As a new front in this year’s political war opens up, with the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and as Republican polling favorite Donald Trump embarks on the phase of his campaign in which he proves that he is generally a dishonest liberal with the kind of personality that would be undeniably dangerous in a modern president, leading many on the right who may have been entertaining the possibility of electing him to reevaluate (albeit, unfortunately, not leading others to do so), Charles Cooke offers a worthwhile reminder that conservatives and even Republicans haven’t been completely useless on the political scene in recent years:

… we can contemplate the past decade with some considerable pride. Because conservatives aim to repeal so much of the damage done by progressivism of late, we can at times feel hopeless — and even angry. In theory, we understand that the people backed Obama twice and that his veto stands proudly in the way of our getting to reverse his excesses; in practice, however, it can be tempting to assume that the lack of major progress has been the product of quiet acquiescence or tactical incompetence — or, worst of all, of deep-seated corruption.

Read the whole thing for Cooke’s examples — and be sure to heed his acknowledgement that Republicans and the conservative movement more broadly have left much to be desired and are rightly in the precarious position of having to prove themselves quickly.  The point is that, as tempting as it may be to destroy the whole machine in our frustration at its imperfection and inability to overcome every political obstacle, we’d actually be throwing quite a bit away in doing so.

The time may come for that move (e.g., with the appointment of another Obama lockstep liberal to the Supreme Court), but when we make that decision, we should be aware that it’s essentially an admission that what we’re really saying is that the current condition of our country and the opportunities for change are so abysmal as to make worthwhile the risk of utter destruction.