Iwas recently chatting with a good friend, a fellow conservative, when the conversation turned to politics and our current president. “He is admittedly uncouth,” my friend said. “But he’s a strong leader fighting for his conservative agenda.”

I asked my friend to tell me more about what she saw as our president’s conservative agenda. “Well, you know,” she said. “He wants to rein in big government and decrease the deficit. And he wants to make America Christian again.”

We discussed these issues, point by point, starting with big government. As a moderate conservative, I agree that the federal government has gotten too big — too bureaucratic and unwieldy. But both my friend and I agreed that principled conservatives and progressives alike must reject the Machiavellian notion that the ends

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