Sublime

For the New Right, so-called “conservatives” have been willful or witless dupes of the left for decades. In contemporary terms, examples include Mitt Romney delivering to Massachusetts what would become the basis for Obamacare, President Bush appointing David Souter to the Supreme Court, and John McCain sponsoring campaign finance “reform.”

Americans talk like conservatives but want to be governed like liberals. The Tea Party–era sign saying “Keep your government hands off my Medicare” is perhaps the most famous example of this divided soul. Americans like both the rhetoric and reality of low taxes, but they also like the programs that taxes fund. They thrill to politicians who talk

Les conservateurs britanniques comme les libéraux de la Commission avaient oublié et renié l’enseignement de leur père commun, Disraeli : « Je préfère la liberté dont nous jouissons au libéralisme qu’ils promettent et préfère aux droits de l’homme les droits des Anglais. »