“If this is what conservatism has become, count me out”

As someone who long ago considered myself a conservative, I find the hypocrisy and lack of principles in the current conservative movement among the most baffling developments of the past 20 years. I personally became more liberal as I aged, but was initially pushed away from political conservatism by it becoming nearly synonymous with the religious right wing; I am decidedly not religious.

In any case, I found several of this article’s points to be well-made and worth a read.

“Principled conservativism continues to exist, primarily at small journals of opinion, but it is increasingly disconnected from the stuff that thrills the masses. I remember as a high school student in the 1980s attending a lecture at UCLA by William F. Buckley Jr. I was dazzled by his erudition, wit and oratorical skill. Today, young conservatives flock to the boorish and racist performance art of Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter. The Conservative Political Action Conference couldn’t find room for critics of Trump, save for the brave and booed Mona Charen, but it did showcase French fascist scion Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.”