What Conservatives Learned in 2013

Conservatives "thought that the most efficient method to evangelize the unconverted was to write and speak, exhorting those still shrouded in darkness to read conservatism's most light-shedding texts," writes George Will. "Now they know that a quicker, surer way is to have progressives wield power for a few years."

Will skips lightly through a few key debacles in liberal-progressives' rule over the last 75 years or so to remind readers that this isn't the first time they've been bitten by their arrogant overreach. His modern day examples—from Obamacare's Pajama Boy to Al Gore's global warming predictions—should bring a smile. Yet his point is serious and even uplifting:

Worries about the NSA's collection of metadata occurred in a context of deepened suspicions about government because of this year's revelations that the administration has corrupted the Internal Revenue Service, the most intrusive and potentially the most punitive domestic institution. Conservatism is usually served by weariness of government.