It has been a long time since I've read such a screwed up piece of writing like this.

Does David Brooks understand conservatism? Has he read anything written by Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and scores of others whose thinking and writings have made the case for the civilized society? Conservatives are a much more sophisticated lot than Brooks gives them credit for. Conservatism isn't only about individualism, although it is rightly a critical element of ordered liberty. But it isn't about "creating 4,200 more health visitors," either. Brooks wants conservatives to mimic the ways of the Tory, the latter having made significant recent gains in British local elections. In other words, he looks to Europe much the same way the American Left does, although he may no doubt argue he looks there for a different direction than socialism.

And what is that direction? What is the government-centered society Brooks, et al, seek to establish in place of the civilized society? Why does he not learn from history, i.e., that centralized government breeds tyranny in various forms? And what of the Constitution's limits on his brand of "conservatism?" I guess I'll have to wait for his book, which no doubt is coming. But didn't Kevin Phillips already write it?