Stacy,
As Frum might say (but in a different context), you are "dead
right." I agree with you entirely. Of course, we now have tried
Gersonism for 7 1/2 years, and the results are plain for all to
see: a president with the lowest sustained approval ratings in
modern history. Seems to me that Gersonism doesn't work. And I say
that as somebody who was putting the words "conservative" and
"compassion" together, deliberately, in speeches and talking-point
notes, half a decade before the current Bush was running for
president. I remain enamored with many of Jack Kemp's urban plans,
etc. But that doesn't mean I think compassion modifies
conservatism, as Gerson seems to believe; I think it DESCRIBES
conservatism, rightly understood -- and rightly understood is
certainly not as Gerson understands it. In Gersonism I smell more
than a whiff of compulsion. It is a whiff which offends both my
politics and my faith.