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Conservatism and the Alt-Right

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Conservatism and the Alt-Right Are Liberals Conservatives? The Ideological Space New Deal: https://youtu.be/6bMq9Ek6jnA?t=4m52s Classical Liberalism: • Negative Freedom/liberty: freedom from intervention by the state. • Equality: equal rights regardless of race, religion, sex, etc. • Rule of law: no individual is above the law. • Voluntarism: legitimacy derives from the consent of the people. • Right over the good: the state is not to establish any comprehensive doctrine. • Conception of individuals as not inherently bad, but rather capable of acquiring a certain conception of justice and living peacefully under commonly accepted rules or principles. • Value of the relatively free market. • Belief in rationality of humans European Conservatism (Burke): • Stability: a state must be stable and provide for security • Tradition: valuable both in itself as defining a people and for ensuring stability. • Morals: common understanding of virtue establishes unity of a nation and provides a direction for public policy. o Usually through an established church. • Aristocracy: rule by a few – those who are most “qualified” to rule ought to. • Monarchy: also acceptable if it is tradition. • The society itself is of value moreso than any individual’s freedom. o Civility over expression. • Skepticism about rationality. American Liberalism • Much of classical liberalism. • Keynesian economics: the government can and should be used to correct for market failures, stimulate the economy. o Regulate economy and business on behalf of the consumers and environment • Welfare: the state should provide for basic necessities, offer a safety net to protect individuals from the inevitable fluctuations of the free market. • Generally favor progressive taxation. • Standardized education • Religious liberty – separation of church and state – e.g. no prayer in public schools. • Support legal abortion. • Support LGBTQIA+ • Support labor unions • Less spending on national defense. American Conservatism – A LOOONG HISTORY (by American standards) – Start from Post WWII • Shares many of the traditionally liberal values: o Free market. o Universal principles (principles that apply to all). o Equality under those principles. o Rule of law. • Also shares traditional, European conservative views (though not as extreme): o Tradition and Fundamental values/virtues ▪ Traditional family ▪ Religious expression o Shared community (unchosen markers of identity). ▪ Christianity, Constitution • Rejection of Communism as a subversion of American Values. • Rejection of New Deal principles o Against equality of outcomes. • Libertarian Economics o Free trade, deregulation of industry. o Anti-labor unions • Racial integration o Southern Democrats largely conservative on social and racial issues. ▪ Supreme Court rejects segregation. ▪ End of the Solid South. Southern white conservatives move to Republican party. America’s Conservative Shift – Goldwater and Reaganism: Goldwater: https://youtu.be/PzrHR9-LdTM Daisy: https://youtu.be/dDTBnsqxZ3k Reagan: https://youtu.be/bYwQxvFAIJY • Limited Government: `Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man’s liberty. o “The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power, and the champions of freedom will fight against the concentration of power wherever they find it. o Maintaining internal order, keeping foreign foes at bay, administering justice, removing obstacles to the free interchange of goods – the exercise of these powers makes it possible for men to follow their chosen pursuits with maximum freedom o Government is too big in the size of its financial operation (federal spending), the range of its activities, the portion of people’s earnings it appropriates, and the extent that government interferes in daily lives (health, safety, education). o See Page 18-19 CC. • Narrow/Originalist reading of the Constitution. o Limitation of the federal government’s authority to specific, delegated powers. o The reservation to the states and the people of all power not delegated ot the federal government. o Careful division of the federal government’s power among the three branches. o The amendment process, rightly complex. o “Was it then a democracy the framers created? Hardly.” • Civil Rights: do not exist but for those enumerated by the constitution. o “It may be just or wise or expedient for Negro children to attend the same schools as white children, but they do not have a civil right to do so which is protected by the federal constitution, or which is enforceable by the federal government.” o These are NOT decidable by the Courts! • Free Market: o Against Subsidies, quotas, and federal involvement with farming. ▪ “Farm production, like any other production is best controlled by the natural operation of the free market. If the nation’s farmers are willing to pay, they will, under the law of supply and demand, end up producing roughly what can be consumed in national and world markets. And if farmers, in general, find they are not getting high enough prices for their produce, some of them will move into other kinds of economic activity… If, however, the government interferes with this natural economic process … the nation will pay exorbitant prices for work that is not needed and for produce that cannot be consumed. o Anti-Labor Unions, except for their narrow use to increase bargaining advantage. ▪ Association must be voluntary. ▪ Activity confined to collective bargaining, only conducted by the employees and with the employer of the workers concerned. (no national autoworkers union). ▪ No political contribution. o Anti-trust laws: The same argument for keeping unions out of politics applies to corporations as well! ▪ “I see no reason for labor unions—or corporations—to participate in politics. Both were created for economic purposes and their activities should be restricted accordingly. • Taxes and Spending: o “each man has an inalienable right to his property, [but] it must also be said that every citizen has an obligation to contribute his fair share to the legitimate functions of government. Government, in other words, has some claim on our wealth, and the problem is to define that claim in a way that gives due consideration to the property rights of the individual. The size of the government’s rightful claim—that is, the total amount it may take in taxes—will be determined by how we define the `legitimate functions of government.’ With regard to the federal government, the Constitution is the proper standard of legitimacy.’’ o Anti- Welfare: “Conservatives can demonstrate and communicate the difference between being concerned with these problems and believing the federal government is the proper agent for their solution.” ▪ Forces people to pay for causes they do not believe in. ▪ Makes people dependent on the state ▪ “Let welfare be a private concern. Let it be promoted by individuals and families, by churches, private hospitals, religious service organizations, community charities and other institutions that have been established for this purpose.” • Better have local agencies deal with charity (and not treat certain provisions of welfare as entitlements. • The only reason such institutions can’t achieve their goals is because of their tax burden. o Anti-federal funding of education. ▪ “The function of our schools is not to educate, or elevate, society; but rather to educate individuals and to equip them with the knowledge that will enable them to take care of society’s needs… we should look upon our schools – not as a place to train the `whole character’ of the child—a responsibility that properly belongs to his family and church— but to train his mind.’’ • Foreign policy: o ``And still the awful truth remains: We can establish the domestic conditions for maximizing freedom, along the lines I have indicated, and yet become slaves. We can do this by losing the Cold War to the Soviet Union.” Race and Reagan: https://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ Bush Willie Horton ad: https://youtu.be/Io9KMSSEZ0Y The Religious Conservative Movement • Importance of religious values and the establishment of Christian religion. o Reaching implications into social policies: same-sex marriage, abortion access, gender roles and norms. o Education: creationism in school education. • Society viewed as in moral decline. Jesus Camp: https://youtu.be/97NFNXk8aFc Kaufman Conservatism is NOT just liberalism • Nation over liberal world order. • Decency over free speech. • Justice? Over democracy. • Conception of the good or truth in education. Failures of Liberalism • No common identity of a nation. Reduction in sovereignty. World order, a global village is unstable. • Some notion of Justice prior to freedom. • Valuing religion, faith, family, community, nation over “abstract theorizing of universal, natural, man” The Tension • But Liberalism is, at heart, a major part of American tradition. Wouldn’t rejecting it result in a non-conservative view? • The notion that certain conservative commitments uphold liberalism. The Tea Party How did the tea party revitalize right-wing activism in the lead up to the 2010 midterm elections, and what does this tell us about the trajectory of US conservatism? The Argument The Tea Party is a new incarnation of longstanding strands in US conservatism: Anti- federal social programs like the ACA but pro-social security and medicare. Opposition to `handouts’ to the `undeserving’ (usually construed along racial and ethnic lines). General anxieties about racial, ethnic, and generational changes in American society. Innovations: Small set of
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