E.J. Dionne thinks reform conservatives would be more serious if they were liberals

Over at the Atlantic, liberal author E.J. Dionne has offered a long critique of reform conservatism.

At the outset, I’ll give him credit for making an effort to try and understand the contours of the intellectual debate on the right — a lot of prominent liberal authors tasked with writing about conservatives wouldn’t even bother. So kudos to him on that front. That said, Dionne’s essay suffers from one central problem. At the end of the day, the only avenue he provides for conservatives to be truly serious is for them to become liberals.