Radical Right Reality Check

With conservatism in disarray, those on the fringe seem to be laying claim to the wreckage    

There was a time, not too long ago, in American politics in which people like former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin were considered "conservative." 

All three men were (and in Martin and Bush's case, "are") the embodiment of rock-ribbed, dyed-in-the-wool, post World War II, establishment Republicanism. They believed in and were devoted to promoting American capitalism in all its forms, but saw it as a tool for promoting the American experiment more than as an end in itself. They were generally skeptical of government but believed in public service. They were for gradual social change. All three can rightfully be characterized as generally optimistic "builders" and "creators" rather than as mere angry critics.

As just about everyone who has paid attention these last few decades is aware, however, "conservatism" has changed. A descriptive term that once was synonymous with the "establishment" is now confined to an increasingly extreme and shrill group of disaffected people who are defined almost exclusively by what they're against rather than what they are for.

These folks may pay lip service to being "pro-freedom," but it's almost impossible to envision the world that they want to construct.

The New Right

Think for a moment about the voices of the new, American right: Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, the Heritage Foundation, and here in North Carolina, the Locke Foundation the Pope Civitas Institute and Americans for Prosperity: These individuals and groups are not about the same establishment traditions that Ford, Bush and Martin represented. Theirs is not the politics of building a better world or of public service; theirs is the politics of attack and anger and self-interest that is, if anything, about holding on to some mythical vision of the past.

In comparison to many leaders of the New Right, even people who once seemed to be arch-conservative firebrands - people like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan - now seem rather tame. If this strikes you as an exaggeration, then consider some of these recent examples of "thought" and advocacy from prominent national and North Carolina "conservatives":

• Former House Speaker and 2012 supposedly serious presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich calls Judge Sonia Sotomayor a "racist." He later backtracks and allows that maybe he had made a poor choice of words, and that, instead, Sotomayor's work represents "a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system-that everyone is equal before the law."
• Talk show big mouth and de facto Republican leader Rush Limbaugh claims that pop icon Michael Jackson "flourished under Reagan, languished under Clinton and Bush and died under Obama." This comes just days after Limbaugh argues that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's extra-marital affair could be traced to President Obama's plot to "kill spirit" in America.
• Former vice-presidential nominee and soon-to-be former Alaska governor Sarah Palin appears with Limbaugh wannabe Sean Hannity and agrees with the host that Obama is leading the United State toward "socialism."

Not surprisingly, "conservative" rhetoric can get even a little more extreme at the state and local levels, where the politicians and activists are usually a little less polished.

Consider, for instance, Republican Party leaders and "tea baggers" in Duval County, Florida who recently held a rally at which they prominently displayed posters that featured President Obama's face superimposed over the images of brown shirted Nazi thugs.

Here in North Carolina, similarly absurd and unvarnished, name-calling rants and extreme behavior have also become a regular action for supposedly responsible conservatives. This morning, for instance, a staffer at the Locke Foundation - a group that likes to portray itself as a serious think tank and source of quality "opinion journalism" and analysis - authored a post on the group's blog entitled "The best label for Obamaism: National socialism," in which he said:  "We should remember that the left in America simply adored the supposedly rational central planning, anti-capitalist approaches of Hitler and Mussolini until WWII broke out."

The Locke Foundation, of course, is the same group that employs a person in Charlotte who has been called out frequently by Chris Fitzsimon for offensive and irresponsible statements, such as the time he attacked a Charlotte Observer editorial on immigration policy as "McClatchy whoring itself out for Latino money." And, of course, who could forget the one in which he responded to the departure of the state's probation system director with: "Go to hell Robert Guy. You know you deserve it, and so does your wife. Die you worthless bastard."

Yesterday, Raleigh was treated to the spectacle of the modern conservative movement in action when some self-styled "patriots" followed the directive of another of their national leaders (TV crazy man, Glenn Beck) and attempted to "surround" a pro-health care reform demonstration in front of the local federal building. You can go here to a rather scary website entitled "NC Freedom" to read the group's mostly deranged take on the day.

The heart of the matter

What's precipitated this rise in extreme conservatism is hard to pinpoint. Deciphering the underlying psychological causes of widespread delusional behavior is never easy. It seems a safe bet, though, that somewhere below the surface of all of these angry "patriots" lies a healthy wellspring of fear - fear of "the other," fear of change, fear of modernity.

Like their forebears in the old south and countless previous societies, the New Right is, at its heart, a movement of confused, fearful, and often manipulated human beings who are scared - scared that people whom they don't know will somehow take something from them in pursuit of a cause they don't understand.

A subtle but powerful reminder of this fact was provided (no doubt unwittingly) in a recent poll question posed by the Pope-Civitas group.

As part of its May opinion survey, the group asked some questions on global warming. The first was "Do you think global warming is caused by more long-term changes in the Earth's atmosphere, by human activity or do you think global warming does not exist?"  To the group's dismay, no doubt, only 15% said the phenomenon didn't exist and fully 50% said humans were responsible.  

The kicker, though, came in question #2 when Civitas asked: "Do you think global warming will pose a serious threat to you or your way of life in your lifetime?"    

Who would possibly ask such a question and invite such an answer (55% said they thought it wouldn't affect them) except a group that wanted to promote the idea that collective, long-term action for the common good of the planet and the species is a diabolical plot to take people's property? This fact was clearly confirmed by the follow-up: "Would you be willing pay higher gas prices and utility bills in the name of fighting global warming?"

As even a moment's reflection ought to tell any thinking person, the possibility that a global warming catastrophe might not occur for at least a few more decades is an enormous blessing and opportunity for humankind — a chance to act before it's too late. But not for Civitas and other fear mongers in the New Right. For them it's a chance to rant about taxes and the possibility that collective short-term sacrifice might be necessary - even if the "payoff" only benefits our kids and grandkids. Heaven forbid!

Going forward

The hope amongst progressives is that the current crop of New Right leaders will ultimately flame out - hauled down by the weight of their own wacky ideas and deprived of an audience as the fear they attempt to promote is slowly dissipated by the implementation of effective, common sense policy changes. Given the alternative - i.e. that this represents some kind of lasting and viable movement - all of us should do our part to expedite the process.      

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Radical Right Reality Check. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.