Incapable

I've long been eager to see the myth of Conservative competence punctured like a hot air balloon. I'm sick of Conservatives puffing up their chests to support a war they would never offer up their own children to fight in, all the while ruining the U.S. reputation abroad and gutting the freedoms and institutions that made America great at home.

The equally useless twin of this myth is the one about Bush not being a real Conservative. Excuse me? And no, you don't get a do-over with, say, Sam Brownback.

Now Alan Wolfe, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, has written the most cogent argument on how Conservative ideology intrinsically leads to their failed leadership in The Washington Monthly, entitled Why Conservatives Can't Govern.

Read the whole piece, but here's the foundation of his argument:

Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the size and reach of the federal government. This mission, let us be clear, is an ideological one. It does not emerge out of an attempt to solve real-world problems, such as managing increasing deficits or finding revenue to pay for entitlements built into the structure of federal legislation. It stems, rather, from the libertarian conviction, repeated endlessly by George W. Bush, that the money government collects in order to carry out its business properly belongs to the people themselves. One thought, and one thought only, guided Bush and his Republican allies since they assumed power in the wake of Bush vs. Gore: taxes must be cut, and the more they are cut--especially in ways benefiting the rich--the better.

But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of managing government agencies whose missions--indeed, whose very existence--they believe to be illegitimate. Contemporary conservatism is a walking contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government.

This is the story that has to get out. The issue is Bush, the issue is Republicanism, the issue is at root that Conservatism is a failed ideology.

Toss it on history's dustbin along with Communism.