15 Feb The Confused State of Conservativism and Liberalism

“What do 21^st Century Conservatives and Liberals actually believe in?” – The Lonely Realist

As TLR has noted, modern American political conservatism is founded on four “right wing” principles: fiscal restraint, furthering traditional American values, pursuing a strong national defense, and incentivizing capitalist Darwinism. The core of American “left wing” liberalism is the pursuit of equal rights, social and political equality, and public welfare through bigger, interventionalist government. Neither set of policy priorities today is the focus of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The labels of “right-wing conservative” and “left-wing liberal” no longer fit. They have been hijacked by the extremists of MAGA and the far left.

The core issue for today’s inaccurately labeled “right-wing” MAGAs is eliminating “the oppressive centralized bureaucracy.” Although MAGAs echo the slogans of libertarianism, they reject both the breadth of individual freedoms advocated by Ronald Reagan and the Freedom Caucus’s foundational beliefs in fiscal restraint and internationalism. Today’s traditional “left-leaning” Democrats are at loggerheads with their extremist Progressive colleagues whose agenda embraces “wokist” policy-making and anti-colonialism and its progeny, antisemitism. The unbalancing in both Parties means that civil liberties are being trampled by MAGA-defined “conservatism” and Progressive-defined “liberalism,” neither of which adheres to its foundational principles. The former is selectively oblivious to Constitutionally-protected rights and powers, intolerant of disagreement, and radically protectionist – the exact opposite of “conservative” – while the latter embraces unproductive bail reform, open borders, sanctuary cities and identity politics – the very definition of “illiberalism.” The two have combined in a MAGA-Progressive demolition derby that has eliminated the moderating balance of the two-party system, separating American policies and politicians from their conservative and liberal roots.

No one should be misled by the historical names of America’s political parties. These are not the same “Republican” and “Democratic” Parties that alternated in power for the last 160 years. Their policy priorities and bases have devolved evolved changed. The Democrats are not the party of FDR or Bill Clinton. The Republican Party no longer is the “Party of Lincoln”…, or of Reagan. In rejecting the cornerstone principles of Reagan Republicanism, the policies of the Trump Administration more closely resemble the rejectionist policies of the Democratic Party of the 1980s. Reagan conservatism focused on liberal free trade, strong international alliances, the benefits of immigration, classic moral conservativism, and civility in public life. That brand no longer resonates with the Republican Party. And the policies pursued by the Biden Administration were a perceptible shift to the socialist left that went beyond the safety-net creativity and consensus-building of FDR by placing the government, instead of capitalism, at the center of American life – an endorsement of Statism.

When Ronald Reagan declared that “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” he was referring to the Federal government’s intrusion into individuals’ lives and into their economic decision-making. While MAGA politicians continue to chant Reagan’s small government mantra and applaud the Trump Administration’s avowal to demolish the “Deep State,” their actions reflect their adoption of centralized government control as an acceptable substitute. America’s brand of laissez-faire capitalism is being undermined by the two Parties’ perverse versions of Statism. Both believe that the current disorder in America – whether in trade or manufacturing or in balancing poverty and excessive wealth or in restrictions on labor or capital or in protecting gun rights or rights to organize and protest – requires government intervention using a strong hand, the hand of The State.

With that said, there has always been a “right”-“left” dichotomy in American politics that contrasts the two Parties’ differing positions on personal freedoms. Traditional conservative Republicanism exalted virtually unfettered libertarianism, emphasizing strict Constitutional constructionism and adherence to historical American values (marriage, sexuality and religion). It advocated gun rights, free speech, abortion rights, voting rights, etc., all within reasonableness limits. Free speech, for example, required a thoughtful balance, a grounding in reality, and depended for legitimacy on Christian concepts of morality. Abortion rights ended when a fetus became viable outside the womb. And, although voting rights never extended to undocumented aliens, minority voting rights were zealously protected. That libertarianism has vanished. Censorship is seeing an upsurge in a reality that no longer is shared by all Americans. While there are increasing limits on abortion and voting rights, there are none on social media speech.

Fiscal dogmatism once separated conservative Republican Party common sense from Democratic Party free-spending. Fiscal conservatism has its foundation in low taxes, modest government spending, balanced government budgets, and minimal government debt whereby the government takes a back seat to capitalism, providing only a limited, incentivized safety net for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Conservatives willingly accept a separation of classes based on economic success and failure. And yet, free-spending and Federal incentives for selected businesses and constituencies now is deeply embedded in both Parties’ policy-making. The result is excessive debt and deficits and expanding Statism.

Right-left foreign policy differences were once clear and cogent. Republicans were hawks and Democrats doves. No longer. Although conservatives’ definition of national defense necessitated a globalist/internationalist approach to dealings with foreign countries, strong democratically-centered military alliances, and retention of powerful armed forces with global reach, that conservative world-view today is a Democratic Party priority. MAGA Republicanism eschews globalism and alliances, toys with America First isolationism, and advocates a nationalist, expansionist hemispheric Monroe Doctrine.

MAGA Republicanism is proposing to substitute State-directed, centralized industrial planning – a product of America First policy-making – for laissez-faire capitalism…, much like its predecessor. While selectively dismantling targeted government programs and bureaucracies, it is seizing both economic and social authority from businesses and individuals. From a purely economic perspective, it will continue deficit spending, traditionally the domain of the Democratic Party, by cutting taxes while increasing spending on pet projects. Which raises the question of what differentiates conservatism and liberalism in American politics today…, and what defines a conservative and a liberal.

Finally (from a good friend)