A link to Part I, along with my introduction to the interview of Jeff Goldstein conducted by Joseph Cotto, may be found here.
A highlight from Part II:
Joseph F. Cotto: Over the last several years, the American right-wing has become considerably more hardline. Do you suppose that there might be a specific reason for this?
Jeff Goldstein: I’m not sure I’d characterize the right-wing as “more hardline”; I’d be willing to allow that they are far more interested in principles-based politics than they have been in the recent past, though that’s hardly surprising when your party keeps preaching moderation, political “realism” and “pragmatism” — which too often translates into counseling that, for purposes of electoral politics, we hide the very principles that make conservatives and constitutionalists conservatives and constitutionalists.
I guess many of we newly-minted “extremists” figure that if we’re going to lose to the Democrats, we might at least do it with people who actually believe in what it is we believe in. And who knows? Maybe we’ll actually win by taking principled stands and addressing all Americans, preaching liberty and prosperity and growth and free markets, rather than by running focus groups and trying to triangulate identity blocs in order to find the perfect balance of pander.
Do take the time to click here and read it all and check out the Comments section of Jeff’s post on the interview.
