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Conservatism and Neoconservatism: Coalition Partners for the Future?
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11663 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1986 |
2,634 Words |
| Author
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Robert A. Schadler
Robert A. Schadler is a former publications director for the
Intercollegiate Studies Institute and editor of The
Intercollegiate review. He is currently a government employee;
the views expressed in this article are his personal views. |
The generally informed public is convinced, and often alarmed, that there has been a swift, cohesive, and sweeping movement of American public policy and society at large in a conservative direction. Gone - perhaps forever - are the days when scholars and pundits suggested that "the only thing America has to conserve is a liberal tradition," and that a conservative could never win the presidency - or, if he did, he would immediately move to the middle if he hoped to govern. Instead, liberals everywhere seem resigned to the role of carping and trying simply to slow down the rate of change rightward, trying to preserve something of the status quo ante Reagan.
At the same time, conservatives, as if living in a different world, appear frustrated at every turn - Reagan isn't Reagan, the cabinet (with only a few exceptions) isn't pushing a Reagan agenda, and conservatives overall feel ineffectual, fictionalized, and beleaguered. Their golden age may end before it truly begins. Not for a minute can they stop to enjoy, much less believe, the fashionable pundits who daily proclaim, with squeals of anguish and fright, the triumph of conservatism in every nook and cranny of public life.
Who is right? With such diametrically opposed views, one assumes that either the one or the other is right, or that the truth is "somewhere in the middle." In this case, both happen to be wrong. The liberal view, remaining true to liberalism, has missed the important distinction between the state and society and sees the prospects of a political coalition led by conservatives having the potential to dominate the political arena for several decades. The national government, primarily through regulatory agencies and judicial fiat, will cease to impose a liberal agenda on the nation. Social problems thought solvable by increased funding are virtually forgotten in a bipartisan effort to reduce the federal deficit. Over all of this gloom is now the specter of a Rehnquist Court, interpreting the Constitution according to what the framers intended. But all this does not add up to a "conservative America."
The conservatives are also in an important sense wrong. In their case, they have insufficiently adhered to the lessons conservatism so carefully elaborated during the many decades of their exile from political power. A political coalition led by conservatives can achieve many important objectives. The overall agenda of conservatism, however, cannot be contained by a political coalition or even by a simply political agenda. By failing to see this clearly, conservatives have been frustrated by the fact that their successful coalition hasn't achieved more
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