The left has mischaracterized conservatism for nearly a century, and the left’s hold on the media has entrenched this distortion. But conservatism now possesses a prime opportunity to break free of this mischaracterization. In contrast to the left’s creed of division and anger, conservatism can become the voice of joy and gratitude.
Populism has acquired a sharply negative image. Perhaps that is because populism is being increasingly associated with conservative movements and politicians. During the New Deal and Great Society eras, when the label applied to liberal movements and politicians, populism possessed a distinctly positive image.
The media, as does the political left, now links populism with racism, aversion to diversity, oppression of minorities, and an irrational reaction against modernity. Without question, populist movements exhibit a strong anger against the status quo. But then, no political ideology or movement is without anger against what it is opposing. The civil rights movement contained an anger, as did the feminist movement, as did the labor movement, as did the environmental movement.
Today’s populism reflects more than just anger, which, granted, is not always a positive impulse. At the root of the contemporary populist impulse is a simple urge for freedom, independence, and opportunity. At the root of modern populism is a protest against an elite-driven legal and political system antagonistic to the interests of the common person. At no time in American history – not even during the Red Scare of the 1950s – has there existed such enforced conformity of thought within our educational and media systems. At no time in history has there been such a national political indifference to the plight of working families. Never in history has there been such a hostility to the religious and patriotic institutions that enliven and elevate the lives of average Americans. Never before has there been such a blatant hypocrisy toward the rule of law, toward the rules that average people must adhere to and those to which elite-favored groups must adhere. The majority of today’s populists do not want to overthrow anything; they simply want independence from the dictates and disdain of the national elites.
The recent injection of populism into the conservative dialogue and agenda carries some unwanted baggage, to the degree that populist message focuses on anger and intolerance. However, the injection also offers great potential. Ever since the New Deal, conservatives have been inaccurately portrayed as concerned only with the interests of the rich and powerful. The term “country club Republican” has so often been used to describe, in just three words, the whole outlook of conservatism. This image has throttled conservatives for the past century.
In my book Conservatism Redefined: A Creed for the Poor and Disadvantaged, written shortly after the election of 2008, I argued that conservatism offered the best path forward for America’s poor and working families. Indeed, during times of great liberal activism, as during the early years of the Obama presidency, income inequality escalated. And the more the federal government suppresses traditional social institutions like the family and religion, the more that the most vulnerable suffer. For those individuals and families who wish to prosper and progress, as recent immigrants are discovering, conservative policies and principles give them the most promising opportunities. This approach has always characterized conservatism; but perhaps the recent injection of populist energy will help conservatives better articulate their representation of struggling Americans and thereby cast off the century-old media and liberal portrayal of them as concerned only with the wealthy and privileged.
The challenge to conservatives is to take the energy of populism and fashion it into a sustaining and inspired governing agenda. Simply put, conservatives should reassert their belief in what fundamentally underlies populism – a fierce desire for, and belief in, the American dream. This dream existed in the past, and can exist in the future. The message of populism is a demand that the dream not be extinguished through the self-serving social transformations of a cultural and governing elite. The message reflects a desire for freedom and independence from the behavioral and ideological mandates of elites who have turned their back on the American dream because, despite their own prosperity, they have ceased believing in it.
In the America of the elites, division and anger run rampant. And it’s not just a consequence; this division is a deliberate strategy. By eroding that which builds and unites society, that which engenders communal trust, elites pave the way for a social transformation in which centralized government, run by an elite class, becomes the dominant force. Elites don’t want a healthy and reinvigorated America; they want a brand new America in which they can better dictate the social mores and cultural dialogue.
To elites, community is a bad word, full of the connotations of oppression. But this is just where conservatives can step in and lead. Let conservatism be the ideology that says “thank you” for what America is and has been. Let conservatism be the voice that reminds people of the goodness that community brings out. Let conservatism be the populist movement that reassures the average person that someone is listening, that someone believes as they do.
The left has mischaracterized conservatism for nearly a century, and the left’s hold on the media has entrenched this mischaracterization. But conservatism now possesses a prime opportunity to break free of that mischaracterization. In contrast to the left’s creed of division and anger, conservatism can become the voice of joy and gratitude. It can remind people that America is what they and their families and neighborhoods say that it is, not what an elite class says that it is. Conservatism can stand for the freedom that the liberal elite hope to eviscerate – the freedom of families to educate their children as they see fit; the freedom to pursue jobs and careers in a vibrant and innovative private sector; the freedom to live without a government-induced inflation; the freedom to think and speak as one sees fit. Given the events of recent years, the threats to these freedoms are not theoretical possibilities; they are distinct realities.
America has faced many challenges throughout its history. It will survive the current challenges, but only if there is a strong belief in America. Only if there is a joy in and love for America. Only if people want to conserve and strengthen all that is and has been good about America. And that is what conservatism is all about.
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The featured image is “Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!” – Dorothea Lange’s photo of a Missouri family of five in the vicinity of Tracy, California, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.