Justin "Sandbox" Hart has written a diary accusing me and my fellow PoMoConers of hanging out in cloud-cuckoo land and thinking when we should be, like, leading GOTV efforts and . . . stuff. This makes complete sense, because as we all know the modern conservative movement is totally overflowing with exciting intellectual dynamism but at great risk of perishing through lack of dedicated footsoldiers. Right. Somebody call me when the counterrevolution starts.
I’ll ask Mr. Hart to indulge me for just a couple of minutes. I’ve done the calculations, a math major comes in handy sometimes, and have come to the conclusion that reading this instead of manning a phone bank will cost the GOP only 2.37 enthusiastic voters. If you feel like those 2.37 voters *really, really* matter; dude, I totally understand. I’ll be right here when you get back.
Still with me? Good. Now, I’m going to propose something truly astounding and abstract and full of intellectualosity. You ready? Sometimes, just sometimes, it isn’t entirely clear where the True, the Right, and the Good lie. Sometimes it isn’t clear which policy is the best one. Sometimes, as Daniel Larison and John Schwenkler are exceedingly good at pointing out, "conservative" candidates are no such thing — even when they have the little "R" next to their name. Shocking, I know. Some "conservative" candidates wear our team color but don’t seem to be playing for our side . . . It’s almost like our "team" is a haphazard electoral coalition that has outlived its usefulness rather than a coherent movement. Nah, there I go again with my crazy talk.
Heck, I’ll go a step further. Suppose, for the moment, that every Republican candidate running for office were a rock-ribbed conservative — whatever that means. Suppose further that I had the option either of reading and writing or of becoming precinct captain. Is the choice really that clear? I don’t think it is.
No movement; not even a movement which is somehow in direct communion with the Good, the Beautiful, and the True, and which thereby has all the right answers; can survive without ongoing intellectual foment and vitality. In the first half of the 20th century, real conservatism was largely dismissed in the United States for just this reason. "The Stupid Party" is what we were called, and occasionally with some reason. Were we less correct back then? Absolutely not! In many ways, the modern GOP could learn a thing or two from the Old Right. The fact remains that nobody will buy something that isn’t being sold well, and that the first rule of being a good salesman is knowing your audience. Intellectuals have played a huge role in shaping public opinion over the last few centuries, and if we want our movement to succeed, we need to know the language with which we can sell our ideas to the idea-mongers themselves. My secret hope is that in doing so, we’ll necessarily engage in a little housecleaning, a little introspection, and a little intellectual honesty.
You see that? There I go again, airing the family laundry in front of the whole neighborhood. Seriously though, Mr. Hart, even if one believes that the modern Republican Party is in fighting-shape and ideologically dandy; there are still purely pragmatic reasons to keep leeches like me sitting around and thinking.
