David Frum is a nice man and I’ve learned a lot from his work over the years. But I’m always disappointed when he writes stuff like this. For a refutation of this kind of thinking, there is no better place to start than this:
When conservatism’s glittering generalities, “you are overtaxed,” turn into legislative specifics, “you must pay more to send your kid to the state university,” we run into as much trouble midsession as the liberals do at election time. Twelve years of twisting and struggling to escape this snare have just entangled us ever more deeply in it, until we have arrived at the unhappy destination this book describes. Is there a way out? Only one: conservative intellectuals should learn to care a little less about the electoral prospects of the Republican Party, indulge less in policy cleverness and ethnic demagoguery, and do what intellectuals of all descriptions are obliged to practice honesty, and pay the price.
Why, those are the closing words of Dead Right by David Frum! There’s a huge gulf between trying to adapt to unfavorable political realities and allowing those realities to dissuade us from advocating what we believe is best for the country. Why care about winning elections for elections’ sake?