Friday, April 29, 2022

The Neocons Lose One Last War

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan delivers a farewell address in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building on Capitol Hill December 19, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Paul Ryan knows that conservatives are at war-with one another.

Ryan hasn't been in the trenches quite so long, but from the time he got into politics some 30 years ago he knew who his enemies were: the populist, nationalist, paleoconservative right.

Ryan's account shows how the conservative movement became more technocratic and less historically minded.

Policy rather than philosophy is the basis for "a solid fusion" as Ryan understands it.

Over the last three decades, continued Ryan, "I think we've had pauses, we've won some White Houses, but we've never settled into a posture of a majoritarian center-right movement that is capable of racking up consistent majorities, presidencies, and putting in place a governing agenda for the 21st century."

First Ryan described how he had hoped the Tea Party would give rise to "Supply side 2.0," an agenda of "Pro-growth economics, limited government, get the debt and entitlements under control, and a robust foreign policy." That was the agenda he wanted to pursue in the House of Representatives, though "On the issues of trade and immigration there was a fight, but we sort of pushed that to the side, and then we really tapped the Tea Party movement. We got the majority back."

There is no possibility of America adopting anyone else's conservatism, and lest it be forgotten, some of Europe's worst right-wing regimes learned a few lessons about race laws from the good old U.S.A. But Ryan is right if he thinks American conservatives must take America more seriously.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-neocons-lose-one-last-war/ 

No comments: