March 20, 2004
AND COMMUNISM WAS AN ATTEMPT TO EMPOWER THE PROLETARIAT
Too Quiet on the Home Front (David Brooks, New York Times, 3/20/04)
Compassionate conservatism never really had much of a life, but its collapse has had a debilitating effect on the Bush presidency.Compassionate conservatism started out, remember, as a way to salvage the Republican Party from the wreckage of the Gingrich revolution. Newt Gingrich vowed to slash government, an approach that struck voters as entirely too negative. So Bush rejected "the destructive mind-set that if government would only get out of our way, all our problems would be solved."
Instead, compassionate conservatism was designed as a positive governing philosophy. It would revive responsible citizenship with more community and national service, more parental involvement in schools. Self-governing citizens would have greater incentives to give to charity.
Moreover, compassionate conservatism would get Republicans engaged in normally Democratic issues. The idea was to build trust across party lines and change the tone in Washington.
I've misunderstood any number of political programs. Where's my Times column? Posted by David Cohen at March 20, 2004 6:51 PM
You are simply not Heepish enough.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 20, 2004 8:15 PMBrooks really fell down with this one. First he conflates the electoral success of the Gingrich revolution (it did give the House to the GOP), its legislative aspects (a qualified success, now partially dismantled), and its eventual public image as created by its enemies, and declares it all "wreckage". Then he misses the not-too-difficult-to-see point that "compassionate conservatism" is in large part a PR labeling of much of what Gingrich stood for, though admittedly a higher-spending version of it.
Posted by: PapayaSF at March 20, 2004 9:49 PMBrooks' obession with spotting "trends" before anyone else makes him prone to creating some where none exist. But devloping the "Bo-bos" made Brooks' name in the world of punditry, so he's not going to stop now...
Posted by: John at March 20, 2004 10:30 PMBush's compassion most certainly does not (and did not) extend to the Democratic dinosaurs in Washington. Nor does mine.
Posted by: jim hamlen at March 20, 2004 11:42 PM