Conservatism in the United States: Difference between revisions
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Except briefly in the 1860s-1870s, in the United States there has never been a national political party called the Conservative Party.<ref>The [[Conservative Party of New York State]] was founded in 1962 and currently has about 1% support there.</ref> <ref> The Conservative Party of Virginia (1867) also elected members to the U.S. House of Representatives from two other states (Maryland and North Carolina).</ref> All major American political parties support [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]] and the basic [[classical liberalism|classical liberal]] ideals on which the country was founded in 1776, emphasizing liberty, the rule of law, the [[consent of the governed]], and that all men were created equal.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harrison|first1=Brigid C.|title=Power and Society: An Introduction to the Social Sciences|date=January 1, 2016|publisher=Cengage Learning|pages=47–49|url=https://books.google.com/?id=uYx6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&q=Power%20and%20Society%3A%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Social%20Sciences%20classical%20liberalism%20the%20least%20government%20is%20the%20best%20government|accessdate=March 30, 2016|isbn=9781337025966}}</ref> Political divisions inside the United States often seemed minor or trivial to Europeans, where the divide between the Left and the Right led to violent polarization, starting with the [[French Revolution]].<ref>For example, Arthur Aughey, Greta Jones, W. T. M. Riches, ''The Conservative Political Tradition in Britain and the United States'' (1992), p. 1: "there are those who advance the thesis that American exceptionalism means...there can be no American conservatism precisely because the American Revolution created a universally ''liberal'' society."</ref> |
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Historian [[Patrick Allitt]] expresses the difference between liberal and conservative in terms not of policy but of attitude: |
Historian [[Patrick Allitt]] expresses the difference between liberal and conservative in terms not of policy but of attitude: |
Revision as of 16:33, 16 December 2018
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American conservatism is a broad system of political beliefs in the United States that is characterized by respect for American traditions, republicanism, support for Judeo-Christian values,[1] moral absolutism,[2] free markets and free trade,[3][4] anti-communism,[4][5] individualism,[4] advocacy of American exceptionalism,[6] and a defense of Western culture from the perceived threats posed by socialism, authoritarianism, and moral relativism.[7] American conservatives consider individual liberty—within the bounds of conformity to conservative American values—as the fundamental trait of democracy; this perspective contrasts with that of modern American liberals, who generally place a greater value on equality and social justice than on social order and tradition.[8][9]
American conservatism (like all major American political ideologies) originates from republicanism, which rejected aristocratic and monarchical government and upheld the principles of the United States Declaration of Independence ("All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness") and the United States Constitution (which established a federal republic under the rule of law). Conservative philosophy is also derived in part from the classical liberal tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries, which advocated for laissez-faire economics (also called economic freedom and deregulation).[10][11]
Historians such as Patrick Allitt and political theorists such as Russell Kirk argue that the conservative tradition has played a major role in American politics and culture since 1776. However, they stress that an organized conservative movement with beliefs that differ from those of other American political parties has played a key role in politics only since the 1950s.[12][13][14] Since the 1960s, the conservative movement has been based in the Republican Party; however, some Democrats were also important figures early in the movement's history, especially in the American South.[15][16]
Overview
The history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and competing ideologies. Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small government, laissez-faire economy, low income and corporate taxes, limited regulation, and free enterprise. Social conservatives see traditional social values as threatened by secularism; they tend to support mandatory school prayer and oppose abortion and same sex marriage.[17][18][19][20][21] The 21st century has seen an increase in conservative support for the unrestricted ownership of guns, citing the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Neoconservatives want to expand what they see as American ideals throughout the world.[22] Paleoconservatives advocate restrictions on immigration, non-interventionist foreign policy, and stand in opposition to multiculturalism.[23] Nationwide most factions, except some libertarians, support a unilateral foreign policy, and a strong military. The conservative movement of the 1950s attempted to bring together these divergent strands, stressing the need for unity to prevent the spread of "godless communism."[24]
William F. Buckley Jr., in the first issue of his magazine National Review in 1955, explained the standards of his magazine and helped make explicit the beliefs of American conservatives:[25]
Among our convictions: It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens' lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress. The growth of government (the dominant social feature of this century) must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations, on the libertarian side. The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side.
