Israeli public intellectual Yoram Hazony has a
nice piece in the Wall Street Journal here in which he articulates a
"de-fusionist" account of what ails contemporary American
conservatism. (For earlier posts on the delightfully provocative Hazony
go here and here.) Hazony argues that American conservatism,
at least since the 1950s, represents the amalgamation of two inconsistent
strands of political thought, classical liberalism and tradition-based
historical conservatism.
Classical liberalism, the secularized step-child
of of European Christendom, posits a deracinated but universal human nature
made up of a few natural rights (life, liberty, and property) that, when mixed
in a human society, create liberal democracy. (Think John Locke to Thomas
Jefferson to John Rawls.) Traditional conservatives (of whom there have been
precious few in America) eschew abstract ideology and look to maintain a wise
political order by keeping a firm eye on the successes and failures of a
polity's past. (Think Edmund Burke to Alexis de Tocqueville to Roger Scruton.)
Classical liberalism (Liberals) itself gave rise
to Progressivism with its socializing impulse under governmental control. Thus,
both Liberals--emphasizing the individual--and Conservatives--emphasizing
non-governmental social entities--found a common enemy in Progressivism.
Combine that internal enemy with an external one, international Communism, and
Liberals and Conservatives joined forces to create a powerful fusion that
occupied a powerful place in American political life. At least until the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Lack of an external enemy and the refraction of
Liberalism into sexual autonomy and gender identity movements de-fused the
union. And this split, according to Hazony, is what has given us Donald Trump:
Mr. Trump’s rise is
the direct result of a quarter-century of classical-liberal hegemony over the
parties of the right [in America and the UK]. Mr. Trump was not necessarily
seeking a conservative revival. But in placing a renewed nationalism at the
center of his politics, he shattered classical liberalism’s grip, paving the
way for a return to Conservatism.
We shall see.
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