MB Civic

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html?pagewanted=print

Brooks makes some very cogent arguments against his own party, showing himself to be slightly less conservative Republican than staunch Libertarian.

He says, “Sometimes liberalism is dominant and sometimes conservatism is dominant, but sometimes there is no dominant ideology.” After calling the era 1932-1968 a “liberal era” and the era 1980-2006 a “conservative era,” he adds, “We’re about to enter another of those periods without a dominant ideology. It’s clear that this election will mark the end of conservative dominance. This election is a period, not a comma, in political history.”

After admitting that “…conservatives have exhausted their agenda. They have little new left to propose…,” he notes that, in this new no-dominant-ideology era, “Process issues will come to the fore, issues that have to do with the way politics is conducted. So will issues of character and decision-making style. George Bush’s secretive and declarative method will soon seem archaic…”

And in a statement that is probably far deeper and more prescient than even Mr. Brooks realizes, he adds, “Instead, voters will look for candidates as interactive as the technology around them.”