a triumph of conservative ideas instead of a timely, well-honed political message. Zakaria seems to understand this, but still chooses to paint McCain the Maverick as some sort of conservative standard-bearer. I think tolling the bell for the conservative movement is a bit premature, considering the counter-establishment they have erected to sustain themselves, but their electoral effectiveness is certainly at an end for the time being, and not even Reagan himself could change that.
--Mori Dinauer
