I don’t know this guy, but it’s an interesting, exhaustive overview/history going back to Russell Kirk/”movement conservatism” etc…
Ted Cruz’s campaign has launched a series of TV ads in Iowa of accusing Trump of being, in fact, a “liberal Democrat,” and, for proof, dredging up an interview that the Donald gave back seventeen years ago, in which he expressed views which would certainly be anathema to any traditionalist conservative. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Seventeen years ago? How many of us have not changed, at least to some degree, our views on various topics in seventeen years? Remember Ronald Reagan? For most of his life he was a New Deal-Roosevelt Democrat, but by 1968 he had altered his philosophy. Conversions are, indeed, possible, and, in fact, the Christian faith not only lauds them, but teaches that they happen all the time. Indeed, if “the abortion doctor,” Bernard Nathanson—a co-founder of NARAL–can come full circle on the right-to-life, cannot Donald Trump? And if (former) Democrat loyalist Ronald Reagan can become standard bearer for conservatives, why deny the possibility of conversion to the Donald? (…)
Others think Cruz is a better “conservative” or a more sincere “Christian,” but I would posit that the old conservative movement that we grew up with has basically become nugatory, run aground and corrupt. Present day “Mainstream Conservatism” reminds me more of a Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, transforming itself into something that upends what was once its essential nature.
