CONSERVATIVE GODFATHER

Gerald J. Russello suggests the GOP would do well to listen to The Wisdom of Russell Kirk:

As the Republicans gather in Madison Square Garden to select their nominee and to lay out their policies for the next four years, the ideas of Russell Kirk (1918-94) are part of the platform, even if his name is not in the speeches. Since the war in Iraq began, interest has increased in the intellectual underpinnings of the Bush administration's conservatism. Much attention has been paid to neoconservatives and their supposed mentor, political philosopher Leo Strauss. But without Kirk, American conservatism would not exist in its current form.

I couldn't agree on Kirk's importance more. Sadly the current GOP doesn't do a lot of listening to Kirk, much to their detriment.