In support of The Conservative Soul

Here's what Jonah Goldberg had to say in the National Review about Andrew Sullivan and his book on The Conservative Soul, now out in paperback:

Once a voice of restraint and reason, Sullivan now specializes in shrill panic: mercurial ranting full of operatic arguments, steeped in bad faith, aimed at people he once praised (including yours truly). There are many theories about what "happened" to Sullivan. They vary wildly in charity. But it’s fair to say that for many conservatives, Sullivan has become the intellectual equivalent of a write-off... Which is why most conservatives won't buy, or read, his book.

Well I did buy it and I did read it. And I think you will find it worthwhile doing the same.

Sullivan writes against a rather dangerous conservative utopianism and in favour of that intellectually attractive, but politically rather difficult, idea of doubt.

As the Republicans start a rethink such ideas may prove powerful whatever Jonah thinks.

Comments

[Candadai Tirumalai]

Following on from Jonah Goldberg's review of Andrew Sullivan, history is indeed full of complications. Take William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), who was three times the unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic Party and Christian populist-progressive. At the Scopes trial in 1925, he argued that "if evolution wins, Christianity goes," leading the tart-tongued H.L. Mencken to pronounce him the "fundamentalist Pope."
I agree with you about the role of scepticism and doubt in conservative thought.