Sunday, July 29, 2007

Compassionate Conservatism in the Modern World

On Jesus' General

The theme of "compassionate conservatism" was important in the original presidential campaign of George W. Bush. That such a theme was even considered necessary should be instructive. Something had to be deeply wrong with conservatism if anyone imagined that the public needed to be told that it was possible to be conservative and compassionate at the same time, or that conservatism was being transformed into an ideology more compassionate than in the past.

Deeds are more important than words, so rather than pretend that conservatism can be made compassionate by a mere rhetorical flourish, we should instead ask how the Bush administration has acquitted itself over the past years. It's hard to see anything remotely "compassionate" in a single policy, proposal, signing statement, or any other action taken by the Bush administration. Indeed, there are so many actions that seem to be the opposite of compassionate that it would be difficult to single any one out as truly emblematic of the Bush administration's true character.

The rest of the thought is here ...

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