Moynihan Missed

George Will was a big fan of Democrat Pat Moynihan, about whom there is a new book out. Will devotes his Sunday column. to some of Moynihan's insights, including:

Moynihan -- the only person to have served in the Cabinets or subcabinets of four consecutive presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford) -- said that politics is an argument about the future: "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself."

Today, seven years after Moynihan's death, conservatism's contention is that liberal politics produces a culture of dependency and a government riddled with rent-seeking -- the manipulation of government power for private advantage. Would that Moynihan were here to elevate the liberal side of the debate, as he did throughout his well-lived life.