The Conservative Temperament Is Dooming America. By Bruce Abramson.
Conservatism — Bill Buckley’s version of it, anyway — is dead. It’s just as well. It failed to conserve much of anything. …
There’s precious little in contemporary American life worth conserving. There’s a tremendous amount to cherish, however, in this country’s grand traditions. What America needs today is a counterrevolutionary restoration.
And that’s a problem. The GOP has spent decades promoting respectable, cautious, incrementalists like Mitch McConnell, John Roberts, and Kevin McCarthy — fine men blessed with none of the skills necessary to lead a counterrevolution.
Worse, conservatism has always held a particular attraction for people who view prudence, risk-aversion, reverence, and obedience as virtues. These traits are as overrepresented among rank-and-file Republicans as they are within party leadership. America’s “Great Awokening” has thrown them into a state of deep inner turmoil. After all, a corrupted American institution is still an American institution. Even when all available evidence screams that institutional leadership has betrayed America, noncompliance feels wrong. …
Current circumstances call for a very different personality type: bold, irreverent, eagerly noncompliant, and hypervigilant of the corruption that can render even legitimate authority unworthy of respect.
People possessing such traits have typically gravitated toward the political left, where their in-your-face attitude is valued, lauded, and rewarded. Until fairly recently, they’ve been in short supply on the right — and even then, relegated to a periphery reserved for the unseemly. …
If the right wants to fight, it’s going to have to jettison its collective conservative temperament and embrace personalities capable of leading a restorationist movement. …
The Tea Party broke open the old, cautious Republican Party in 2010. Energetic activists far more interested in radical restoration than in conservative incrementalism began to come forward. In 2015, Donald Trump — a man no one has ever accused of prudence — seized the mantle that had seemed destined for the tonally conservative Jeb Bush.
This brash, flamboyant, celebrity businessman from Queens brought a left-wing personality style to right-wing politics. “Make America Great Again!” screams of radical action, not incremental change. That novel combination earned Trump far more policy successes and far more vitriol than any recent predecessor. …
Many of today’s rising conservative stars promise to build a far bolder GOP. Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Rand Paul, and Jim Jordan may be less extreme personalities than Donald Trump, but they share his willingness to reject corrupt authority, challenge prevailing narratives, and promote strategic noncompliance.
If Trump can forge this younger generation into a sustainable restorationist movement, he will emerge as one of the most consequential figures in American history. If not, he will be remembered as a controversial speedbump on America’s glidepath into wokeness.
Ever noticed how many of the most effective people on the right were once on the left? Trump and Reagan for starters. Maybe not “most,” but it’s certainly “many.”
