Varieties of American Conservatism

Recommended Reading:

To learn more about the figures covered in this course, we encourage you to visit ContemporaryThinkers.org, a website devoted to the ideas and influence of pioneering intellectuals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Sponsored by the Hertog Foundation, ContemporaryThinkers.org includes sites devoted to Irving Kristol, Edward C. Banfield, Nathan Glazer, James Q. Wilson, and many others.

Readings:

• George Nash, excerpt from The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, pp. 1-10
• Ludwig von Mises, “On Equality and Inequality,” The Libertarian Reader, ed. David Boaz
• F. A. Hayek, “Why I Am Not a Conservative,” Conservatism in America Since 1930, ed. Gregory L. Schneider
• Milton Friedman, “The Relationship Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom,” from Capitalism and Freedom (2002)
• Mt. Pelerin Society, “Getting Together,” Conservatism in America Since 1930
• Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson, excerpt
• Albert Jay Nock, “Isaiah’s Job,” The Atlantic, 1936

Video:

• “Power of the Market,” Free to Choose, PBS, 1980

Magazines:

• The Freeman (1950–2016)
• Reason (1968–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What were the circumstances that led to the classical liberal revival?
2. What is classical liberalism? Is Hayek correct that it is not conservative? Why or why not?
3. What is the relationship of economic freedom to political freedom?
4. What is the attitude of classical liberals toward democracy? Toward the masses?

Readings:

• George Nash, excerpt from The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, pp. 33–36, 46–49, 67–74
• Russell Kirk, “The Idea of Conservatism,” Keeping the Tablets, eds. William F. Buckley Jr. & Charles Kesler
• Excerpts from Richard Weaver, “The Quest for Order,” Conservatism in America Since 1930
• Excerpts from Eric Voegelin, “Chapter IV: Gnosticism—the Nature of Modernity,” The New Science of Politics
• Leo Strauss, “Introduction,” Natural Right and History

Video:

• Russell Kirk Address, Heritage Foundation, June 4, 1980

Magazines:

• Modern Age (1957–)
• University Bookman (1960–)
• The New Criterion (1982–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the crisis of modernity? What aspects or propensities of modern life contribute to this crisis?
2. Consider the following themes in each of the readings:
   1. the intellectual mistakes or vices characteristic of modern thought (e.g., “rationalism,” “nominalism,” “gnosticism,” “relativism,” and “historicism”),
   2. the importance of liberal and political education,
   3. the return to classical or Christian models of wisdom,
   4. the role of religion and its relationship to philosophy and politics
3. What similarities do you find in the various authors’ diagnoses of the modern condition? What differences? What prescriptions do they offer?
4. Does conservatism have a foundational principle—e.g., tradition, revealed religion, natural right?

Readings:

• George Nash, excerpt from The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, pp. 86–95, 114–16
• James Burnham, “Communism: The Struggle for the World,” Keeping the Tablets
• Whittaker Chambers, “The Direct Glance” & “Epilogue,” Keeping the Tablets

Videos:

• Reagan’s Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, February 23, 1983
• “The Life and Political Thought of James Burnham,” panel, William F. Buckley, Jr. Program, Yale University, November 14, 2014

Discussion Questions:

1. According to Burnham, what is the “key” to the current political situation? Why is it so difficult to identify, particularly in America?
2. What are the special features of the Cold War? What makes the Cold War different from other wars of the past?
3. How did the struggle against Communism shape American conservatism? Why is Burnham anti-Communist? Why is Chambers?

Readings:

• George Nash, excerpt from The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, pp. 106–08, 240–46
• Willmoore Kendall, “McCarthyism: The Pons Asinorum of Contemporary Conservatism,” from The Conservative Affirmation (1963)
• William F. Buckley Jr., “Introduction,” God & Man at Yale
• Selection from William F. Buckley Jr. & L. Brent Bozell, “Chapter 14: The New Conformity,” McCarthy and His Enemies: The Record and Its Meaning
• Irving Kristol, “Civil Liberties, 1952—A Study in Confusion,” The Neoconservative Persuasion

Videos:

• “The Iron Curtain,” The Cold War, CNN (1998)
• “McCarthyism: Past, Present, Future,” Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr., May 16, 1966

Discussion Questions:

1. Why were McCarthyites and anti-McCarthyites so “mad” (in Kendall’s words) about McCarthyism?
2. How should we balance the competing demands of minority rights and democratic rule? What answer(s) do Kendall, Buckley, and Kristol give?

Readings:

• Lee Edwards, “Standing Athwart History: The Political Thought of William F. Buckley Jr.,” First Principles Series Report #29, The Heritage Foundation, May 2010
• William F. Buckley, “Introduction,” from Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? (1970)
• William F. Buckley, “Statement of Principles,” National Review, November 19, 1955
• Frank S. Meyer, “Freedom, Tradition, Conservatism,” What Is Conservatism?, ed. Frank Meyer
• Barry Goldwater, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” Conservatism in America Since 1930
• “The Sharon Statement,” Conservatism in America Since 1930

Videos:

• “In Depth with William F. Buckley Jr.,” Booknotes, CSPAN, April 2, 2000
• “The End of Firing Line: Part I,” Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr., December 14, 1999

Magazine:

• National Review (1955–)

Discussion Questions:

1. Why is conservatism so hard to define?
2. What are the conservative convictions, according to Buckley?
3. Is “standing athwart history” a viable standard for conservative thought and action?
4. Is libertarianism compatible with conservatism? Is conservatism chiefly about maximizing freedom?

