Bennett and his allies, Frum says, blame the moral relativism encouraged by popular culture--which is controlled by liberal elites--for the pathologies of the underclass. "In a curious way," he writes, "moralist conservatives agree with their liberal opposite numbers that the poor are victims."
Consequently, the moralists have begun "to dismiss the elimination of wel-fare and to ponder instead greater inter-ventions into the lives of the poorest of the poor." All for the poor's benefit, of course. Isn't it weird, asks Frum, "that conservatives, who have worked so hard to destroy the public's faith in the wisdom and goodness of government, could now talk about government exhorting people to virtue?"
Among conservatives, optimism appeals to would-be policy makers, moralism to intellectuals. But most conservatives are neither. Enter Pat Buchanan and the nationalists who cater to "America's nationalist hard core, people who felt aggrieved and abused not so much by foreigners as by alien elements within their own country." Unlike the moralists, who are obsessed with the relativism practiced and preached by left-wing elites, nationalists believe that America's enemies live in the ghettoes and barrios. By 1992, nationalists believed America had become, Frum says, "two nations--European America and Third World America. One was Buchanan's America; the other was a constant menace to it." Frum has already skewered Buchanan in Commentary; Dead Right gives Frum the opportunity to go after the idea men behind Buchanan, led by Thomas Fleming, Samuel Francis, and the other writers at the paleoconservative monthly Chronicles.
It appears that nationalists want to turn back the clock to the '50s--whether they prefer the 1950s to the 1850s is unclear--those days when America was 85 percent white and people with dark skins or non-European backgrounds couldn't encroach upon "mainstream" American society. Writing about then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Ludwig von Mises Institute President Llewellyn Rockwell suggests he prefers the Jim Crow South to contemporary America: "Thomas calls the segregation of the Old South, where he grew up, `totalitarian.' But that's liberal nonsense. Whatever its faults, and it certainly had them, that system was far more localized, decent, and humane than the really totalitarian social engineering now wrecking the country."
Whatever notoriety the nationalists have mustered has resulted from their opposition to immigration. Immigrants, the nationalists allege, are destroying American culture. Washington Times columnist Sam Francis, says Frum, "believed that the authentic America was in danger from almost any infusion of new ethnic types, white or nonwhite: `As for immigrants from less backward countries [Francis wrote], we should balance considerations of whatever gains they might bring to our economy with at least equal consideration of their long-term impact on our cultural identity (including our economic and scientific culture).'"
Nationalism, argues Frum, "simply imports left-wing identity politics into a new context. If the rights of blacks, gays, and Hispanics were to be asserted, why not those of middle-aged Irish Catholics or white Southerners?" He concludes that nationalists "are truly multiculturalism's children."
Despite the nationalists' antipathy for federal regulations and D.C. bureaucrats, nationalism, too, is not a philosophy of limited government. During his 1992 presidential campaign, says Frum, Buchanan pushed only three budget cuts: He would cut the 1990 congressional pay raise in half, eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, and end foreign aid. Savings to taxpayers: $13 billion, or less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
What's a conservative to do? Frum advocates slashing subsidies and abolishing agencies. Unfortunately, as he tries to make the case for a Coolidge-sized federal government, Frum can't help taking a gratuitous shot at libertarians, his natural allies.
Associating himself with English political theorist Edmund Burke, he writes, "It is not to maximize liberty as an end in itself that conservatives have advocated minimal government. They have advocated it because they admired a certain type of character--self-reliant, competent, canny, and uncomplaining--and minimal government was the system of government under which the character they admired flourished best."
Many libertarians are equally concerned with maintaining the character of a free people, of course. In part, Frum's problem seems to be discomfort with the somewhat anarchic American tradition of natural liberty--the notion that, as P.J. O'Rourke has put it, "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." Frum the self-styled Burkean omits O'Rourke's second sentence. And Frum the Canadian may simply be suffering mild culture shock. His native country's motto is, after all, "peace, order, and good government," a far cry from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Frum worries about the use of state power to undermine "community" values. In a chapter that (correctly, for the most part) discounts the power of the religious right, Frum argues that "`don't tread on me' libertarianism" is "intellectually contradictory and therefore difficult to translate into public policy." He then holds up Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as an example of a "libertarian" politician who has foundered because of the "contradictions" within his philosophy.
Weld harbors contradictions, all right, but they result from his inconsistent application of libertarianism. Weld initially described himself as a "filthy supply-sider," and cut both taxes and spending in his first budget. But he also promotes environmental regulations that impose huge costs on consumers and property owners. And Weld's "civil libertarian" side is, in fact, thoroughly statist.
He backs anti-discrimination laws permitting broad state intrusions into the private affairs of citizens. He also opposes any government restrictions on abortions, even those in the third trimester. Frum cites Weld's left-leaning social policies to assert that any libertarian politician who wants to restrain "majoritarian morality" must become a statist.
Sorry. Civil-rights laws are reflections of "majoritarian morality," at least as far as they are passed by legislatures rather than enacted by judicial fiat. A libertarian vision of civil-rights laws might prohibit discrimination at government facilities but would stay away from actions that take place among consenting parties on private property. Similarly, libertarians have differing views on the morality of abortion but universally oppose using tax dollars to subsidize abortions. Both policy prescriptions limit government and keep "majoritarian morality" at bay.
You get the impression that, like the moralists, Frum believes that government must affirmatively encourage or prohibit every type of social interaction. Frum's view seems to be that "there ought to be a law" defining everything from friendships to commerce to living quarters to conjugal relations. His nascent communitarian vision is hardly consistent with his campaign for limited government.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
nfl jerseys|11.17.10 @ 3:15AM|#
mxfyrhx
منتدى العرب|3.9.11 @ 9:05PM|#
Thank you