Has anyone other than me noticed that the WSJ seems to be systematically concealing the by-line of Thomas Frank on its Columnists front page? Right-wing conspiracy? Also, the title of his column seems to have changed from Fighting Words to The Tilting Yard. I like Fighting Words better.
This week’s column is, as many of have been thus far, a bit uneven and clunky. I think Frank is still adapting to the brevity of the column, which dampens his ability to build up a rhetorical head of steam, something he does very effectively in his books, especially One Market Under God, my favorite.
But Frank hits the political nail straight on the head with the concluding paragraph of his column (hammer?):
Another route is possible [for the Democrats], though. If they are willing to go beyond the regal rhetoric of post-partisanship, Democrats might find that they are, for the first time in decades, running against a philosophy of government that has utterly discredited itself. Should they choose to make 2008 a referendum on conservatism itself, they might deliver the knockout blow. They should start with the bad ideas that have delivered such disastrous consequences.
I could not agree more. Ideas do matter, as self-described conservatives tend to say. And bad ideas–whether they be the suspension of habeas corpus, the erosion of taboos against torture, or the casual suggestion that voting for Democrats might result in the loss of an American city–almost ineluctably lead to bad outcomes in the real world, for real people.
Democrats need to organize their own ideas and fight for what they say they believe in. At this historic moment, campaigning as an anti-Bush is not enough. Democrats have to stand for something, too. The rest of us, meanwhile, need to give the Democrats hell when they fail to live up to their professed ideals.