Letter from Washington

Call us a friend of the New Right. We like the way they have brought moral and social issues to the fore, the way they have scared the bejesus out of the Republican Party, the way they have challenged the established liberal order of Capitol Hill. They have no hunger for respectability and no fear of victory. They are most comfortable with themselves, it sometimes seems, when they are read out of the company of civilized men by the New York Times.

They have won some, lost some, fought a few to pyrrhic victory. It is not difficult to imagine, however, a vastly different political culture without the New Right. The gentle leadership of the Republican Party—a loyal opposition if ever there was one—would have insured the domestic tranquillity, promoted the general welfare, and settled greedily for 20 per cent of a geometrically expanding federal pie. Without the New Right cop on the beat, the GOP triumvirate of Brock, Baker, and Rhodes would have voted their shares for an ideological merger with the dominant Democrats. Under constant surveillance by New Rightists, they act differently, occasionally making distinctly Republican and even conservative noises. If there is a two-party system in this country, it is at least in part the creature of the New Right.

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Call us a friend of the New Right. We like the way they have brought moral and social issues to the fore, the way they have scared the bejesus out of the Republican Party, the way they have challenged the established liberal order of Capitol Hill. They have no hunger for respectability and no fear of victory. They are most comfortable with themselves, it sometimes seems, when they are read out of the company of civilized men by the New York Times.

They have won some, lost some, fought a few to pyrrhic victory. It is not difficult to imagine, however, a vastly different political culture without the New Right. The gentle leadership of the Republican Party—a loyal opposition if ever there was one—would have insured the domestic tranquillity, promoted the general welfare, and settled greedily for 20 per cent of a geometrically expanding federal pie. Without the New Right cop on the beat, the GOP triumvirate of Brock, Baker, and Rhodes would have voted their shares for an ideological merger with the dominant Democrats. Under constant surveillance by New Rightists, they act differently, occasionally making distinctly Republican and even conservative noises. If there is a two-party system in this country, it is at least in part the creature of the New Right.