{"id":1269,"date":"2009-05-14T23:32:33","date_gmt":"2009-05-15T06:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2009-05-15T08:48:39","modified_gmt":"2009-05-15T15:48:39","slug":"are-conservatives-getting-stupider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1269","title":{"rendered":"Are Conservatives Getting Stupider?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I sense intellectual deterioration of the once-vital conservative movement in the United States.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those are the words of Judge Richard Posner, a Reagan appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Posner is also one of the founders of the Chicago school of law and economics, a cornerstone of modern conservatism.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure that I agree that there was ever a vital conservative movement, but Posner’s essay<\/a> this past weekend offers an interesting inside perspective of the decline of conservative intellectualism. You know that there are troublesome tempests taking shape when an icon of Posner’s stature says this:<\/p>\n

“…it is notable that the policies of the new conservatism are powered largely by emotion and religion and have for the most part weak intellectual groundings. That the policies are weak in conception, have largely failed in execution, and are political flops is therefore unsurprising […] By the fall of 2008, the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the fall of 2008, things have only gotten worse. The Palin\/Plumber contingent has grown to include Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Loon), Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Miss California. Whatever pretense held by a previous generation of conservative thought leaders (i.e. William F. Buckley) has been abandoned by the contemporary crop of conservatives who prefer style over substance. Their superficial aspirations are exposed by an agenda that values public relations over policy.<\/p>\n

Recently Mike Pence, the chair of the House Republican Conference, advised his party peers<\/a> to cut their legislative staff to make room for communications aides. And bigshots like Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Eric Cantor launched an effort to re-brand the Republican Party, as if branding were their problem and not their paucity of ideas. In this environment, how do Republicans recruit a new generation of policymakers capable of contributions more profound than abstinence-only family planning?<\/p>\n

Posner’s focus on this issue is not the first light out of the right-wing wind tunnel. Conservative stalwarts like Andrew Sullivan, Christopher Buckley, Colin Powell, and Arlen Specter have articulated similar laments as regards the right’s brain drain. I, myself, have long been frustrated by the apparent drift in American culture toward an exaltation of averagism as a superior alternative to reason and intellect. It is this trend that allowed an inarticulate, persistently mediocre, dynastic runt to pass himself off as a brush-clearing cowboy and assume the presidency. It is a mindset that defines anyone subjected to higher learning as elitist and out of touch and, therefore, unfit for public service. During last year’s campaign, I wrote a handbook for electoral success<\/a> in this new era of self-imposed idiocy. It’s a concise guide for how to appeal to an electorate that has been deliberately stupefied by a congregation of conservative anti-intellectuals, and a compliant press corps.<\/p>\n

It’s nice to see that there are still conservative thinkers like Posner with the courage to tell the truth about their colleagues, the honesty to face their movement’s shortcomings, and the insight to understand the consequences. It’s nice to see that there are still conservative thinkers who actually think. Unfortunately, what thinking conservative thinkers think is that today’s conservatives don’t think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I sense intellectual deterioration of the once-vital conservative movement in the United States.” Those are the words of Judge Richard Posner, a Reagan appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Posner is also one of the founders of the Chicago school of law and economics, a cornerstone of modern conservatism. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[301,556],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-culture","category-general","tag-republicans","tag-richard-posner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-kt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":176,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=176","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":0},"title":"The All American Conservatism Rejects","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/21\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"With the publication of American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia, we now have a pretty good idea on whom to blame the nation's problems. The 997 page book casts itself as: \"...the first comprehensive reference volume to cover what is surely the most influential political and intellectual movement of the last half\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9271,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9271","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":1},"title":"CPAC: The Conservative Political Action Conference Sets Its Sights On The Future?","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/12\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This year's Conservative Political Action Conference begins Thursday and promises to be a treasure trove of comedy material that will give a big boost to Democrats and progressives. 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Frum's commentary is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":746,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=746","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":3},"title":"America Is Uniting – Against Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/8\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Any fair-minded observer of American media is well aware of the intrinsic bias of Fox News. It is a bias that is recognized by journalists and scholars, analysts and amateurs. Even Fox no longer tries to pawn the euphemistic \"fair and balanced\" nonsense off on their viewers. They now cast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31305,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=31305","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":4},"title":"If Only: WSJ Says Obama Is Six Months Away From Destroying The Republican Party","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/2\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal just published an editorial that might have been dismissed as an April Fool's joke, except that it was published on March 30. It is the sort of delusional crackpottery to which conservatives resort when their denial overpowers what little common sense they have. The article by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Obama Destroys GOP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/wsj-obama-destroy-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/wsj-obama-destroy-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/wsj-obama-destroy-gop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4530,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4530","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":5},"title":"George Soros Triggers Rightist OCD","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/26\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The uber-conservative Media Research Center has been fixated lately on a pathetic \"study\" of the media reach of George Soros. 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