Jonah writes below of “…the new crusade for more activist government from folks like Ross, Reihan, Frum, Brooks, Yuval, Ramesh et al.”

I will let the others on that list speak for themselves but I for one am most certainly not engaged in any crusade for more activist government, and the thought of a government more activist than the one we now have (a prospect that looms before us in this election season) fills me only with dread.

I have argued that we should develop more conservative solutions to the concerns of middle class parents, should seek to reform the welfare state in ways that introduce conservative principles deep into enemy territory, should advance market-based ideas in the health care and entitlement debates, and the like. All of those, as I see it, point to less activist government, not more.