About George Will

[monk222]

I haven't been following George Will lately because he has seemed out there in Tea Party land, and for crying out loud, he has even staked a claim as a denier of global warming.

However, Sully reminds us that Will used to be a much more engaging and subtle thinker. As an example of this, he quotes Will from a 1981 column:

Eisenhower's conservatism ended the conservatives' pretense that the New Deal's steps toward a welfare state were steps along "the road to serfdom," and reversible. Eisenhower knew those steps reflected realities common to all developed nations—broad acceptance of the ethic of common provision, and the majority's desire to purchase things, such as certain pension and health services, collectively...The problem is not "bigness," it is unreasonable intrusiveness, which is a function of (bad) policy, not size.

Besides, inveighing against big government ignores the fact that government is about as small as it ever will be, and obscures the fact that government, though big, is often too weak. Many conservatives insist that America's great problem is just that government is so strong it is stifling freedom. These people call themselves "libertarian conservatives"—a label a bit like "promiscuous celibates." Real conservatism requires strong government.

I guess the game has changed, and apparently George Will rather fancies the plutocratic direction into which we seem to have veered. More the pity! We could use a strong conservative voice to moderate this emergent right-wing radicalism.

What will become of us? And how much longer will I be able to hold out?

(Source:The Dish)