Compassionate Conservatism has gone from campaign slogan to operative idea in George W. Bush’s Washington. A kind of new-and-improved Thousand Points of Light, it means, for centrist Republicans, small government with a big heart.
For the new president, it may be the most radical and controversial idea of his presidency. Just ask the ideologues behind it. Marvin Olasky was born Jewish, became Marxist, and then a born-again Christian from Texas. Myron Magnet a neo-conservative who calls himself a Victorian. Together, they mean to transform America and to save us- from liberalism, from the welfare state, and from all the excesses of the 1960s.
Marvin Olasky says Compassionate Conservatism “will have to cross a river of suspicion concerning the role of religion in America, and only political courage will enable it to carry the day and transform the country.”
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Marvin Olasky, author of “Compassionate Conservatism” Olasky’s Archives
Myron Magnet, author of “The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass” Myron Magnet’s Publications
David Brooks, editor at The Weekly Standard and author of “Bobos in Paradise.”