NRI: Charles Murray

If you want to know how to construct a conservative agenda, let’s look back to the last time we were successful.

Ronald Reagan. (Ah, I’m going to like this talk.)

What did the Gipper say? “Government is not the solution, it’s the problem”

How many Presidents since then have been willing to say that?

How many of the candidates now running will be willing to say that?

I think none, says Murray.

When was the next time conservatives were successful? The Contract with America.

Many, he notes, attributed the success of that lower-government agenda to clever packaging.

But it wasn’t packaging, it was the substance.