Preaching to the Converted

The drafters of the Mount Vernon Statement missed an opportunity to present an inclusive manifesto welcoming voters to the conservative fold.

David Frum is correct in criticizing the “Mount Vernon Statement” of movement conservatives.  He is correct that the document is just a rehashing of conservative nostrums and offers nothing to gays or minorities, let alone ideas about how to deal with the current economy.

But while he is correct in talking about this documents’ shortcomings, I have a question to ask David:

Did you expect any different?

I mean, did anyone really expect someone like Tony Perkins, who has made a career of battling against gays and lesbians, to support a document welcoming people like me?

Did we expect Grover Norquist who wants government small enough to drown in a bathtub to speak to issues like healthcare?

The signers of this document are part of what’s wrong with conservatism.  They are blind to American society as it is now and instead are interested in imposing tests of loyalty.

In the end it is a waste of time to just criticize this document.  The signers will never change.  Instead, why doesn’t Frum create a defining document of his own?  There are  a number of people and groups like Bruce Barlett, Mickey Edwards, Republicans for Environmental Protection and Log Cabin Republicans who might be interested in defining conservatism for the 21st century and not a conservatism of the past.

So, I challenge David to not let the Mount Vernon statement be the last word.  Come of up with a statement that presents a new, innovative and inclusive vision of conservatism.

Also posted at Republicans United.