sign in sign up
<<
Home , Fusionism, Irving Kristol, Ron Paul

FEATURE

COMMON SENSE: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE DEBATE BETWEEN LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

Fusing and continues to work— so ignore any theoretical difficulties, writes John Heard

American conservatism they bought, borrowed, or stole from Native For many Australian politicians and political Americans. American conservatives have always thinkers, being labelled a conservative is still been, in this way, town and country types. The faintly embarrassing, if the term itself is not conservative tradition in America was also, outright pejorative. Unlike the UK Tories and the by virtue of being rooted in these narratives of US Republicans, Australian centre-right parties, America’s ‘Manifest Destiny’ and territorial personalities, and leaders have shied away from expansion, effortlessly American. what would appear to be the correct usage, or Australian Liberal Party members are not often the most obvious way to describe their political mistaken for Snowy River stockman types or leanings. Except when claiming to be a fi scal bushranger heroes, but the American conservative conservative, or perhaps a social conservative, machine, more explicitly at least since Reagan, Australians haven’t tended to view conservative as has produced a veritable parade of archetypal, a coherent, winning designation. down-home, good ol’ boys and girls. This is seen That is not the case elsewhere, certainly not in as a fact of life in America, something that has the , where conservative is a powerful long hampered centre-left and Democratic Party omnibus brand. Wrapped up in the label is an efforts to achieve any sort of broad-based national evocative, catholic strain of American thought. electoral success. It has become a cliché to write Historically, it has taken in the independent- of the divide between red states and blue states, mindedness of the Jeffersonian republicans—the and—as snarky New Yorkers have been known to authors of America’s westward expansion— quip—‘blue states lose.’ and assimilated it with strong intersubjective Once one gets beyond the basic, sometimes sensibilities. contrived Americanness of the designation, The social cohesion fostered by a common though, the philosophical and political reality sense of purpose and common heritage then— is much less stable. The label conservative is not, the camaraderie of settlers—has often sat alongside American conservatives’ commitment to self-suffi ciency and a view of diluted federal John Heard has honours degrees in power as virtuous. Such deep tensions and arts and law from the University of important similarities linked people living in the Melbourne, and contributes regularly to new nation’s precarious townships with agrarian publications in Australia and overseas. types struggling to master the new America that

Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY 31 LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

in fact, a fi xed or even a known quantity. When Eisenhower, who almost ran as a Democrat prodded for certainties, American conservatism before he ran as the fi rst free-trade Republican often tilts, and American conservative politicians presidential candidate in 1952, actually failed to too often fall over. win over the conservatives in his new party. They Certainly, the label has slipped off some sided with Robert Taft, a staunch protectionist. previously canonical fi gures. The so-called paleo- Similar divisions persist in conservatism today. conservatives, for instance, who were ascendant The rifts between various competing inter ests, during the middle and late years, quickly affi liations, ideologies, and are so lost infl uence during the fi rst Bush administrat- marked, and apply to issues so central to any poli- ion, when the so-called neoconservatives gained ti cal movement’s identity and structure, that it can the upper hand. Indeed, the title conservative is be safely claimed that what characterises American claimed, often with great relish and sincerity, by conservatism is not—like —its fi rst-order demagogues, movements, and ideologies once coherence, but rather its fi rst-order multiplicity. considered clearly not conservative, or at times There is no one issue that all conservatives align on, even typically liberal. unless it is championing America’s best interests. So, the Democratic Party’s Beyond that, coherence only seems to come praised during a primary-season later, and at a superfi cial level, if it comes at all. This debate, and John McCain—the maverick Repub- means that the designation conservative in America lican candidate—has seemed at times to be intent denotes a deeply unstable grouping, something on waging a near one-man campaign to have that no doubt contributes to the dynamism and rebranded as a conservative cause. the energy of the conservative movement, but that And while there is a bright line that links up also makes understanding American conservatism someone on the centre-left in America with New a diffi cult job for outsiders. Deal fi gures such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and ideas such as government intervention and in America labour protection, there is no such policy unity, or These twin marks, the Americanness alongside even continuity, on the centre-right. the dynamism, defi ne what Americans mean Today’s conservative is not necessarily— when they call someone a conservative, and indeed, probably not—2004’s George W. Bush- have done so from the movement’s outset. But style ‘compassionate conservative,’ and he or what about an underlying philosophy: Is there a she is almost certainly not a 1950s anti-Israel unifi ed idea of what it means to be a conservative? conservative. And, while many conservatives Is conservatism a coherent political philosophy? think they’re naturally against big government Should it be dropped for something else? spending, Republican administrations under The former question is not as interesting as the latter two. As I’ve argued previously in Policy, Reagan and the younger Bush actually grew the size of the federal bureaucracy and budget, In the absence of any binding document, sometimes exponentially. or a creed for instance, that dogmatically Even the majority of conservatives who call sets out conservative beliefs, conservatism themselves free traders, and think they are safe to do is generally held to be just that which most so, are on doubtful ground, as Robert E. Lighthizer self-identifi ed conservatives support.2 pointed out recently in : However, inasmuch as there might be a set of For almost 100 years after the Civil conservative beliefs, the movement has typically War, the Republican Party (led by men been understood to rely on a form of ‘fusionism.’ like Lincoln and McKinley) was overtly The concept of fusionism has certainly been protectionist. Theodore Roosevelt, a used to answer questions about conservatism hero of John McCain’s, wrote that ‘pernic- and coherence. ious indulgence in the doctrine of free Fusionism was, of course, the political mix of trade seems inevitably to produce fatty traditional (social) conservatism with libertarian degeneration of the moral fi ber.’1 ideas and movements. It was fi rst championed by

