Conservatism walks like a zombie

"The Fall of Conservatism" by George Packer provides the reader with a decent overview of the evolution of the conservative political movement in this country from its origins, through its death and afterlife following the Cold War.

[McCain] and his likely Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, “both embody a post-polarized, or anti-polarized, style of politics,” the Times columnist David Brooks told me. “McCain, crucially, missed the sixties, and in some ways he’s a pre-sixties figure. He and Obama don’t resonate with the sixties at all.” The fact that the least conservative, least divisive Republican in the 2008 race is the last one standing—despite being despised by significant voices on the right—shows how little life is left in the movement that Goldwater began, Nixon brought into power, Ronald Reagan gave mass appeal, Newt Gingrich radicalized, Tom DeLay criminalized, and Bush allowed to break into pieces. “The fact that there was no conventional, establishment, old-style conservative candidate was not an accident,” Brooks said. “Mitt Romney pretended to be one for a while, but he wasn’t. Rudy Giuliani sort of pretended, but he wasn’t. McCain is certainly not. It’s not only a lack of political talent—there’s just no driving force, and it will soften up normal Republicans for change.”

The most interesting material is from the Nixon time. It's worthwhile to consider the shadow Tricky Dick cast over the decades that came after his own downfall.

For someone too young to remember any of that, this New Yorker magazine article makes for a pretty good history lesson. Click here to read it.