Principles vs. Partisanship

Hey,

When Pat Buchanan was in high school, legend has it that whenever he saw two guys duking it out, he’d ask, “Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?”

That’s how I feel about a debate over at National Review, my old stomping grounds. While I disagree somewhat with some folks—actually, all of them (more on that in a minute)—the whole colloquy makes me proud of my role in helping to found National Review Online and specifically, its blog the Corner. From the beginning, part of the idea of the Corner was to show readers that there’s more intellectual and ideological diversity among conservatives than stereotypes suggest. The Corner was supposed to offer a simulacrum of the kind of conversations we’d have in private—or, at least, a best version of them.

That’s what’s been going on for the last week or so. And I’m going to wade in, so if you’re not interested in this stuff (I don’t blame you), you should probably bail now.

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