32 Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

the late William F. Buckley, Jr, and Frank Meyer back to Buckley and the fusionism that exemplifi ed at , and gained widespread National Review. What most people don’t know, exposure during the candidacy of Barry - however, even in the U.S., is what fusionism water in the 1964 presidential election. By the was, and how the minds that helped to forge the time of Ronald Reagan’s victory in the 1980 modern conservative movement were split from presidential contest, it had mainstreamed, the beginning. becoming the preeminent political movement of the postwar era. It was the driving force behind Freedom or virtue? Reagan’s unprecedented second term (1984) It is often said that fusionism only arose because sweep of the electoral college. external factors pushed two unlikely forces The and organisational resources together. The struggle to defeat communism (think tanks, lobby groups, student energies) abroad, and cultural and political unrest at invested in and unleashed by leading fusionist home, is usually cited as the relevant contextual thinkers and leaders helped to carry George H. W. pressure, the necessary catalyst in the formation Bush to victory in 1988, and laid the groundwork and coherence or otherwise of what became the for the in Congress. This great settlement of American conservatism. was a conservative ascendancy that only started Given the competing, perhaps confl icting, to look overcooked in 2006, after voters elected a moral and political motivations of the constituent new sort of ‘compassionate conservative’ (George conservative and libertarian ideologies, this W. Bush) to two fairly miserable (and fairly claim seems right. Only some sense of a grand non-conservative, the unstable designation having world-historical event—the Soviet threat to the slipped again) terms in the White House. American way of life, or the civil unrest that Most conservatives in America today would characterised the United States in the 1960s— trace their intellectual and political patrimony would push people who disagreed so fundamentally

Remember the CIS when updating your Will When I established the CIS, it was with the intention of doing whatever I could to help create a freer society. Whilst many achievements have been made, there is still so much more that needs to be done. It is my hope that a strong organisation dedicated to strengthening the moral legitimacy of a economy and a free society will be my legacy. I hope you will consider making this your legacy too. Your contribution will make a difference to the lives of future generations. Greg Lindsay, Founder and Executive Director, CIS

Your Will is probably one of the most important documents you will ever sign. It is a powerful tool for change and your opportunity to make a meaningful, tangible, and lasting gift that will show your appreciation for the work of the CIS. You may decide to contribute a: • General Bequest • Specific Purpose Bequest • Endowment Fund Bequest However you decide to support the Centre, you can be assured that your contribution will be a lasting legacy, helping to assist the CIS to pursue its mission: securing freedom, defending core values, and creating the type of society we all want for our children and grandchildren.

For information on the CIS and its Bequest Program, please phone (02) 9438 4377 and speak with the Bequest Officer or the Executive Director, or visit our website: www.cis.org.au.

Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY 33 LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

about so much (as libertarians and conservatives not their libertarian complement, had always must do) to marry their political fortunes. been central to American conservatism. The idea that only an external force could Jeremiah Atwater, writing before Mill in 1801, align the conservative and libertarian movements stated the inverse of Mill’s freedom imperative: certainly runs through the early literature produced by Buckley and his associates at National Review. Man, from cradle to grave, is constantly American conservatives worried then, right at the learning new lessons of moral outset, that there might be some inherent confl ict instruction, and is trained to virtue in fusionism: perhaps one could not pursue and order by perpetual and salutary freedom and virtue at the same time. restraints … restraints imposed by the The anxiety seems to have been foundational, family, by the schools, by government then, and historical broadsides launched from and laws, and even by … public opinion, either side of the newly-aligned camps have been which, in a country where Christianity collected in a tidy, useful book, Freedom and Virtue: is believed, compels even profl igates to The Conservative/Libertarian Debate, edited by be outwardly virtuous.5 George W. Carey of the Intercollegiate Studies But Carey suggests that historically, ‘the times’ Institute. While some notable early advocates were changing, and a new threat had emerged: eventually decided otherwise—Catholic thinker ‘conservatives believe[d] that the damage to the L. Brent Bozell’s essay ‘Freedom or Virtue’ and his fabric and cohesiveness of society due to the loss later work are apposite here—most conservatives of virtue and a common morality, [was] even more decided they could live with the contradictions devastating than that anticipated by Atwater.6 inherent in their new project. The debate itself, however, provides an invaluable insight into Many people, of various backgrounds the early years of contemporary American con- and political affi liations—but especially con- servatism, not least because it appears to rule out servatives—came to think that America’s perceived the idea that communism provided the glue that decline required a concerted cultural effort, and a unifi ed political one. Fusionism was the unlikely conservative-libertarian response. It was concern over America’s That it was libertarianism and not some decline, and not primarily the threat other ideology that conservatives decided to co-opt appears to have been an accident of sorts. As of communism, that bound together Carey notes, it was concern over America’s decline, early fusionist thinkers. and not primarily the threat of communism, that bound together early fusionist thinkers: Virtually all conservatives during held fusionism together. Past debates also suggest the Cold War period were strongly ways the movement adapted to future challenges. anti-Communist and, accordingly, supp- Certainly, it was much remarked, from the orted a strong national government earliest days of the fusionist movement, that … [whereas] many libertarians felt the while John Stuart Mill in On —a seminal Soviet threat was vastly exaggerated, document in the libertarian and classical liberal primarily as a cover to expand the powers traditions—stated that ‘the only purpose for of government.7 which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his But it was Buckley’s penchant for libertarianism will, is to prevent harm to others,’3 conservatives (he used both conservative and libertarian to more generally, ‘while concerned with describe himself throughout his life) and the liberty, strongly believe that shared values, morals, force of his personality, and infl uence alone, and standards, along with accepted traditions, are that ensured that libertarians replaced the (often 4 necessary for the order and stability of society.’ anti-Semitic) authoritarians who had previously Such conservative views, Carey points out, and infl uenced American conservative thought.

