Conservative Practice versus Conservative “Values”: Gottfried on the Decline and Fall of American Conservatism

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Bush Administration, which began with the takeover of the House of Representatives and Senate in 2006 by the Democratic Party and culminated in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and again in 2012, journalists and public intellectuals have been engaged in an extended debate about the state of American conservatism, and they, for the most part, identify with the Republican Party. Most have suggested that the American conservative movement is, at best, moribund. Some have written gleeful obituaries celebrating its long overdue demise, while others have suggested that the movement ought to be revived and offer their advice about how this should be done.