What E.J. Dionne Doesn't Get About Conservatism

By Peter Berkowitz January 15, 2016

In “Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond,” progressive Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne Jr. argues that not only has conservatism lost its way by jettisoning moderation, but in the process it has inflicted great harm on the country. “The breakdown in American government and the dysfunction in our politics are the result of the steady radicalization of American conservatism,” he writes. In Dionne’s telling, President Obama’s only notable contribution to the crisis has been his “failure to anticipate” conservative extremism, “and his tardiness in dealing with it.”

There are several problems here. One is contemporary progressivism’s own repudiation of moderation. Another is Dionne’s view, commonplace on the left, that the proof of the right’s immoderation is somehow found in conservatives’ refusal to embrace progressive goals....Dionne is an incorrigible partisan. His determination to defeat conservatism overwhelms his interest in understanding the conservative spirit and the moderation that sustains it.

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