These same people have been around the halls of power for an awful long time. Where were they:
when Glass-Steagall was rescinded,
when the Community Reinvestment Act was expanded,
when the SEC allowed banks to leverage up to 40 to 1 and turned a blind eye to derivatives,
when Bush was spending money like Ted Kennedy on a bender?
Why do they have to define their beliefs now? Didn't they know their beliefs before?
They were and are toothless watchdogs. The people are the only ones who can turn things around, not these "conservative leaders" who fiddled while Rome burned.
In their defense, a lot of these people vocally criticized the Bush administration’s spending. Also, where were the people during all of these same things? I agree that there are a lot of entrenched “leaders” who need to be replaced, but I do not think there is anything inherently more virtuous or competent about “the people” than people who we know by name. We can draw new leaders from “the people,” but once we do, they’ll be a part of the elite, by definition.