Listen up, Dave: to care is not to do

David Frum on the lessons the Tories can learn from the original conservative moderniser: George W. Bush, whose progressive policies often just didn’t add up

Political parties typically undergo a four-stage cycle after a major defeat. It goes something like this:

1. We didn’t really lose. (The other guys just happened to luck into an appealing candidate — but the people still really prefer us.)
2. OK, we lost — but only because the voters are idiots.
3. OK, we lost and maybe the voters are not idiots — but there is nothing we can do without betraying our sacred principles.
4. Hey, maybe there is something we can do.

The British Conservative party has reached Stage 4. The US Republican party is stuck in Stage 1.

The Republicans have much to learn from the Conservatives (I detailed some of those lessons in the November issue of Commentary). For the present, however, Republicans are in no mood to absorb any lessons.