34 Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

For libertarians, America in the 1960s was, None of them, however, thought that this was a in many respects, nowhere near Mill’s ‘civilised bad thing for fusionism. They were right. Indeed, society,’ and for conservatives, the breakdown in in an infl uential early response to Auerbach, Kirk marriages, family life more generally, faith, and argued that ‘conservatism is not an ideology,’ other key institutions was alarming enough to immediately defl ecting any philosophical debate warrant radical innovation—even getting into bed on the coherence of fusionism to a winning with libertarians. Many of the essays contained in defence of how it might work on a practical Carey’s collection have, therefore, both classical level. That it worked on a practical level soon liberals and more obvious conservatives looking became obvious. out at the 1960s and the years since, and deciding that America was indeed facing a ‘precipitous decline.’ This common cause encouraged them There is a solid argument that it to sideline their philosophical differences, with makes no sense to ask a person the usually unspoken understanding that once things had been put right they would simply to be virtuous if he or she has no splinter off again. chance to choose virtue. Fusionism must have been, then, a shaky thing to behold. As a new political movement, it was improbably balanced between the proleptic or Then it took . idealistic and the ridiculous. Indeed, many reviews It didn’t matter so much after that if the boys of Buckley’s early books, and fusionist essays in at National Review couldn’t tell you, discursively, National Review and elsewhere, are tinged with what fusionism was, and how precisely it worked. a version of the widespread liberal derision he American conservatives simply said that it would, came in for, if not characterised by an unbridled, and demonstrated that it did. Frank Meyer showed dismissive tone. a similarly deft hand, turning Auerbach’s snide A liberal commentator of the time, M. Morton comments about feudalism and the medieval into Auerbach, writing in the 30 January 1962 issue of sound-bite-sized instructions on how American National Review (the paper is included in the Carey conservatives could turn the movement’s neg- collection) certainly thought he had the fusionists’ a tives (a history of tension, incoherence) into number. He somewhat gleefully pointed out the posi tives (conservatism is a dynamic showcase, historical instability of the term conservative. teeming with ideas). Conservative think tanks in ‘Anyone who has tried to apply the term,’ he America continue to demonstrate this strength, wrote, ‘knows that the word is extremely fl exible,’ contributing a vast network of competing ideas, before taunting the young men at Buckley’s new platforms, and thinkers, and feeding the best magazine with a stream of questions: examples into conservative at every level, on issues as diverse as abortion and the estate or ‘death’ Could this [instability] be why it has tax to biofuels and the Second Amendment. become so important for National Review to maintain an imaginary escape tunnel connecting [Edmund] Burke with James The future Madison, i.e., joining medievalism In the post-Cold War era, many American [Auerbach’s pejorative description of conservatives have questioned fusionism. Some virtue theory] with ? libertarians, buoyed by the relatively strong Will conservatism continue to offer performance of in the Republican prim- nothing more than an array of mutually aries, think it might be time for a fully-fl edged exclusive ‘principles’ from which all are . Others, usually secular virtue invited to pick what suits them? Is this ethicists or natural-law-infl ected Catholic thinkers, the age of do-it-yourself conservatism?8 worry that the pursuit of freedom, far from making space for virtue, has too often crowded right reason, To which Buckley, M. Stanton Evans, Frank religion, and transcendental ideas out of the public Meyer, and answered, variously, yes. square. There is also talk of new alignments. For

Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY 35 LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

one, Brink Lindsey of the has argued Others try to argue as though those things that that libertarians and left-leaning liberals should brought libertarians and conservatives together in join forces to become ‘liberaltarians.’9 the past no longer compel them with the same Often, critics point to the underlying philo- sense of urgency. sophical incoherence of the movement and try to These critics usually mistake anti-communism use that as a lever. They lift up the whole history for the glue that held fusionism together. The of conservatism and pretend they have discovered better claim would seem to be that fusionism is some particular, wriggling instability attributable still needed—perhaps more so now than when to fusionism alone. Some write as though all of Buckley was setting up National Review. Certainly, the tensions, the signal rifts that have always the cultural indicators assembled by William characterised American conservatism, would melt Bennett, and cited by Carey in the introduction to away if only conservatives embraced some singular the debate collection, would horrify conservatives vision—freedom, perhaps, or virtue. alarmed at American decline in the 1960s: There is not room to investigate this claim Since the 1960s … [the U.S. has seen] closely, but it is enough to wonder why anyone a 560 percent increase in violent crime would want to jeopardise the broad political … a 400 percent increase in illegitimate appeal of fusionist conservatism. births … and more than three times as Further, while some modern libertarian many children living in single parent positions—on human life, marriage, sexual ethics, homes. In 1940 … talking out of turn; and censorship—would appear to offend against chewing gum; making noise; running in the conservative’s deepest sensibilities, there is a the halls … were identifi ed as leading solid argument that it makes no sense to ask a problems in the public schools. In the person to be virtuous if he or she has no chance to 1990s these problems were replaced by choose virtue. drug abuse; alcohol; pregnancy; suicide; M. Stanton Evans carries this idea further to rape; robbery; and assault.11 argue that there might be, in fact, a particular conservative (fusionist) philosophy, and that Even in places where the centre-right discourse on politics and philosophy is not as nuanced as it is in America, where labels like ‘libertarian’ and ‘fusionist’ are often unknown, if not rejected Even in places where ... labels like (perhaps ignorantly) outright, fusionism has ‘libertarian’ and ‘fusionist’ are often continued to have an outsized infl uence. Around unknown, fusionism has ... the time of his death, many British papers and an outsized influence. commentators noted what Buckley and National Review meant for Britain, and how they had cleared a wide space for the distinctly fusionist phenomenon now known as . we can contribute to it certain primary In Australia, John Howard’s four-term prime- and constant affi rmations. The con- ministership was quite deliberately modelled—it servative believes that ours is a God- has since become clear—on a homegrown variant centred, and therefore an ordered, uni- of American conservatism. Giving the 2008 verse; that man’s purpose is to shape his Lecture at the American Enterprise life to the patterns of order proceeding Institute, Howard described his ‘proud record’ in from the Divine center of life; and that, in unambiguously fusionist terms: seeking this objective, man is hampered by a fallible intellect and vagrant will. The former Australian government, Properly construed, this view is not only which I led, was accused of many things, compatible with a due regard for human but never of betraying its essentially freedom, but demands it.10 Centre-Right credo. We pursued a blend of —in the classical

