Posted on 12/26/2013 12:00:48 PM PST by jazusamo
This is Week 12 of Season 3 in my 13 Weeks of Wild Man Writing and Radical Reading Series . Every week day I try to blog about compelling writers, their ideas, and the news cycle’s most interesting headlines. This Top 10 list is the series’ climax for this year, a project I’ve been planning since first asking the question December 5, 2012 .
What is the future of conservatism? Which voices should define the priorities of the movement in the coming decades? Who are its most skilled proponents today? How should the movement evolve to face the threats most endangering America?
This list is my effort to advocate for both my favorite writers contributing to answering these questions and the ideas they champion.
5 quick ground rules first:
- I’m being strict with the “columnist” title – no bloggers, journalists, or feature writers. A “columnist” is one who writes a 700-1400+ word polemical article on a regular basis for an established publication or syndication.
- I’m likewise being strict with the “conservative” title – other various right-of-center ideologies (neoconservatism, libertarianism, Christian theocrats, and paleo-con conspiracists) warrant their own lists. (Which perhaps they might get next year as I continue mapping out today’s most important ideological advocates in the contests of politics, ideas, and culture…)
- In selecting these individuals, I am including them and the ideas they champion in what I’m calling Conservatism 3.0 . This isn’t just a stand-alone list, it’s part of the bigger, ongoing project of my attempt to encourage ideological debate and dialogue. The columnists on this list each write books too and I’m adding their titles to my reading lists at the Freedom Academy Book Club . In next year’s installment of my “radical reading regimen” I’ll blog through their titles too.
- I’m excluding writers that I edit. All of PJM’s columnists and freelancers have been going on a separate list of my favorite writers, which I’ve been accumulating over the last six months and you can read on the last page of this post. And as an extra mention I have to go out of my way to recommend Instapundit Glenn Reynolds’s USA Today columns too. Blogging isn’t the only medium that Glenn’s mastered.
- I’m including excerpts from some of my favorite columns. Fair warning: this article today is over 13,000 words, highlighting some of the year’s best op/eds. (UPDATE: And apparently that means it’s too big for the view-as-single-page or print-this-post feature to work. I’m sorry. I assure you that was not intentional.) It’s really more of a free online e-book — a late Christmas present to all the readers, writers, activists, and patriots who have inspired and encouraged me in my own journey across the political spectrum…
10. Ross Douthat
9. Frank Gaffney
8. Daniel Pipes
7. Rich Lowry
6. Jonah Goldberg
5. Mark Steyn
4. Dennis Prager
3. Ben Shapiro
2. Thomas Sowell
1. Ann Coulter
Bump.
The Queen....................
This Ann Coulter???
Three Cheers for Romneycare!
http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2012/02/01/three_cheers_for_romneycare/page/full
A list of columnists that is mostly without dispute.
But they are a medicine which half the country neither knows of nor drinks. This is the weakness we face in our nation at the moment: that a great bloc has cut itself off from truth and doesn’t even know it.
As a result, their thoughts and books are largely just for the already-converted.
Ya, I’d have been fine w VDH as #1, and Ann being a runner up for #11.
Great list since I’m not familiar with some on the list. Thomas Sowell definitely number one in my book. Walt Williams too. Exspressing my views to a “T” is Newt, and I know I’m going to get a ton of replies on this, but I consider Charles K a conservative and an excellent writer on on just about all subjects he’s spot on.
I’m reading Ann C again after an almost 2 year hiatus as a result of her pre menopausal inFATuation with the FATSO from the Northeast.
I’m for one thing only, taking back the Senate and the Presidency. Therefore I favor running the conservative candidate who is most electable.
Not many faces can be blown up to that size and be so absolutely flawless.
Try that with Hillary or Pelosi and you could still see the trowel marks
Nice try. You only missed it by a MILE!!!!!
Bondo..............
WOW!!! She really IS bigger than life, isn’t she?
It is nearly a crime against humanity that Thomas Sowell is so completely ignored by the MSM. He is literally one of the smartest men in America today, perhaps in the world (IMHO).
Seems overloaded with neo-con war mongers and free trade job exporters.
Well, at least bigger than you computer’s screen................;^)
I noticed that. Take off Douthat (total wimpy moderate), Lowry, Coulter. Add Hanson, Kevin Williamson (more libertarian) and Walter Williams (if he still has a column).
Next time, please find a bigger picture to post. 2,157px × 3,019px is Kindergarten.
Steyn and Greenfield stand in a class all their own.
RE: Add Hanson, Kevin Williamson (more libertarian) and Walter Williams (if he still has a column).
Walter Williams still writes. This is his latest:
http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/
No.
#1 Sowell
#2 Steyn
:)
1. The Thomas Sowell Reader
Been on my night stand for the past year. Small doses each evening. When I’m done, I’m starting all over again! :)
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