For the sake of the Republican Party, the recent fight between
Sen. Jesse Helms and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld ought
to be the last gasp of an old argument. If Republicans are serious
about running the national government, they need to believe in
governing. They haven't proved that yet.
Don't believe me on this. Listen to two Republicans, William
Kristol and David Brooks, who offered a manifesto to their party
this week in the Wall Street Journal. It had nothing to do with the
Helms-Weld fight, but much bearing on it.
"The era of big government may be over, but a new era of
conservative governance hasn't yet begun," they declared. Why?
"Unpleasant though it is to admit, ...