"Happy Meal Conservatism"

"Limbaugh remarked on Jan. 16 that to the degree that Obama’s program is one of state socialism, he hopes it will fail. (If only he had said the same about George W. Bush." - John Derbyshire, American Conservative.

Derb's new piece on the excessive power of the low-brow right is a really smart and interesting take on how talk radio has turned conservatism into a freak show. It is not a means for intellectual revival or constructive opposition, but a comforting, cocooned, amnesiac and deeply partisan version of ideological comfort food. Money quote:

In place of the permanent things, we get Happy Meal conservatism: cheap, childish, familiar. Gone are the internal tensions, the thought-provoking paradoxes, the ideological uneasiness that marked the early Right. But however much this dumbing down has damaged the conservative brand, it appeals to millions of Americans. McDonald’s profits rose 80 percent last year.

The Obama era may actually make this worse, as buoyant ratings for O'Reilly, Hannity and the shout-fest reveal. (If they're this paranoid, angry and vituperative after a month, imagine the level of vitriol after a year.) But the very piece highlights the problem. Derb did not place this piece where it belongs: in his own magazine, National Review. I don't know why, but I suspect it is because NR's editors do not dare take on Limbaugh, Hannity and the gang. Until NR is prepared to do that, its relevance will continue to evaporate. And conservatism will suffer.