The Anti-Republican Conservative

Alan Jacobs, writer for conservative publications and pro-life fanatic, explains his estrangement from the Republican Party:

I hold a number of political views that strong-minded Republicans typically find appalling: I think racism is one of the greatest problems in American society today; I am not convinced that austerity programs are helpful in addressing our economic condition; I am absolutely convinced that what many Republicans call free-market capitalism is in fact crony capitalism, calculated to favor the extremely wealthy and immensely powerful multinational corporations; I think that for all of the flaws of Obamacare, it was at least an attempt to reform a drastically unjust and often morally corrupt network of medical care in this country; I dislike military adventurism, and believe that our various attempts at nation-building over the past decade were miscalculated from the outset.

The real hope for major political change in America does not rest with liberals; there just aren't enough of us. The hope for reform is to convince people in small towns and exurbs that Republican policies are not conservative, but an attack on middle-class family life.