How "Conservative" Is the GOP?

Andrew Sullivan offers the following observations on The Daily Dish.

The critical definition of conservatism, by which I mean that political tradition Burke founded, rests on a distinction between theoretical and practical wisdom. Burke insisted that abstract ideas of the Truth should not be our guide in political thought and action...He prized experience, the wisdom of time, and the adaptation of existing institutions to new social realities. So for conservatives, the core political virtue is practical reason and common sense, not ideology, theology or absolutism.

The Republican party is not, at this point in time, a conservative party, as Burke would understand it. It's a fundamentalist religious party. Until the influence of evangelicals and Mormons is reduced, it will find these tendencies reinforce each other.

Sullivan may overstate the influence of religion on the current GOP. However, he is dead right that the party has become synonymous with ideological rigidity--political fundamentalism. Other conservative commentators are voicing similar concerns.

Jonah Goldberg critiques the GOP's response to the stimulus in National Review Online.

The disconnect between their past actions and the requirements of the present crisis lend credibility to the charge that Republicans are just being petulant and partisan.

David Frum chimes in on New Majority.

Could we possibly act more inadequate to the challenge? More futile? More brain dead?...In every poll I’ve seen, hefty majorities approve of President Obama’s economic performance. Approval numbers for congressional Republicans remain dismal. If we’re to make progress in 2010, we have to look serious. This week we looked not only irrelevant, but clueless and silly.

The point is not to kick the GOP while it is down but to raise concerns from its own members that it is not a serious participant in an important national discussion. We need a viable and relevant opposition party regardless of who is in power. The same criticism was true of the Democrats during the first Bush term and the country is now worse off because of it.

--Ballard Burgher