Conservatives begin to plan to take back the concept of conservatism from the Bush heretics....Join the party!
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
Here's the Plan:
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Conference Call
By Conor Friedersdorf
The smart ones in the movement should get together right after the election at the Greenbrier or the Homestead, you know, where they typically have these kinds of get-togethers, and have a long dark night of the soul. And I’ll tell you what the conference should be called: Conservatism–What the F-ck?
– Christopher Buckley
It is time for conservatives to head into the wilderness once again or, as Bill Bennett put it 16 years ago, to have their own Council of Trent. We at Culture11 welcome that journey and that debate.
– David Kuo
My challenge to conservative bloggers (and readers) is this: come up with suggestions for a conference agenda. Here’s the catch: if you want to be invited to the conference, you have to propose a session that holds your own particular sacred cow up to critical examination.
– Rod Dreher
Okay, logistics first: the Crunchy Cons are definitely choosing the menu. Governor Schwarzenegger can bring the cigars. The neo-cons can handle security, so long as they promise not to preemptively invade neighboring conference sites. The social conservatives can pray for the best, the libertarians can plan for the worst, George W. Bush can preside over the softball league and should there be a vote at the end, Katherine Harris is not in charge!
Orange County, California is the ideal location: It’ll go for McCain, satisfying those who regard “the real America” and Red America as synonymous; it’s a lovely locale, ideal for a seaside cocktail party, so George Will, Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker and I will attend; and it has a nice harbor that can accommodate folks from the National Review and Weekly Standard cruises,with easy access to Nixon’s library and Reagan’s Western White House that will afford reminders of the movement’s best and worst moments. (Also, I can crash at my parents’ house.)
All that aside, here’s a serious agenda for the week:
MONDAY – The War on Terror Oversight Commission
The most fraught, divisive and unpleasant part of the conference is best dispensed with first. It concerns the prosecution of the War on Terrorism: specifically it addresses torture and “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the treatment of enemy combatants, Abu Ghraib, conditions at Guantanamo Bay, domestic surveillance, judicial oversight, the appropriate limits of executive power, and whether or not Bush Administration officials — including the president — should be investigated and/or prosecuted for crimes foreign or domestic. The format is a mock trial. Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens are given a budget to hire the prosecution team and call expert witnesses like Jane Mayer. George H.W. Bush and Jim Baker can head up the defense team.
After all the evidence is heard, a nine-judge panel can render a Supreme Court-style verdict, dissents, concurrences, and all. One among many panels I’d watch with rapt attention: Richard Posner, Eugene Volokh, John McCain, John Ashcroft, Alex Kozinski, Alan Dershowitz, George Mitchell, Tony Blair, and Erwin Chemerinski.
TUESDAY – Domestic Matters
Those conservatives who haven’t fled the country in fear or disgust after Monday’s mock trial can look forward to a day of talks on domestic affairs. I’d schedule a series of two-part sessions – an introduction designed to air various sides of an issue, and a follow-up discussion among conservatives on the best way forward.
Three panels among many:
Taxes and spending – Panelists Grover Norquist, George H.W. Bush, Karl Rove, Tom McClintock, George Will, and special guest Bill Clinton debate what it means to be a fiscal conservative. Moderated by Jon Henke.
Transportation, Infrastructure, Urban Planning, Professional Licensing, and Zoning – Liberal policy wonks Matt Yglesias and Ryan Avent are given 15 minutes each to convince attendees that the policies they tend to favor are neither free market nor conservative, and that the right-of-center principles they espouse demand a different agenda. Moderator Will Wilkinson is charged with keeping them honest.
The Bush Administration and its excesses – who enabled them? In this mock deposition, Daniel Larison and George Will get to ask Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Kristol, anyone who has ever posted on The Corner, the entire staff of Human Events, and anyone who served in the Bush Administration any questions they want. Everyone is presumed innocent and given the chance to answer.
WEDNESDAY – The Press, Academia, and Organized Religion
A strange trio? Perhaps, though I’d argue that these institutions share important characteristics. All are non-governmental entities that help shape culture. Each is a non-state repositories of power. All function best when inhabited by people of diverse political and ideological beliefs.
There are countless subtopics that could be profitably explored here. I’d suggest three:
Why the right needs journalists more than advocates. This self-serving session would assert that the right should participate in the mainstream media rather than trying to discredit it. As the right’s echo chamber grows, the ideas that reverberate weaken. Ghettoizing smart writers within rally-the-base publications is something the left can afford, given the present media landscape, while the scarcity of journalists who grasp right-of-center ideas make their isolation particularly costly. (I’d make my solution mandatory reading.)
Is abandoning the academy a mistake? I’d assign Ross Douthat, David Frum, and Victor Davis Hanson to argue the affirmative. Who’d argue the negative?
Where can the religious right and the religious left profitably join forces? I asked around for ideas about who to put on this panel. Here are some of the names I’ve heard: David Kuo, Jim Wallace, Sarah Palin, Tony Perkins, Brian Mclaren, Rod Dreher, Gary Bauer, Don Feder, Robert George, John Mark Reynolds, Carrie Gordon Earl, Rick Warren, Randall Balmer, Richard Land, and Dennis Prager. Moderated by Alan Jacobs.
THURSDAY – Race, Gender, Homosexuality, Religion, and Federalism
Another thorny day! I trust the thread connecting these issues is evident, and the subtopics are again almost limitless. Here are merely some of the questions I’d like to see taken up.
1) Why do so many non-white voters think the Republican Party is racist? How can it change that perception?
2) Is federalism possible? Do enough Americans really want it? (That’s my sacred cow, - don’t gore it!) (Also, I stole the idea from James.)
3) On the left, critics of the Bush Administration say it was too conservative. Many conservatives would beg to differ, which raises the question: in what wrong directions did it move, and how can the right make the case that getting more conservative and getting more extreme aren’t the same thing? (This topic subject to elimination of David Brooks writes a column about it first.)
4) Can a movement agitate for federalism and support the War on Drugs, a federal marriage amendment, connecting the drinking age to federal highway funds, etc.?
5) Identity politics aren’t going away anytime soon. Should the right stand against them? Or should they say, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Panelists: Clarence Thomas, Sarah Palin, Ward Connerly, Bill Kristol, John McWhorter, Heather Mac Donald.
FRIDAY – In the morning, immigration: panelists Mark Krikorian, Lou Dobbs, Kerry Howley, Peggy Noonan, Mike Pence, John Fonte, Tamara Jacoby,.. oh man, I’m forgetting people. This can be a way better panel. It’s been too long since I covered immigration. I’ll serve as moderator anyway.
If I had my druthers, I’d shamelessly pander to Culture11 readers, reserving the Friday afternoon agenda for what they’d like to see addressed. Send your ideas to conor@culture11.com, and I’ll post the best in an update.
Naturally you should improve upon all my suggestions in comments…
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