In our polarized era, there are fewer and fewer spaces where people who disagree can do so productively and in good faith. The Dispatch’s Debate Series aims to be an outlier: a regular feature where two writers with opposing views can hash out some of the thorniest political and cultural issues roiling the national conversation. If you have an idea for a future topic, please let us know at debates@thedispatch.com.
Conservatives have a special duty to protect iconoclasts.
At first blush, this idea doesn’t quite square. Conservatism, properly understood, seeks to protect order and tradition. Why should it defend those who challenge the status quo?
There’s a simple answer: Because iconoclasts sometimes raise the right questions.
