A Conservative Intellectual Makes the Case Against the Obama Big Government Agenda

This is a link to a post of the blog of the Weekly Standard in which you can find a video of a 25 minute speech given by George Will to the Conservative Political Action Conference, currently in progress in Washington, DC.

If you think that the conservative political philosophy is held only by uneducated, inarticulate, obscurantists who have no coherent worldview or alternative plans, then you owe it to yourself to watch this video. It is humorous, fluent, incisive and deeper than the folksy, self-deprecating style that characterizes George Will might suggest. If you start listening, you will not stop.

What I especially appreciated about this speech is its clear and masterful analysis of the deeper motivations of liberals in attempting to create an ever-expanding welfare state. He goes to the nub of the issue rather than being distracted by superficial issues. And he is not hesitant to say that the Bush administration deserves criticism for expanding government entitlement programs. The theme of the conference is that the US needs a conservative government, not just a Republican government and this is the kind of thoughtful conservatism that can provide a philosophical rationale for a government that serves people instead of enslaving them.