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Entry: Nothing But the War Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/nothing_but_the_war#24160 Post contents: One way to sum the change in US conservatism is via the differences that have existed between US and Europe. In the latter, "conservatism's" hallmarks have been an agressive, nationalistic, militaristic foreign policy and a paternalistic welfare state in domestic policy -- Bismark is the archetype of this conservatism. Bismark also examplifies the desire for a strong "unitary executive" common to European conservatism. Traditional US conservatism has been characterized by a small, strictly constrained government, large individual freedoms and an isolationistic, pacifistic foreign policy. This kind of "conservatism" is unknown on continental Europe. Indeed, according to my personal experiences most Europeans find the whole concept totally incomprehensible. The change that neocons have effected in the US can be seen as the Republican party switching to the European type of conservatism. There is an effort to hide this fact via some lip service to the idea of reducing the state, but actions speak far louder than words. The adoption of the European model is quite expicit, because The Weekly Standard has published numerous articles praising the militaristic, paternalistic, strong-central government type of conservatism--they see Disraeli as the English representative of the type. Sent at: 2008 07 08