Let’s have a little talk about the most spectacularly failed political movement in recent memory. This would be the American conservative movement. And let’s talk about how this movement continues to embrace the same failed leaders who have been all talk and no action for the better part of a generation.

As if you were wondering, a cadre of “conservative leaders” has released a so-called statement of conservative “beliefs, values and principles” known as the Mount Vernon Statement.

Go ahead and read it if you want. It’s nothing people on the right haven’t been saying for years, except for the parts about how the nation’s current left-wing leadership is taking us in a direction entirely askew from this.

But my interest is not in assessing the quality of the statement. The statement is meaningless. I have another question, and it concerns the roster of signers. Let’s take a look at some of the names: Brent Bozell, David Keene, Grover Norquist, Richard Viguerie, etc.

What do you notice? These are the same conservative luminaries who have peppered the landscape for decades. They were the ones talking up the Reagan agenda in the 1980s. They were the ones denouncing George H.W. Bush’s tax increase and Bill Clinton’s entire presidency. They’re the same people who have been telling us for years we need to cut taxes, cut spending, reduce the size of government, stop abortion, stand up for a strong defense and all that.

This week, many of these same people will give the same speeches at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee that they give every year.

Same, same, same. Same people. Same talk. What’s more, because they’ve all been doing it for so long, we’re supposed to hold them in high esteem – along with some others who didn’t sign the document but are likewise regarded as conservative icons, like Rush Limbaugh.

Here’s my question: Why do conservatives still hold these people in high esteem? As far as I can see, the conservative movement under their leadership has been a complete and utter failure. It has been the Detroit Lions of political movements. Since Ronald Reagan left the scene, what actual policy achievements can the conservative movement claim?

Consider:

- Conservatives say they want lower and simpler taxes. The overall tax burden is certainly not lower than it was under Clinton, and the tax code is as complicated as ever. FAIL.

- Conservatives say they want to get federal spending under control. Federal spending is more out of control than ever. FAIL.

- Conservatives say they want to outlaw abortion. Abortion is as legal as ever. FAIL.

- Conservatives say we need market-oriented reforms in health care. But few have been instituted, save for the establishment of Health Savings Accounts, and if not for the intervention of liberal voter in Massachusetts, we would be ushering in an era of socialized medicine right now. FAIL.

- Conservatives say we need to achieve energy independence by making use of our own resources. But not only have we made no move toward doing so, but we also haven’t lifted the shackles on the establishment of new refineries or nuclear power plants, nor have we cleaned up the distribution regulations that help make fossil fuels so expensive on the market. FAIL.

- Conservatives say entitlements must be reformed of we will be on a path to national bankruptcy. This is true. But this has been known for a generation and nothing has been done. FAIL.

Name one area of policy where conservatives have a) put their preferred ideas into practice; and b) made them work. Name one. You can’t. The closest I can come would be the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 and the ousting of Saddam Hussein without a permission slip from the United Nations. You might argue that the brief era of budget surpluses during the late 1990s also qualifies.

That’s it. And that ain’t much for a whole movement for a whole generation.

But wait, you say. How can you blame the conservative movement? They didn’t have majorities!

Isn’t it the task of a political movement to a) win majorities; and b) govern? Why, if it has the right ideas (which it mostly has), has the conservative movement not succeeded in doing this?

Some will argue that the election of Republican majorities in 1994 was a huge conservative achievement, and that the possible repeat of this achievement in 2010 will be one too. I disagree. The GOP Congress of 1994-2006 did not succeed at re-orienting government and making it more conservative. It is not more conservative today than it was in 1993, even though for a stretch Republicans controlled the White House, both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Why has the movement failed so spectacularly?

This is where conservative activists usually start screaming about “RINOs” – Republicans in Name Only. They rant and rave about moderate Republicans like Olympia Snowe and John McCain who don’t toe the conservative line.

