On Conservatism
In response to this:
I emailed (with that link) some family and friends:
The author (Jonathan V. Last of The Bulwark) considered himself a conservative until recently: until the rise of Trump. He admired Buckley, Eisenhower, Reagan, McCain. He defines the conservatism of which he considered himself a member as: "conservatism was about slowing the pace of change in order to avoid unintended consequences". He thinks of true conservatism as _part_ of classical liberalism, not its enemy. He wrote: "the obverse of conservatism wasn’t 'liberalism', it was 'radicalism'." He is still inclined toward what he thinks of as conservatism, but he voted for Biden and then Harris because "this is a critical emergency". All his cohort at the Bulwark loudly say the same.
Now, the most fervent, yet informed, thoughtful and rational, opposition to Trump that I can find anywhere, comes from that camp. (Not just The Bulwark: the camp is quite a bit larger than that.)
What I'm trying to convince you is that not everybody who ever called themself "conservative" is your enemy. In fact, I believe an alliance between them and
us is our only hope.
It is true, there don't seem to be many "classical conservatives" remaining. But I think there are more voters than seems apparent who might follow leadership with that voice, if they could hear it. I wish the Democratic Party would welcome them. The Party can consider them it's right wing, if it likes, but it should be at least as inclusive toward them as it is to it's left wing now.
I despise Wokism on its merits: it was offensively stupid. But the worst is that it drove a critical margin of reasonable people into the arms of MAGA. I think Wokism, and especially wokonyms like "Defund the Police", were about the most catastrophic political malpractice I can think of in history.
Now I'm afraid that, if somehow Democrats regain some power, like taking the House, they will immediately and loudly revert to Woke. Which will mean the end of Democracy in America.