I have to agree with virtually everything in the article and have been seeing these developements for years too. The first time I heard the term “compassionate conservative” I understood why it was invoked but also cringed. The Huck is the latest incarnation that is his own populist minister’s version of “compassionate” special interest big government in a social conservative vein (compassionate = socialist).
If only the religionists could understand that their social/cultural concerns are safely tended to by a conservative reading of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, more in the tradition of Ronald Reagan’s populism than Ron Paul’s. In that light, and with some thought and scrutiny, this fracture need not occur. It’s up to the religionists.
I’m with Luke — Fred Thompson more clearly has conservative ideas and principles than the others because he’s more an ideologue and less a populist. But that also makes him less “exciting”.
