The Emptiness of Conservatism

 Jan-Werner Müller produced a discussion for the London Review of Books of the degree of unity within the European Union (EU) in the context of the war in Ukraine: United Europe?.  In it, he discussed the near universal rise of far-right populist activism and how it relates to traditional conservatism and the center-right political parties.  He provided an interesting perspective.

“While election results for far-right populist parties have improved over the last two decades, only in Italy have these parties come to power without the collaboration of mainstream conservative forces. What has made the difference is conservative defeatism. Partly because the self-designated centre-right is so bereft of ideas – witness Truss’s zombie Thatcherism – it has defaulted to embracing far-right positions or joining hands with previously ostracised parties.”

In other words, a center-right party “bereft of ideas” must have some means of attracting voters so it can strive for political power, and it has no option but to move to the far-right where there is at least some excitement.  The US Republican Party fits this scenario exactly.  It cannot even claim to have a platform on which it runs.  Instead, it limps on grasping the remnants of an ideology that was formulated and established sixty years ago. 

The early 1960s were years of great political activity with the left and right both forming views of the ideal national government.  The conservatives gathered at William F. Buckley’s estate in Sharon, Connecticut in 1960, while the liberals congregated at a United Auto Workers camp at Port Huron Michigan in 1962.  Both groups would issue documents describing the political directions in which they wished to move.  The liberals wanted an activist federal government, but one that was driven by the wishes of the voters expressed through democratic processes.  The conservatives wished for an inactive federal government that only protected property and defended the homeland: low taxes, free markets, and little regulation.  The liberals saw a world filled with problems that required solutions.  Sixty-four pages of details were required.  The conservatives saw only one problem: the government.  The Sharon document only required a single page. 

Has anything changed politically in the past 60 years?  Liberal Democrats are still pinpointing problems and trying to figure out how to address them.  Conservative Republicans are still preaching the same dogma they preached 60 years ago.  Their philosophy had its day in the sun and heightened economic and social inequalities.  But problems keep coming while growing in number and complexity, requiring new approaches.  However, the rigid conservative dogma constrains Republicans to inactivity other than lower taxes, deregulation, and smaller government.  That no longer sells.  The only way to attract voters is to embrace the far-right conspiracy theorists, religious nationalists, racists, and antisemites. 

The midterm 2022 election has happened.  It suggests a change has occurred.  Election deniers and other extremists have not fared well.  Political scientists like to claim that many voters worry little about party policies and tend to vote based on their personal economic feelings at the time of the election.  If things seem bad, throw out those in charge.  This time it appears the voters blended some national issues like threats to personal autonomy and democracy in with their economic issues and surprised everyone.  Hopefully, this is a practice that will be renewed for each election.

Perhaps we can one day achieve a state where political parties actually debate policy solutions to our problems in front of the voters. And the voters are listening.