According to Peter Viereck, American conservatism is distinctive because it was not tied to a monarchy, landed aristocracy, established church, or military elite.[26] Instead American conservatives were firmly rooted in American republicanism, which European conservatives opposed. They are committed, says Seymour Martin Lipset, to the belief in America's "superiority against the cold reactionary monarchical and more rigidly status-bound system of European society."[27]
Ideology and political philosophy
Traditional (Burkean) conservatives tend to be anti-ideological, and some would even say anti-philosophical,[28] promoting rather, as Russell Kirk explained, a steady flow of "prescription and prejudice". Kirk's use of the word "prejudice" here is not intended to carry its contemporary pejorative connotation: a conservative himself, he believed that the inherited wisdom of the ages may be a better guide than apparently rational individual judgment.
There are two overlapping subgroups of social conservatives—the traditional and the religious. Traditional conservatives strongly support traditional codes of conduct, especially those they feel are threatened by social change and modernization. For example, traditional conservatives may oppose the use of female soldiers in combat. Religious conservatives focus on conducting society as prescribed by a religious authority or code. In the United States this translates into taking hard-line stances on moral issues, such as opposition to abortion and homosexuality. Religious conservatives often assert that "America is a Christian nation" and call for laws that enforce Christian morality.
Fiscal conservatives support limited government, low tax, low spending, and a balanced budget. They argue that low taxes produce more jobs and wealth for everyone, and also that, as President Grover Cleveland said, "unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation".[29] A recent movement against the inheritance tax labels such a tax as a death tax. Fiscal conservatives often argue that competition in the free market is more effective than the regulation of industry. Some make exceptions in the case of trusts or monopolies. Others, such as some libertarians and followers of Ludwig von Mises, believe all government intervention in the economy is wasteful, corrupt, and immoral. More moderate fiscal conservatives argue that "free market economics" is the most efficient way to promote economic growth.
Many modern American fiscal conservatives accept some social spending programs not specifically delineated in the Constitution. However, some American fiscal conservatives view wider social liberalism as an impetus for increased spending on these programs. As such, fiscal conservatism today exists somewhere between classical liberalism and contemporary consequentialist political philosophies, and is often influenced by coinciding levels of social conservatism.[30][31]
Through much of the 20th century, a primary force uniting the varied strands of conservatism, and uniting conservatives with liberals and socialists, was opposition to communism, which was seen not only as an enemy of the traditional order, but also the enemy of Western freedom and democracy. Thus it was the British Labour government—which embraced socialism—that pushed the Truman administration in 1945–47 to take a strong stand against Soviet Communism.[32]
Social conservatism and tradition
![photograph of a throng of people holding signs](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Fresno_-_Prop_8_Rally.jpg/220px-Fresno_-_Prop_8_Rally.jpg)
Social conservatism in the United States is the defense of traditional social norms and Judeo-Christian values.[33][34][35]
Social conservatives tend to strongly identify with American nationalism and patriotism. They often denounce anti-war protesters and support the police and the military. They hold that military institutions embody core values such as honor, duty, courage, loyalty, and a willingness on the part of the individual to make sacrifices for the good of the country.
Social conservatives are strongest in the South and in recent years played a major role in the political coalitions of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.[36]
Fiscal conservatism and economic liberalism
Fiscal conservatism is the economic and political policy that advocates restraint of progressive taxation and expenditure. Fiscal conservatives since the 19th century have argued that debt is a device to corrupt politics; they argue that big spending ruins the morals of the people, and that a national debt creates a dangerous class of speculators. A political strategy employed by conservatives to achieve a smaller government is known as starve the beast. Activist Grover Norquist is a well-known proponent of the strategy and has famously said, "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."[37][38] The argument in favor of balanced budgets is often coupled with a belief that government welfare programs should be narrowly tailored and that tax rates should be low, which implies relatively small government institutions.
This belief in small government combines with fiscal conservatism to produce a broader economic liberalism, which wishes to minimize government intervention in the economy or implement laissez-faire policies. This economic liberalism borrows from two schools of thought: the classical liberals' pragmatism and the libertarian's notion of "rights." The classical liberal maintains that free markets work best, while the libertarian contends that free markets are the only ethical markets.
