How Conservatives Can Defeat Liberalism

How Conservatives Can Defeat Liberalism

Two weeks after the election, conservatives are still asking why Mitt Romney lost. That, however, is the wrong first question argues Charles R. Kesler in his new book "I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism." We cannot fully understand Romney's defeat, implies Kelser, until we first understand why conservatives have lost the majority of policy battles over the past 100 years. Despite having won their share of Presidential elections, conservatives have not slowed the advance of the welfare state.

Political pundits have blamed Romney's defeat on everything from Hurricane Sandy to inept get-out-the vote efforts, but...