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The Great Conservative Feud

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PowerLine is back with frontline details of a decades-long war among conservatives.

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This isn't a debate about same-sex marriage, drug legalization, or conservatives vs. libertarians, it's the great battle between Harry Jaffa and Walter Berns. Their vibrant and vigorous debates about the Declaration and the Constitution are credited with revitalizing the right.

Steven F. Hayward provided a wonderful account of their lives, their contributions, and their nearly lifelong battle recently in the Wall Street Journal. As he described, it seems appropriate that these two big thinkers died within hours of each other, like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did on July 4, 1826.

This is a wide ranging conversation about two men who you didn't see on cable news, but who helped shape generations of conservative thought and policy.

Hosts:
'Lucretia'John YooSteve Hayward

Discussion (3)

  • Rodin@Rodin
    In the WSJ article referenced is the following: " It was because they mostly agreed on fundamental matters that their differences became so heated." Apropos of other threads on Ricochet debating the efficacy of supporting the Republican Party or forming a third party: Is it better to support one another because gaining power over national policy results in actions more generally consistent with your principles than the actions of those with whom there are no shared values? So remember that heated disagreement does not mean no common ground. And sad as it is, party politics do matter because 51% is the key metric.