Is Nationalism Really the Future of Conservatism?
29th November 2018
Nationalism is a hot topic right now on the American right. All of the pointy-headed conservatives are penning thoughtful essays on the subject, reflecting on why and how we should love our country. At first glance, this might seem like a strange controversy, since patriotic fervor has always been fairly fashionable among conservatives. It’s a burning issue now, though, because some hope to replace the semi-defunct body of thought that we used to call “conservatism” with an energetic and robust nationalism.
(a) There is no such thing as ‘conservatism’ as the author of this piece uses the term. There is no political platform that everyone who considers himself (or herself) ‘conservative’ agrees on and universally supports, ‘semi-defunct’ or not. So the ‘conservatism’ being discussed is a figment of the author’s imagination.
(b) There has never been anyone arguably described as ‘conservative’ who was not a ‘nationalist’ in some sense. But what sense ‘nationalism’ is a component of ‘conservatism’ is not discussed; the author just talks about ‘nationalism’ as if it were one unitary concept that everybody knows and agrees on.
(c) Nationalism in some form has always been a part of the past of ‘conservatism’, so it’s not difficult to imagine that it will serve some role in its future. But to label it ‘the future of conservatism’ suggests a simple-mindedness concerning which the author ought to feel some embarrassment, and maybe do a reality check with one of the ‘pointy-headed conservatives’ she disparages.