Can't fix stupid?

As conservatives struggle with the fact that the Republican party has become less about ideas and more about feeling and intuition as a result of President Bush's "compassionate conservatism", Common Sense wonders where are the William Buckleys? Milton Friedmans? Thomas Sowells? who will lead conservatives out of the wilderness of the last eight years? Modern conservatism, born in the 1950s as an intellecual movement based on facts, argument, and research, has now been reduced to slogans, grand standing, and divorced from reality. As Barack Obama inspires a new generation of Americans to join the Democrats, Common Sense wonders how will conservatives inspire the next generation to join the ranks of the faithful? Conservatives, or so-called conservatives, have ignored the arena of ideas for far too long. A new generation hungers for solutions to the very complex problems our society faces in the 21st century and instead we give them polemics, wisecracks, satire, and talking points. As David Frum points out, "...tabloid media begets tabloid politics. When you argue stupid, you campaign stupid. When you campaign stupid, you win stupid. When you win stupid, you govern stupid" as Republicans have for the last year years, i.e., Harriet Miers, amnesty for illegals, Hurrican Katrina, McCain-Feingold, the arrogance of Iraq, etc. However, there is hope. As liberals continue to work out of the same old tired playbook of government run social programs, trade protectionism, central economic and environmental planning, and a foreign policy run out of the offices of the United Nations, conservativism can correct the path of "stupidity" we have been on for the last eight years only if we return to the ideas once grounded in the way the real world works.