But here is the problem with that: Any governing majority will have some members who are less doctrinaire than others. This is simply a fact of political life that cannot be changed. An ideological movement has to do more than just elect majorities. It has to impact the nation’s political environment such that the public is clamoring for what the movement advocates.

Reagan was able to get moderates like Lowell Weicker and Bob Packwood to vote for his tax cuts in the 1980s because Weicker and Packwood could see that the public supported Reagan’s agenda. If the public supported the agenda of conservatives today, so-called RINOs would vote for the agenda as well. It would be a simple political survival strategy.

But the conservative movement hasn’t succeeded at getting the public foresquare behind its agenda. Oh sure, you can cite polls that say more people identify themselves as conservative than by any other political label, but that doesn’t equate to public support for individual policy initiatives.

It’s only when independents start wanting what your movement advocates that the so-called RINOs feel compelled to get behind your agenda. Democrats found out the same thing when they tried to implement a liberal agenda. They had the filibuster-proof supermajority to do it. But they didn’t have the backing of the public, and that’s why the atmosphere turned so poisonous for them.

I think there are a lot of reasons the conservative movement has not achieved much on the policy front. Conservatives tend to be smugly satisfied with their own philosophical correctness, and find it almost beneath them to bring the rest of the public along. Indeed, if you don’t embrace these ideas inherently, you’re just a squishy, unprincipled loser anyway. Why should a conservative even lower himself to speak with you?

Conservatives have also put too much faith in “leaders” who don’t really lead, particularly media personalities like Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and others. These people may effectively give voice to a set of ideas, but will never be the ones to actually turn the ideas into implemented policies. Yet the media personalities tend to be the heroes of the movement, along with activists like Norquist, Bozell, Keene and Viguerie.

What all these people have in common is that they “take stands” in favor of conservative ideas, but they don’t govern and wouldn’t know how to do so if they tried.

Limbaugh is often described as the leader of the conservative movement, although he doesn’t embrace the description himself. Limbaugh is an awesome talk show host, but by definition, a talk show host is all talk. Leaders have to be about action.

What are the actions steps by which the conservative movement hopes to turn its ideas into workable policy? Throw out the RINOs? So you can forfeit all hope of ever having a governing majority?

The conservative movement has accomplished little for years because it has put its faith in leaders who can’t do anything but talk.

But, you protest, how can I criticize leaders who have bravely taken stands in favor of conservative ideals?

Simple. Earlier in this piece, I described the conservative movement as the Detroit Lions of political movements. Until recently, the Lions were led by a president and CEO named Matt Millen. When Millen was first hired, the fans were excited because he talked a good game about toughness, talent, dedication and so forth. Throughout his brutal seven years in charge of the organization, he continued to advocate all these things. You might say he was very good at taking stands.

But the Lions never won under Millen. They were terrible. And even though he’s been gone nearly two seasons, they remain terrible because of the decisions he made. Millen took the right “stands.” He advocated Lions victories. But he never achieved them.

By the logic of some conservatives, Matt Millen would be regarded as a Lions icon because of the brave stands he took. But anyone who follows football knows that Millen was all talk and no action. Now he’s back in broadcasting, which is the perfect place for someone who is all talk and no action.

Like many of the “conservative leaders” who signed the Mount Vernon Statement. These people have been slinking around for years, talking a good game about conservatism, and the movement’s foot soldiers have given them deference and respect because they are the elders of the movement.

It’s time to get rid of every one of them and find new leaders. They have failed. The movement has achieved nothing. It has always advocated the right ideas, but it has not seen them turned into actionable policies because the people trusted the lead the movement have not been up to the task.

It is not my purpose here to advocate in favor of the Tea Party movement. I don’t feel strongly one way or the other about this movement. I am simply pointing out that it would be idiotic to keep following the same people who have been leading the charge for so many years, and accomplishing nothing.

All talk and no action. Conservative activists, if you don’t like the direction of the country, examine thyselves.

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