Michael Gerson--a former speechwriter for President Bush--has written an interesting reflection on the debates within the Republican party about its direction in the wake of the November elections.  Gerson has some trenchant observations about those who preach a return to what he calls "the purity of Reaganism":

As antigovernment conservatives seek to purify the Republican Party, it is reasonable to ask if the purest among them are conservatives at all. The combination of disdain for government, a reflexive preference for markets and an unbalanced emphasis on individual choice is usually called libertarianism. The old conservatives had some concerns about that creed, which Russell Kirk called "an ideology of universal selfishness." Conservatives have generally taught that the health of society is determined by the health of institutions: families, neighborhoods, schools, congregations. Unfettered individualism can loosen those bonds, while government can act to strengthen them. By this standard, good public policiesfrom incentives to charitable giving, to imposing minimal standards on inner-city schoolsare not apostasy; they are a thoroughly orthodox, conservative commitment to the common good.