What conservatism should look like after Trump

Senator Marco Rubio has taken an important step in that direction. In a speech on Nov. 5 at Catholic University in Washington, he sketched the outlines of what he called a “common-good capitalism.”

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The 48-year-old Florida Republican claimed that his goal was not “to define a post-Trump conservatism.” But regardless of his objective, his speech will be part of the effort to do exactly that, and conservatives would be wise to pay attention.

The specifics of Rubio’s economic-policy agenda need work. (More on that in a moment.) But what made his speech stand out was his broader goal of refocusing the Republican Party on workers and “the opportunity to attain the dignity that comes from hard work.”

Rubio grounded his argument in the Catholic faith that he and I share. To support his emphasis on work and workers, he quoted the late Pope John Paul II, who argued that a society “in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of employment cannot be justified.”

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