"Feel the heft of it," said Lee Edwards, a former aide to Senator Barry Goldwater, who appears in the volume with a byline and an entry. "It's more than a book. It is, if you will, an estimate — it shows the maturation of the conservative movement."...
"We've gone from history's adversary to destiny's child, but governing has brought a whole new level of challenge," said Jeffrey O. Nelson, publisher of ISI Books, the conservative press in Wilmington, Del., that produced the encyclopedia. Criticizing what he called the "big education, big spending, big war, big government" conservatism of Republican leaders, Mr. Nelson said he hoped that the book, whose list price is $35, would help the movement return to its small-government roots...
Some entries wear their conservatism on their sleeve. Goldwater's "loyalties were to duty, honor and country." Ronald Reagan had a "vigorous and principled agenda." Bill Clinton was "corrupt."
Except for a few hare-brained schems about as sensible as the Stalin cow, I didn't find anything that resembed an "idea" in that story.
There is a mention of "public choice theory" but it looks like Wikipedia's entry implies that the rational stuff can be divorced from the conservative spin that "this shows government is bad." No: it only shows conservatives will rip us off if allowed to go near government, because they will set up conditionsunder which the public has no power.
And that reminds me: I have to take Leo Strauss apart someday. There's something broken there, a part has to be bought from Home Depot or something...
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