The Libertarian Populist Agenda. By Ben Domenech. Real Clear Politics, June 5, 2013.
Three Challenges to Libertarian Populism. By Ben Domenech. Real Clear Politics, June 6, 2013.
Libertarian Populism and Its Limits. By Ross Douthat. New York Times, June 4, 2013.
What “Conservative Reformers” Can Learn From Libertarians. By Peter Suderman. Reason, May 31, 2013.
Conservative reformers should fix the rigged game. By Tim Carney. Washington Examiner, June 4, 2013.
Reformish Conservatives. By Ryan Cooper. Washington Monthly, May/June 2013. Also here.
What Is Reform Conservatism? By Ross Douthat. NJBR, June 2, 2013.
On Conservative Reformers. By Erick Erickson. RedState, June 4, 2013.
U.S. Meritocracy Has Given Way to Aristocracy. By Erick Erickson. NJBR, May 30, 2013. With articles by Ben Domenech and others.
Erickson (Conservative Reformers):
In
fact, I dare say this is a problem both parties have these days — the up and
coming intellectual voices are voices that have worked little outside think
tanks and ideological publications. The saving grace for the conservatives on
this front is that they, by virtue of being conservative, at least have an
understanding into how human nature actually operates.
Conservatism
wins when it is populist and middle class. It does not win when it is academic
or technocratic. Those discussing conservative reform in Washington and New
York are offering up some intriguing ideas worth considering. And I hate it for
them that they, real conservative policy thinkers, have to overcome both the
poseurs and the anti-beltway bias, but I would also urge them to consider that
the public deeply, deeply distrusts Washington. It is therefore probably not a
great sales pitch to figure out how conservatives in Washington can make the
case for Washington improving the lives of people who feel Washington and
those, regardless of party or ideology, in Washington have helped create an
American aristocracy.
Ronald
Reagan took the academic ideas of conservatism and tied them to a mid-western
understanding of human nature and a life spent touring factories and talking to
people within 100 miles of a major American river valley, not just 25 miles of
a coast. Conservative reform is going to come from the 50 laboratories of
democracy and will be tied to a face and voice that ground them in the real
world of Main Street, USA.
