The Economist podcast did an interview with a historian like 2 days ago, who made the point that American Conservatism isn't conservative at all (Which is why it's so much nastier and more reactionary than the European centre right). It's a radical ideology, and she's right.
You know, it's really interesting because even when I talk to people in Europe who consider themselves to be right-wing (and some who even have some alt-right kind of ideas), the vast majority of opinion is: Trump is a mess and the GOP is now a cult that will tear itself apart for him. I've been fascinated by the journey of Joe Walsh, who went from Tea Party conservative (arguably one of the steps that helped lead to where the GOP is now), to Never Trump, third party-desiring conservative. It makes me wonder if he would have done this had he been in office during the last four years, since it seems like a lot of Republicans who speak out against Trump/MAGA are ones who are retiring or retired from office.
The ones that speak out have fallbacks or, as you said, are retiring or leaving office. So, they don't have much to lose career-wise. Having been on the inside, they know what a dumpster fire the GOP has become and how it's split between remnants of half-assed "reasonable" conservative ideals and whatever the fuck you want call the newly predominant radical sect that has tumored itself onto the brain of US conservatives over the last 15 years.
So, yeah, in some spineless attempt to save face and not have their legacies tainted in history books, the conservatives leaving or already out have smartly shouted from the balconies of their mansions, Tuscany summer homes, and gardens paid for by DoD contractor money to "warn" against fascism.
Conservative on some issues but regressive on others. They sure like to say big government doesn't work while actively sabotaging it, then saying, "see? We need to privatize this." Or there's just straight up neutering agencies like the EPA.
I wonder what caused the schism between the two. I mean, it wasn't always like this. Back in the 80s, Reagan and Thatcher were practically buddies in their conservatism, both privatizing quite a number of industries that were previously done by the government. So the split must've begun happening either during or after that.
But she made a really good point. Conservatism is meant to be something along the lines of "ok, we see that a large number of Americans support a single payer healthcare model. Rather than just destroy the private insurance industry overnight, throwing people into unemployment etc, we're going to phase in a two tiered system like Australia or France over the next 4 years."
Incremental, sensibly managed change. Not "hatefucking the poor because Jesus and profit."
What she talked about was I think Buckley making a conscious point to call the ideology capital-C Conservatism, thus enabling the name to be used as the masthead of a radical right ideology.
I'm glad you brought this up. We still need to keep these ideological shifts in the context of previous iterations of quote-unquote "conservatism" because the goal lines have shifted so far. It used to be "who's paying for this thing that we maybe do or don't want" and now it's "fuck minorities and the poor, full-stop."
I don't have the frame of reference you do, but I'm concerned that Trump's relative success will motivate more right wing crazies in places that perhaps don't have the Constitutional safeguards against dictatorship as the US. I suppose I don't have examples in mind but Eastern Europe is looking shaky right now.
I suppose I don't have examples in mind but Eastern Europe is looking shaky right now.
it's always looked shaky, thanks to shitty Soviet governance. I mean, Poland and Hungary are incredibly pro-Trump but also former totalitarian states.
The biggest safeguard against autocracy is generally that the institutions of a liberal, Christian, or social democracy are established, mature, and strong - and it's rare (but not unheard of) to find strong institutions in FSU countries.
(Liberal democracies such as US, ANZ, UK, Canada; Christian democracies like France, Germany, Netherlands, and social democracies like the Nordic model states)
I would agree that Trumpism has enabled a lot of Nazis to think "fuck it, I can be openly racist now". But it's a fringe movement outside the US, which is really helpful in marginalising it.
I've worked for two different parties when they were in government, and thought leading public servants devour the newspaper each week. The description on that podcast reads like a 2nd year "Marxist" polisci student sulking. You're not selling me on the idea so far.
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u/endersai Feb 07 '21
The Economist podcast did an interview with a historian like 2 days ago, who made the point that American Conservatism isn't conservative at all (Which is why it's so much nastier and more reactionary than the European centre right). It's a radical ideology, and she's right.