Cross-posted at Centrist Coalition:

Dr. David Brin recently directed his readers to The Claremont Institute’s article “Not Your Father’s Republican Party,” which summarizes the Republican party’s ideological evolution from the progressive days of Lincoln, through modern conservativism, into new conservativism, and ending with Bush Jr.’s seemingly half-way progressive, albeit “faith-based,” half-way neoconservativism (That’s not the best way to describe it, I know. Alternatives welcome).

While I find the article’s stance on the Republican Party’s ideological shifts accurate, I also accept that other perspectives are also possible and equally valid. The article reminds us of how our “left/right” political dichotomy tends to make us fall into the trap of equating party with ideology, when, in fact, a party’s ideology is forever shifting and may completely contradict its positions from a mere decade before.

Posted by Ryan Somma at December 20, 2005 11:52 AM