We Still Need the Twelve Points As Our Statement of Conservative Principle

The Mount Vernon Statement is over three months old, so I doubt that anyone is interested in my analysis of it, at this point.  I promised it, though, and I intend to keep that promise.

The Mount Vernon Statement is not bad.  In fact, I think it could have some positive value in that it reaffirms that conservatives believe in the principles of the American founding, which I hope would allow appeals based on those principles to be more successful in winning over our fellow conservatives.  I also believe that much of the criticism that it received when it announced was not well-founded.  For example, it should not be difficult to understand why they released it during the early Obama administration instead of in 2006, for example -- their intended audience should have been expected to have been more receptive in early 2010 than in 2006, making the effort more likely to succeed.  (Whether or not it actually has succeeded, I have no idea.)  David Frum's criticism of the Mount Vernon Statement, in particular, seemed to have been rooted more in a desire to demonstrate his independence by subjecting the Mount Vernon people to his ridicule and scorn than in a wish to give a level-headed analysis of the Mount Vernon Statement.  Theoretically, David Frum could be valuable to the conservative movement, but as a practical matter, no idea of value that he might offer will win any so long as he treats his fellow conservatives as he does.  I believe his main point about the Mount Vernon Statement was that this statement of principles did not read like a list of policy proposals.  The problem isn't so much that he was wrong as it is that he was missing the point.

Even though the Mount Vernon Statement may have been worthwhile, however, it also represents a missed opportunity.  As many reviewers observed, it was relatively content-free.  There are so many things that need to be said, right now, and communicated throughout the entire conservative community.  The purpose of the Twelve Points was to collect as many as possible of the things that needed to be communicated, and then to communicate them.  Quite a few of the Mount Vernon people had seen the Twelve Points more than four months before the Mount Vernon Statement was released (some of them as early as last May), but rather than endorsing it, they chose to promote a simpler statement -- a statement with brevity but which did not have much to say.  Obviously, as the author of the Twelve Points, I would like to see them succeed.  However, to the extent that I object to the Mount Vernon Statement (which I more or less support, actually), it is because its creators willfully surrendered an opportunity to address and attempt to settle the challenges that the conservative movement faces.

Fortunately, that was not their last chance.  The Twelve Points are still here, and I do not intend to stop promoting them until the job is done.  The Mount Vernon people will be welcome to join me at any time.