In the course of this God-awful, drink-inspiring, litter-runt of a presidential election, it has become common to hear it said in certain of the Right’s more histrionic quarters that conservatism has failed and needs to be burned swiftly to the ground.
As a proposition, this has little to recommend it. One rarely improves upon the prospects of anything by setting fire to it, and, besides, the claim itself has the intractable problem of being false. In fact, conservatism has achieved an enormous amount in the last half century, and, had it been permitted to take the Republican party’s reins this year, it could have continued to do so into the future. The presidential veto being what it is, the Right’s national role over the last decade or so has been to stand athwart progressivism yelling “Stop.” In the states, however — where most of the real governing is done — reform has been relentless and meaningful. Consider, if you will, that both Michigan and Wisconsin are now “right to work” jurisdictions — a development that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago; consider that more than half of the nation’s education systems now boast some form of school-choice program; and consider that the last five years have played backdrop to more than a quarter of all of the state-level abortion regulations enacted into law since 1973. Where they have been able to gain a foothold, Republican officeholders have been busy and they have been effective, and the country as a whole has been improved by their work.
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