36 Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES

sense of that term connoting as it does Representative Government (New York: Precepts, a faith in market forces—and social 1950), 95–96. 4 conserv atism. Far from being in confl ict, George W. Carey, ‘Introduction,’ in Freedom and the one reinforced the other.12 Virtue: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate, ed. George W. Carey (Wilmington: Intercollegiate The fi nal question then—should fusionism Studies Institute, 1998), xi. 5 be replaced by something else?—would need to Charles S. Hyneman and Donald S. Lutz (eds), be answered in light of these facts. Fusionism American Political Writing During the Founding Era, was, from the beginning, an eminently practical 1760–1805 (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1983), II, 1177. solution to a particular political problem. If the 6 George W. Carey, ‘Introduction,’ xiii. problem has lapsed, or the solution no longer 7 As above, xvii. works, then it must be reexamined. In the 8 M. Morton Auerbach, ‘Do-it-yourself Conservatism?’ meantime, conservatives have generally resisted in Freedom and Virtue, 5. navel-gazing beyond a basic statement of what 9 Brink Lindsey, ‘Liberaltarians,’ fusionism can do, and the movement has been (4 December 2006), www.cato.org/pub_display. well rewarded for that common sense. php?pub_id=6800. 10 M. Stanton Evans, ‘Techniques and Circumstances,’ Endnotes in Freedom and Virtue, 6. 11 William J. Bennett, The Index of Leading Cultural 1 Robert E. Lighthizer, ‘Grand Old Protectionists,’ Indicators (Washington: Heritage Foundation/ New York Times (6 March 2008), www.nytimes. Empower America, 1993), xxi. com/2008/03/06/opinion/06lighthizer.html?scp= 12 John Howard, ‘Keeping Faith With Our Common 3&sq=protectionist+mccain&st=nyt. Values’ (The 2008 Irving Kristol Lecture, 2 John Heard, review of The Conservative Soul: How Ameri can Enterprise Institute, Washington, We Lost It, How To Get It Back, by , DC, 5 March 2008), www.aei.org/publications/ Policy 23:1 (Autumn 2007), 64. pubID.27613,fi lter.all/pub_detail.asp. 3 John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, Liberty and

,

‘We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage. If we can regain that belief in the power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost.’ F. A. Hayek

On its 30th Anniversary, The Centre for Independent Studies established a Capital Campaign to create a Fund in order to support a major development phase and underpin the Centre’s long-term future. The Fund will allow CIS to expand and develop its research programs, and attract leading scholars to provide the ideas and resources for the ongoing promotion of liberty. It will strengthen the financial independence of the Centre and help CIS secure suitable long-term premises for its ‘community of scholars.’ The Fund will also help increase the Centre’s influence, and will reinforce its role as one of the few truly independent voices in public policy debates.

For more information on the CIS Capital Campaign visit www.cis.org.au, contact the Centre on (02) 9438 4377, or email [email protected].

Vol. 24 No. 3 • Spring 2008 • POLICY 37