Death of Conservatism?

I read and liked this interview with Sam Tanenhaus this morning.

Of course "death" is overstating things. Instead Tanenhaus is critiquing conservatism's slippage into radical opposition, which doesn't seem that unusual for movements out of power and so is probably just a phase. Still could there be a worse moment for it? Maybe public emotion against health care reform, or bank bailouts, or stimulus packages is real. That is no excuse for Republican demagogic riding of it for short term political gains. Take health care reform. Suppose it does fail to pass. Do Republicans think the push for reform is based on nothing? The same underlying stresses will still be there. A few more years of spiraling costs and the mandate for a massive government program will be even greater. And the chance that it is executed in an ill-thought gush of legislation riding on popular emotion will also increase, since people will be worried about the window of political will. So conservatives should be all the more eager to spell out now what a bottom up ideal health care system would look like while seeking reforms with Democrats that can relieve some of that building pressure. For example, what about ending the tax incentives for comprehensive care insurance (thus putting consumers in more direct contact with health care suppliers for the basic stuff), while instituting a public option (or single payer system, while we're dreaming) for the big stuff (thereby covering the uncovered)? I don't know much about health care, so there are probably good reasons why this proposal is nutty. But the point is why doesn't the opposition start acting like the loyal opposition and start coming up with ideas that could spell out new ways of pursuing 21st century goals in American terms. You can live most anywhere in the developed world and have a high degree of state interference in your life. The charm of America to me was always that it was option B, an experiment in a slightly more free and open system. There ought to be at least one place in the world you can live like that. But it will only be viable if its proponents are taking the best of other systems and other ideas and refitting them for improved American lives. Not pretending that anything already outside the fort is taboo.