Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism Quotes

“Pundits and politicians have rightly questioned whether conservatism can successfully appeal to secular Americans. It is not a certainty, however, that conservatism will remain an attractive ideology for the religious. The association between religiosity and reactionary politics is relatively recent. One does not have to look far back to see examples of religion motivating radical politics as well. No one could fully understand the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century without also understanding the Puritan religious fervor within many Northern states.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Although both parties will pay occasional homage to the principles of local control and autonomy, they are rarely consistent on this issue. On both the mainstream left and the mainstream right, localist arguments are typically made when it suits their ideological preferences. On issues such as abortion, legalized marijuana, the right to discriminate, and the regulation of businesses, few on the right or the left consistently champion the right of communities to determine their own policies.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“the religious right similarly failed to address the root causes of societal decline: “Adherents of the new religious right correctly reject the separation of politics and religion, but they bring no spiritual insights to politics. They campaign for political reforms designed to discourage homosexuality and pornography, say, but they have nothing to tell us about the connection between pornography and the larger consumerist structure of addiction maintenance.”49 Like the religious right, Lasch was concerned by the breakdown of the traditional family and the degree to which children were now raised by day care workers, but he argued that this was an inevitable result of a free-market culture that devalued unpaid work, such as taking care of one’s own children.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Although Lasch remained firmly on the left, he argued that the left’s energies were increasingly misdirected. Whereas the radical left was still railing against the “authoritarian personality,” such a personality was no longer dominant in the postmodern world.37 In its place was the now-dominant narcissist, who did not try to force his values on others because he had no real values of his own aside from the desire to acquire goods.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Compared to many other prominent conservatives, Nisbet was more consistent in his condemnation of a unitary, powerful, and centralized state. Specifically, he abhorred the centralizing effect of war and its impact on families and communities. During war, institutions that stand between the individual and the state represent a dangerous source of inefficiency, and states thus have a compelling interest to weaken them. Wars also lead to drastic social dislocations. He lamented the fact that hawks on the right were categorized as conservative and reminded readers that before World War II, “conservatives had been steadfastly the voices of non-inflationary military budgets, and of an emphasis on trade in the world instead of American nationalism.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“To Berry, the solution to the race problem was the rediscovery of community. And unlike the Twelve Southerners, Berry argued that the antebellum South never developed true communities as he understood the term, as “community, properly speaking, cannot exclude or mistreat any of its members.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Berry thus believes in pluralism in the sense that the nation consisted of multiple coherent communities that differed from each other in significant ways, rather than pluralistic in the sense that large urban centers are pluralistic because they contain large numbers of people belonging to different racial, ethnic, and religious groups.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“It is possible that a slow decline in the power of organized conservatism in America will usher in a new era of progressive hegemony in American politics. However, it is also conceivable that organized conservatism’s weakness will open up new space for right-wing ideological movements that have long lived on the fringe. Although progressives may view some of these alternative right-wing ideologies as a superior alternative to the conservative movement they have known for seven decades, they may find others much more frightening, should they ever find a large base of popular support.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Not everyone agrees with these descriptions of Buckley. Other writers on both the left and the right have suggested that contemporary conservatism is still pursuing Buckley’s goals and using his tactics. In American Spectator, a conservative magazine, Jeremy Lott argued that the Tea Party was using the same long-term strategy championed by Buckley, even when it meant sacrificing short-term partisan gains.106 Criticizing conservatism from the left, Rick Perlstein argued that it is a myth that Buckley, or anyone else, ever reined in the “crazier” impulses of the American right, and trends we see within the conservative movement today are merely a continuation of precedents set decades ago.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Writing in the New York Times, David Welch, a former research director for the Republican National Committee, argued that the rise of the Tea Party movement as a force in American politics was possible precisely because there is no longer a figure like Buckley to control the tone of the American right: In the 1960s, Buckley, largely through his position at the helm of National Review, displayed political courage and sanity by taking on the John Birch Society, an influential anti-Communist group whose members saw conspiracies everywhere they looked. Fast forward half a century. The modern-day Birchers are the Tea Party. By loudly espousing extreme rhetoric, yet holding untenable beliefs, they have run virtually unchallenged by the Republican leadership, aided by irresponsible radio talk-show hosts and right-wing pundits. While the Tea Party grew, respected moderate voices in the party were further pushed toward extinction. Republicans need a Buckley to bring us back.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“Furthermore, when conservatives attack the left, they now usually frame their arguments in the language of equality—for example, they often argue that affirmative action is at odds with the goal of a truly color-blind society or discuss their liberal opponents as elitists who are out of touch with ordinary Americans. Although one might question the sincerity of their egalitarianism, it is undeniable that many conservatives have lately eschewed elitist rhetoric. With the possible exception of the gay marriage issue, today’s conservatives rarely defend tradition for its own sake. Rather, when defending traditional institutions and values, conservatives typically rely on utilitarian arguments rather than a defense of tradition per se. We furthermore rarely hear anything akin to Richard Weaver’s radical assault on modernity from leading conservative publications or institutions.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism

“As with equality, the neoconservatives, and now conservatives more generally, frame themselves as enthusiastic promoters of democracy; they frequently promote democracy as a panacea for many of the world’s ills. Such a position could not be more at odds with the views of the pre–World War II right in America, which was often ostentatiously elitist and skeptical of the masses.”
― George Hawley, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism