Conservative leaders brag that liberalism is intellectually bankrupt today.
At a recent conservative gathering in Washington, sponsored by National Review magazine, conservatives congratulated themselves on having won the Cold War, seeing free markets vindicated and socialism discredited, and having liberals like Bill Clinton win elections only by stealing Republican issues. Today conservatism doesn't stand for anything except gaining power. Libertarianism, on the other hand, is easily definable. Conservatives say the government can't end poverty by force, but they believe it can use force to make people moral. Liberals say government can't make people be moral, but they believe it can end poverty.