… oozes forth again, as David Frum rejects the entire history of the conservative movement, but still insists on stealing the popular label.

So what does he fill the cadaver with after this intellectual lobotomy? Why, we need to “reform and renew our conservative message for modern times.”

First of all, I reject the “our”: conservatism no more belongs to Frum’s outlaw gang than those oil tankers rounding the Horn of Africa belong to the Somali pirates who hijack them (all too easily) for filthy lucre. (However, a parallel does seem to emerge there).

Second of all, write down and put in your wallet the term “neocon Trotskyite dialectic.” The terms are inseparable, because the neocon world is constantly changing, serving always their desire for power. No history (rejected), no metaphysics — that is, unalterable principle (rejected), no humilitas – the soul of limited government and the engine of the rise of individual liberty in the West (rejected), and no common sense (there is no community of the neocons with the common man, because they are of course superior to the rest of us, and thus deserve to run the world).

To paraphrase Saint Paul, the essence of Frum’s gospel is war, pride and power — but the greatest of these is power.

The Best of Christopher Manion