Small-c conservativism

Andrew Sullivan, again. Money quote:

Income tax rates are now lower than they were under Ronald Reagan and far lower than they were under Eisenhower. And yet it has become a Norquistian non-negotiable that no taxes can be raised at all on anyone, let alone the beneficiaries of the last thirty years - and those who differ must be "leftists" - even when the US is facing debt of historic and dangerous proportions. Someone advocating what Eisenhower was perfectly comfortable with would be regarded by the Republican right today as a communist. And yet, of course, Eisenhower was emphatically not a Communist, whatever the John Birch society believed. In retrospect, he might even be seen as the most successful small-c conservative of the 20th century. (This was indeed Paul Johnson's take in Modern Times.)

And yet, he goes on, anyone with the idea that Obama is a radical leftist has to understand and accept the FACTS that moneyed interests in this country (the rich, corporations) are far better off under his administration than they were under Reagan and GW Bush, by far.