For all of my life it seems there has always been a “new right” in view. “New right” has been used since the 1950s at least, and the “new right” of the 1970s looks distinctly old today. The new “new right” today is, as frequently mentioned here, “national conservatism.” Hence worth taking in the summary overview of my old boss Christopher DeMuth, writing in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend:
Today we are in a new era of conservative discontent. The national conservatives are at the ramparts against the new status quo of woke progressivism in government, the military, business, education, culture and media. Many of them are also dismissive of the conservatism of Buckley & Co. and Ronald Reagan and their legacy of journals, think tanks and policy doctrines that became a settled Washington establishment by the 2000s and 2010s.
In their view, that establishment was complicit in progressivism’s political ascent. American conservatism became unduly attached to libertarian individualism, unfettered markets and free trade as ends in themselves—which helped set the stage for anything-goes cultural corruption, the decline of community, family and religion, and the rise of global corporations and institutions that decimated the American heartland.
Read the whole thing if you have a WSJ subscription.
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