Readings:

• Justin Vaisse, “Chapter Two: The First Age: Liberal Intellectuals in Dissent,” Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement
• Irving Kristol, “Autobiographical Memoir,” from The Neoconservative Persuasion (2011)
• Irving Kristol, “On Conservatism and Capitalism,” Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea
• Nathan Glazer, “Neoconservative From the Start,” The Public Interest, Spring 2005
• James Q. Wilson, “The Rediscovery of Character,” The Essential Neoconservative Reader, ed. Mark Gerson

Magazines:

• The Public Interest (1965–2005), full archive available at https://nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/issues/spring-2005
• Commentary (1945–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the “first wave” of neoconservatism? How did it break with the old conservatism? With liberalism?

Readings:

• Justin Vaisse, “Chapter Four: Divergence: Inventing a Neoconservative Foreign Policy,” Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement
• Norman Podhoretz, “Vietnam and the Crisis of Containment,” Keeping the Tablets
• Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, “Dictatorships and Double Standards,” Commentary, November 1979

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the “second wave” of neoconservatism? How did foreign policy come to occupy a central place in neoconservative thought?
2. How do American values influence American foreign policy? Should they?

Readings:

• Alan Crawford, “Antielitism and the New Class Warfare,” ch. 6 from Thunder on the Right (1980)
• Samuel Francis, “Message from MARs: The Social Politics of the New Right,” from Conservatism in America since 1930 (2003)
• Harry Jaffa, “Equality as a Conservative Principle” Keeping the Tablets
• James Burnham, “Notes on Authority, Morality, Power,” Viewpoints: The Conservative Alternative, ed. David Brudnoy, pp. 51–58
• Tom Wolfe, “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening,” New York Magazine, August 23, 1976
• Ronald Reagan, “The New Republican Party,” Address to Conservative Political Action Conference, February 1977

Videos:

• “A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That the Senate Should Ratify the Proposed Panama Canal Treaties,” Firing Line, January 13, 1978

Magazine:

• Conservative Digest (1975–89), out of publication

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the situation of the conservative movement in the 1970s?
2. What was the “New Right”? How did it break with the “old” Right?
3. What is the attitude of the “New Right” toward government intervention in the economy? When is government intervention justified?
4. What is the foreign policy of the “New Right”? How does it conceive of America’s role in the world?
5. What was Reagan’s vision for a “New Republican Party”? How did he propose to bring together the “two different conservative constituencies?”

Readings:

• Ross Douthat, “Resistance,” from Bad Religion (2012)
• Michael Novak, “Selections from Spirit of Democratic Capitalism,” The Essential Neoconservative Reader
• Richard John Neuhaus, “A New Order of Religious Freedom,” The Essential Neoconservative Reader
• George Weigel, “Centesimus Annus: The Architecture of Freedom,” A Free Society Reader, ed. Michael Novak, pp. 3–24

Video:

• Robert P. George, Conversations with Bill Kristol, April 2016

Magazine:

• First Things (1990–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What were the distinctive concerns of the Religious Right?
2. Why did the Religious Right come to embrace free market economics?
3. Was the rise of the Religious Right a sign of the strength—or weakness—of religion in American public life?

Readings:

• Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History,” The National Interest, Summer 1989
• Charles Krauthammer, “The Unipolar Moment,” Foreign Affairs, Winter 1990/1991
• Patrick J. Buchanan, “America First—And Second—And Third,” from America’s Purpose: New Visions of U.S. Foreign Policy, Owen Harries (1991)
• Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993
• Robert Kagan & William Kristol, “The Present Danger,” The National Interest, Spring 2000

Video:

• Charles Krauthammer, “Democratic Realism,” 2004 Irving Kristol Address, AEI, February 10, 2004

Magazines:

• The Weekly Standard (1995–2018)
• The American Conservative (2002–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the developing split between conservatives after the fall of the Soviet Union?
2. What are the distinctive conservative visions of America’s role in the world?

Readings:

• Richard Brookhiser, “WFB Today,“ National Review Online, February 16, 2018
• Yoram Hazony, “Is ‘Classical Liberalism’ Conservative?”, Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2017
• Charles Kesler, “Thinking About Trump,” Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2018
• Tucker Carlson, “Mitt Romney Supports the Status Quo, But for Everyone Else, It’s Infuriating,” Tucker Carlson Tonight, January 3, 2019
• Ramesh Ponnuru, “Neither Idol nor Tool,” National Review, February 11, 2019
• Charles Krauthammer, “The Authoritarian Temptation,” The Point of It All

Magazines:

• The Claremont Review of Books (2000–)
• National Affairs (2009–)
• American Affairs (2017–)
• The Bulwark (2018–)

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the possibilities of conservatism after Trump?
2. Who should determine the principles of conservative thought: the people or an intellectual elite?