Conservatives and change

Ryan Lizza's engrossing portrait of the McCain campaign, penned for this week's New Yorker provides a very good description of the candidate's style.

But there is more.

He also talks of the way that McCain's victory subverts the established order. At the same time as McCain's accidental victory (well described by Lizza) conservatives are beginning to rethink traditional party thinking:

[Newt]Gingrich, [Mike] Gerson, and [David] Frum all reject the anti-government ethos that has come to define conservatism. Gingrich calls for managerial competence in government. Gerson asks for expanded programs to fight poverty at home and to combat AIDS abroad. Frum recommends making peace with the realities of the welfare state.

Other conservatives have attacked these views, and perhaps the Frums and Gingriches are simply out of touch with the grass roots of their party.

However, these disputes also suggest that McCain, if he can tame his right-wing critics—and Mitt Romney’s endorsement last week will only help—may have a rare opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a Republican.

As I have argued elsewhere, McCain's candidacy and this new thinking could be of huge importance in the battle to change the Tory party.

Comments

[batmantim]

Change it into a European social democrat party you mean? Great. After all, who would want America's success when you could have the French economy. God help us. Some of us dream of emigrating to a country that still understands economics and respects liberty.