What Hope for Maintaining a Conservative Opposition?

Don’t believe it, says Mr. Dos Passos. What is going on is not the death struggle of the GOP but the birth of a coherent, effective conservative opposition

We do have a tendency in this country to think of Presidential elections the way we think of big games. The association is obvious. The general election comes in the fall, sandwiched in between the World Series and the really important football games. Great masses of Americans can’t help thinking of it as just another athletic contest. The tendency is to yell like hell for our team while the game is going on, and then, win or lose, to go home and forget it.

JD

About the Author

John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos (1896–1970) was an acclaimed American novelist and frequent contributor to National Review.

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Presidential Election

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Don’t believe it, says Mr. Dos Passos. What is going on is not the death struggle of the GOP but the birth of a coherent, effective conservative opposition

We do have a tendency in this country to think of Presidential elections the way we think of big games. The association is obvious. The general election comes in the fall, sandwiched in between the World Series and the really important football games. Great masses of Americans can’t help thinking of it as just another athletic contest. The tendency is to yell like hell for our team while the game is going on, and then, win or lose, to go home and forget it.