American conservatism is on the fence and darkness surrounds the whole movement. The Iraq war has demoralized the nation and the Left is on the rise. 2008 was our summer of our discontent and stock market and financial meltdown all but ensure that the neo socialist left would win the election. Yet, for the past thirty years since the Reagan Presidency, America has reached new heights never seen in its history. Even with American troops appeared stalemated in Iraq, America is the lone superpower in the world and her ideals are what being debated through the world. We are living in the era of Reagan and Reagan influence has moved beyond the GOP, it has moved throughout the world.
During the primary season, every Republicans claims Reagan as their heir and Reagan was the embodiment of what modern American conservative evolved into. From the time he entered the national political scene with his speech, “a time to decide” during the tail end of the 1964 presidential campaign, Reagan put forth a coherent conservative philosophy before a nation and Party. From this point, he laid the background for his own Presidential runs, culminating in his 1980’s victory. Sarah Palin final remarks in her debate with Joe Biden were Reaganesque in stature. For Reagan, his conservative philosophy was more than written philosophy but emotive experience. In 1964, Barry Goldwater was called Mr. Conservative but in the end it was Reagan who became Mr. Conservative.
About conservatives, Authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge wrote, “Traditional conservatism was based on six principles: a suspicion of the power of the state; a preference for liberty over equality; unashamed patriotism; a belief in established institutions and hierarchies; a pessimistic, backward-looking pragmatism; and elitism. This was the creed that Burke shaped into a philosophy in the 18th century--and that most famous conservatives, from Prince Metternich to Winston Churchill, understood in their bones.” American conservatives led by Reagan believed in the first three but they often broke with classical conservatives on the final three.
American conservatives reject hierarchies in favor of meritocracy. American conservatives often celebrate businessmen and make them heroes and Reagan depended upon a kitchen cabinet that consisted upon businessmen and entrepreneurs. As Micklethwait and Woodridge noted, “The heroes of Burke's conservatism were paternalist squires, who knew their place in society and made sure everybody else did as well.” Snobbery is now a purview of the left as oppose to the right, who worship of the working man who makes success out of nothing. The Kennedys represent a royalty of the left. Wealthy and living off inherited wealth, the Kennedys never truly established new businesses but went into politics. The sons of Joseph Kennedy consider politics their birthright and often spend most of their political career attacking businesses and the business class. If anything, each generation of Kennedy’s have become more radical and Ted Kennedy himself led this movement to the hard left from a more softer liberalism practiced by his two older brothers.
The great Presidents of the 20th century represent these modern day quandaries. Franklin Roosevelt was born of wealth and established the welfare state. Throughout much of his first eight years, he declared war on American business and often considered a traitor to his class. Reagan, born of middle class alcoholic father, made his way in life. There was no silver spoon born in Reagan mouth like there was in FDR. Much of the academic world today from their ivy towers form the background of the leftist philosophy, while much of business class support the academic world through donations. Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, much of the left political activity has been financed by wealthy leftist activists such as George Soros. Without the funding of Soros and others; Barack Obama would not be possible and the massive opposition to the war would have been hampered, if not impossible.
In the 1970’s, new entrepreneurs changed the world and while the world suffered through oil shock and stagflation, these entrepreneurs set the stage for the Reagan recovery that still existed through the 80’s. Apple and Microsoft were nothing but someone imagination as the 70’s began but today, Microsoft is today’s GM. The technology unleashed in the 80’s has become the basis of today’s economy.
The Reagan era celebrated the business man as the new hero. Merit triumphed over hierarchy and it was the left, who adopted the new hierarchy. The Kennedys replaced the Roosevelt as new royalty. The American conservative rejected the new hierarchy and replaced with the new hierarchy. The irony is that FDR and his successor claim that their policy was designed to save the common man but Reagan showed that the common man can, indeed, succeed on his own.
William Sumner wrote, “As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong from which X is suffering. A talks it over with B and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X… What I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of.. He works, he votes, generally he prays- but he always pay.”
FDR saw victims, Reagan saw opportunity. FDR formed the welfare state, Reagan the opportunity state. FDR always looked after X but it was Reagan, who looked at the Forgotten Man, only because he started out as that Forgotten Man.
Churchill "preferred the past to the present and the present to the future”, whereas Reagan followed Tom Paine’s adage that, “we have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Over a debate in which Walter Mondale questioned the space program, Reagan merely responded, "The American people would rather reach for the stars than reach for excuses why we shouldn't."
William F. Buckley once quipped that he would rather be ruled by 200 people out of the phone book as oppose to the faculty of Harvard. Reagan proved to be more of a populist than his critics as Reagan moved beyond the country clubs and boardrooms and spread conservatism to the common man. The conservative activist or the talk show host did much to spread the conservative movement. Elitism is scorned among American conservatives. This is not to say that elites are not admired for what they do, they are not worshipped. (This is not same that conservatives appreciate intellectual pursuit. It is that many of academic elites have been wrong more time than the common men they often scorned for their beliefs in God and guns.)
