?What Became of Conservatives?? asks Paul Craig Roberts , who served as assistant secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan. Roberts conservative credentials include serving as associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and as a contributing editor of National Review.
?The conservative movement that I grew up in did not share the liberals? abiding faith in government. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.? Now, he warns, ?Today it is liberals, not conservatives, who endeavor to defend civil liberties from the state. Conservatives have been won around to the old liberal view that as long as government power is in their hands, there is no reason to fear it or to limit it. Thus, the Patriot Act, which permits government to suspend a person?s civil liberty by calling him a terrorist with or without proof. Thus, preemptive war, which permits the President to invade other countries based on unverified assertions.?
But he cautions, ?There is nothing conservative about these positions. To label them conservative is to make the same error as labeling the 1930s German Brownshirts conservative.?
Roberts adds that delusion is the defining characteristic of the Bush administration. The nightmare in Fallujah has led to destabilization of Mosul, fueling a need for more troops?but there are none, he observes. He predicts that the draft will be reinstated?and critics will be arrested for treason and silenced. ?Trapped in violence and unable to admit mistake, a reckless administration will escalate,? he foresees, adding that war is pushing the U.S. toward bankruptcy and harming American living standards.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts81.html