Lost Horizon

Ross Douthat is a young conservative who co-wrote the Grand New Party - a book about how the Republicans can actually make their party work in the 21st Century. David Brooks loved the book, and Ross is pretty sensible. His post today is worth a read - he's really disappointed in the McCain (prospective loss) because he sees W. and McPain as a real lost opportunity to deal with the GOP's challenges in the global world. I think his mood is interesting.

This is by no means a new insight, but it's one that's been brought home to me by the looming end of the Bush Era and the struggles of the McCain campaign. Conservatism in the United States faces a series of extremely knotty problems at the moment. How do you restrain the welfare state at a time when the entitlements we have are broadly popular, and yet their design puts them on a glide path to insolvency? How do you respond to the socioeconomic trends - wage stagnation, social immobility, rising health care costs, family breakdown, and so forth - that are slowly undermining support for the Reaganite model of low-tax capitalism? How do you sell socially-conservative ideas to a moderate middle that often perceives social conservatism as intolerant? How do you transform an increasingly white party with a history of benefiting from racially-charged issues into a party that can win majorities in an increasingly multiracial America? etc.

Right! Not sure how the GOP as it currently stands could possibly handle these forces. But maybe I should read his book to find out what he proposes.