"Paris is worth a Mass," said Henry of Navarre, when he foreswore his Protestant faith in order to capture the French throne at the end of the 16th century.

"Paris is worth a Mass," said Henry of Navarre, when he foreswore his Protestant faith in order to capture the French throne at the end of the 16th century. Most French Catholics were pleased by his conversion, though Francois Ravaillac, a Catholic zealot, assassinated him in 1610. There are a lot of conservative Ravaillacs in this election cycle. Was Mayor Giuliani soft on illegal immigration? Was Governor Romney pro-choice? It is necessary to know how complete a conversion is. But the quest for perfect fidelity is self-defeating. Most of the founding editors of NATIONAL REVIEW, and all of the disciples (if greater things with less may be compared), were converts. Rats, like politicians, are right to abandon a sinking ship. Conservatism wants to be the thing that politicians swim toward.