In today’s Washington Post, the inimitable Gordon Morse writes about Virginia “conservatives” — looking at the statewide candidates — and how they are, in no way, conservative. His conclusion is an excellent one:
If you substitute “convenience” for this new version of “conservatism,” it all begins to make sense.
If, for instance, it’s convenient to cut local taxes instead of state taxes while ignoring the consequences for city and county services, that’s conservative.
If it’s convenient to promise new spending on education, transportation and public safety while never explaining what that means to long-term state spending commitments, that’s conservative.
If it’s convenient to avoid discussions of looming problems — i.e., Medicaid — while screaming “liberal” in the direction of your opponents, then that’s conservative.
Or if it’s convenient to simply step aside and hand things over to “the people” and let them make the hard choices while you put up your feet and swill down a mint julep, well, heck, that’s conservative, too.