Historian Kathleen G. Donohue argues that classical liberalism in the 19th century U.S. had distinctive characteristics as opposed to Britain:
- at the center of classical liberal theory [in Europe] was the idea of laissez-faire. To the vast majority of American classical liberals, however, laissez-faire did not mean no government intervention at all. On the contrary, they were more than willing to see government provide tariffs, railroad subsidies, and internal improvements, all of which benefited producers. What they condemned was intervention in behalf of consumers.[39]
The economic philosophy of conservatives in the United States tends to be more liberal allowing for more economic freedom. Economic liberalism can go well beyond fiscal conservatism's concern for fiscal prudence, to a belief or principle that it is not prudent for governments to intervene in markets. It is also, sometimes, extended to a broader "small government" philosophy. Economic liberalism is associated with free market, or laissez-faire economics.
Economic liberalism, insofar as it is ideological, owes its creation to the "classical liberal" tradition, in the vein of Adam Smith, Friedrich A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises.
Classical liberals and libertarians support free markets on moral, ideological grounds: principles of individual liberty morally dictate support for free markets. Supporters of the moral grounds for free markets include Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. The liberal tradition is suspicious of government authority, and prefers individual choice, and hence tends to see free market capitalism as the preferable means of achieving economic ends.
Modern conservatives, on the other hand, derive support for free markets from practical grounds. Free markets, they argue, are the most productive markets. Thus the modern conservative supports free markets not out of necessity, but out of expedience. The support is not moral or ideological, but driven on the Burkean notion of prescription: what works best is what is right.
Another reason why conservatives support a smaller role for the government in the economy is the belief in the importance of the civil society. As noted by Alexis de Tocqueville, there is a belief that a bigger role of the government in the economy will make people feel less responsible for the society. These responsibilities would then need to be taken over by the government, requiring higher taxes. In his book Democracy in America, Tocqueville described this as "soft oppression."
While classical liberals and modern conservatives reached free markets through different means historically, in recent years the lines have blurred. Rarely will a conservative politician claim that free markets are "simply more productive" or "simply the right thing to do" but a combination of both. This blurring is very much a product of the merging of the classical liberal and modern conservative positions under the "umbrella" of the conservative movement.
The archetypal free-market conservative administrations of the late 20th century—the Margaret Thatcher government in Britain and the Ronald Reagan administration in the U.S.—both held the unfettered operation of the market to be the cornerstone of contemporary modern conservatism.[40] To that end, Thatcher privatized industries and public housing and Reagan cut the maximum capital gains tax from 28% to 20%, though in his second term he agreed to raise it back up to 28%. Reagan also cut individual income tax rates, lowering the maximum rate from 70% to 28%. He wanted to increase defense spending and achieved that; liberal Democrats blocked his efforts to cut domestic spending.[41] Reagan did not control the rapid increase in federal government spending, or reduce the deficit, but his record looks better when expressed as a percent of the gross domestic product. Federal revenues as a percent of the GDP fell from 19.6% in 1981 when Reagan took office to 18.3% in 1989 when he left. Federal spending fell slightly from 22.2% of the GDP to 21.2%. This contrasts with statistics from 2004, when government spending was rising more rapidly than it had in decades.[42]
Types
In the United States today, the word "conservative" is often used very differently from the way it is used in Europe and Asia. Following the American Revolution, Americans rejected the core ideals of European conservatism; those ideals were based on the landed aristocracy, established churches, and powerful armies.
Conservatism in the United States is not a single school of thought.[43] Barry Goldwater in the 1960s spoke for a "free enterprise" conservatism. Jerry Falwell in the 1980s preached traditional moral and religious social values. It was Ronald Reagan's challenge to form these groups into an electable coalition.[44] In the 21st century United States, types of conservatism include:
- Christian conservatism: Christian conservatives are primarily interested in family values. Typical positions include the view that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, that abortion is wrong, that there should be prayer in state schools, that intelligent design or creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution, and that marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman and not between two members of the same sex. Many attack the profanity and sexuality in the media and movies.[45]
- Constitutional conservatism: A form of conservatism bound within the limits provided within the United States constitution, defending the structures of constitutionalism, and preserving the principles of the United States constitution.[46] Chief among those principles is the defense of liberty.[47] This form of conservatism coalesced in the Republican Party in the early 20th century, in opposition to Progressivism within the party; it can also be seen being influential to the 21st century Tea Party movement.[48] Constitutional conservatism has also been associated with judicial originalism.[49]
- Fiscal conservatism: A form of conservatism that focuses on low taxes and restrained government spending.
