More Old Ideas Please

I've yet to hear any conservatives recognize that they are suffering from a "secular problem".

But the closest anyone has come is US News' Michael Barone. In a morning panel on the '08 landscape, he cautioned conservatives not to look in the past for another Reagan, but to find "new ideas" that speak to the concerns of today's voters.

Barone's advice didn't take.

Minutes later, Human Events editor John Gizzi urged conservatives to keep pushing for "less government," then turned to Barone and said:

New ideas are fine, but isn't it about time we take some old ideas off the shelf

And that received far louder applause.

Apparently, no one bothered to read today's NY Times, which found that 60% of Americans (and 46% of Republicans), not only want their government to guarantee health insurance for all, but are willing to contribute more in taxes to make it happen.

In essence, they want their government to serve their needs and respond to their will. Until conservatives deal with that, their secular problem won't go away.

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