- Libertarian conservatism: A fusion with libertarianism, this type emphasizes a strict interpretation of the Constitution, particularly with regard to federal power. Libertarian conservatism is constituted by a broad, sometimes conflicted, coalition including pro-business social moderates, those favoring more rigid enforcement of states' rights, individual liberty activists, and many of those who place their socially liberal ideology ahead of their fiscal beliefs. This mode of thinking tends to espouse laissez-faire economics and a critical view of the federal government. Libertarian conservatives' emphasis on personal freedom often leads them to have social positions contrary to those of social conservatives, especially on such issues as marijuana, abortion and homosexuality. Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul have been influential proponents in the Republican presidential contests.[50]
- Movement conservatism: an inside term for conservatives and the New Right in the United States.
- Neoconservatism: A modern form of conservatism that supports a more assertive, interventionist foreign policy, aimed at promoting democracy abroad. It is tolerant of an activist government at home, but is focused mostly on international affairs. Neoconservatism was first described by a group of disaffected liberals, and thus Irving Kristol, usually credited as its intellectual progenitor, defined a neoconservative as "a liberal who was mugged by reality." Although originally regarded as an approach to domestic policy (the founding instrument of the movement, Kristol's The Public Interest periodical, did not even cover foreign affairs), through the influence of figures like Dick Cheney, Robert Kagan, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman and (Irving's son) Bill Kristol, it has become most famous for its association with the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration in the Middle East that used the military to promote democracy.[51]
- Paleoconservatism: In part a rebirth of the Old Right, arising in the 1980s in reaction to neoconservatism, stresses tradition, especially Christian tradition and the importance to society of the traditional family. Some, Samuel P. Huntington for example, argue that multiracial, multi-ethnic, and egalitarian states are inherently unstable.[52] Paleoconservatives are generally isolationist, and suspicious of foreign influence. The magazines Chronicles and The American Conservative are generally considered to be paleoconservative in nature.[53]
- Social conservatism: A form of conservatism that focuses on the preservation of traditional moral values.
- Traditionalist conservatism: Opposition to rapid change in political and social institutions. This kind of conservatism is anti-ideological insofar as it emphasizes means (slow change) over ends (any particular form of government). To the traditionalist, whether one arrives at a right- or left-wing government is less important than whether change is effected through rule of law rather than through revolution and utopian schemes.[54]
History
Except briefly in the 1860s-1870s, in the United States there has never been a national political party called the Conservative Party.[55] [56] All major American political parties support republicanism and the basic classical liberal ideals on which the country was founded in 1776, emphasizing liberty, the rule of law, the consent of the governed, and that all men were created equal.[57] Political divisions inside the United States often seemed minor or trivial to Europeans, where the divide between the Left and the Right led to violent polarization, starting with the French Revolution.[58]
Historian Patrick Allitt expresses the difference between liberal and conservative in terms not of policy but of attitude:
- Certain continuities can be traced through American history. The conservative 'attitude' ... was one of trusting to the past, to long-established patterns of thought and conduct, and of assuming that novelties were more likely to be dangerous than advantageous.[59]
No American party has advocated European ideals of "conservatism" such as a monarchy, an established church, or a hereditary aristocracy. American conservatism is best characterized as a reaction against utopian ideas of progress.[60] Russell Kirk saw the American Revolution itself as "a conservative reaction, in the English political tradition, against royal innovation".[61]
John Adams
Since the 1790s, conservatives have emphasized an identification with the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. Historians of conservative political thought "generally label John Adams as the intellectual father of American conservatism."[62] Russell Kirk points to John Adams as the key Founding Father for conservatives, noting that "some writers regard him as America's most important conservative public man."[63] Historian Clinton Rossiter writes:
Here was no lover of government by plutocracy, no dreamer of an America filled with factions and hard-packed cities. Here was a man who loved America as it was and had been, one whose life was a doughty testament to the trials and glories of ordered liberty. Here ... was the model of the American conservative.[64]
Historian A. Owen Aldridge places Adams, "At the head of the conservative ranks in the early years of the Republic and Jefferson as the leader of the contrary liberal current."[65] It was a fundamental doctrine for Adams that all men are subject to equal laws of morality. He held that in society all men have a right to equal laws and equal treatment from the government. However, he added, "no two men are perfectly equal in person, property, understanding, activity, and virtue."[66] Peter Viereck concluded:
- Hamilton, Adams, and their Federalist party sought to establish in the new world what they called a "natural aristocracy." [It was to be] based on property, education, family status, and sense of ethical responsibility....Their motive was liberty itself.[67]
Recent policies
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Russell_Kirk.jpg/220px-Russell_Kirk.jpg)
President Ronald Reagan set the conservative standard in the 1980s; in the 2010s, the Republican leaders typically claim fealty to it. For example, most of the Republican candidates in 2012 "claimed to be standard bearers of Reagan's ideological legacy."[68] Reagan solidified conservative Republican strength with tax cuts, a greatly increased military budget, continued deregulation, a policy of rollback of Communism (rather than just containing it), and appeals to family values and conservative morality. The 1980s and beyond became known as the "Reagan Era."[69] Typically, conservative politicians and spokesmen in the 21st century proclaim their devotion to Reagan's ideals and policies on most social, economic and foreign policy issues.
Other modern conservative beliefs include skepticism of the theory of man-made global warming and opposition to government action to combat it, which conservatives contend would do severe economic damage, and ultimately more harm than good even if one accepts the premise that human activity is contributing to climate change.[70][71] They support a strong policy of law and order to control crime, including long jail terms for repeat offenders. Most conservatives support the death penalty for particularly egregious crimes. The "law and order" issue was a major factor weakening liberalism in the 1960s.[72] From 2001-2008, Republican President George W. Bush stressed cutting taxes and minimizing regulation of industry and banking, while increasing regulation of education.[73] Conservatives generally advocate the use of American military power to fight terrorists and promote democracy in the Middle East.
According to a 2014 poll, 38% of American voters identify as "conservative" or "very conservative," 34% as "moderate," 24% as "liberal" or "very liberal".[74] These percentages were fairly constant from 1990-2009,[75] when conservatism spiked in popularity briefly[76] before reverting to the original trend while liberal views on social issues reached a new high. Although the study does show some distinction between the concentration of moderates and conservatives or liberals between the Republican and Democratic parties. Among Democrats, 44% are self-identified liberals, 19% as conservatives, and 36% as moderates. For Republicans 70% self-identified as conservative, 24% as moderate, and 5% as liberal.
Conservatism appears to be growing stronger at the state level. The trend is most pronounced among the "least well-off, least educated, most blue collar, most economically hard-hit states."[77][78]
Conservatives generally believe that government action is not the solution to problems such as poverty and inequality. Many believe that government programs that seek to provide services and opportunities for the poor actually encourage dependence and reduce self-reliance. Most conservatives oppose affirmative action policies, that is, policies in employment, education, and other areas that give special advantages to people who belong to groups that have been historically discriminated against. Conservatives believe that the government should not give special benefits to people on the basis of group identity and oppose it as "reverse discrimination".
Conservatives typically hold that the government should play a smaller role in regulating business and managing the economy. They typically oppose high tax rates and programs to redistribute income to assist the poor. Such efforts, they argue, do not properly reward people who have earned their money through hard work. However, conservatives usually place a strong emphasis on the role of private voluntary charitable organizations (especially faith-based charities) in helping the poor.
As conservatives value order and security, they favor a small but strong government role in law enforcement and national defense.
Social issues
On social issues, many religious conservatives oppose changes in traditional moral standards regarding sexuality and gender roles. They oppose abortion, same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws against homosexuals.[79] The libertarian faction tends to ignore these issues, instead focusing on fiscal and monetary policy. Business-oriented conservatives oppose the social conservatives if state laws limiting gay rights threaten to hurt business. The National Review reported in 2016 that, "as evangelical forces have become less unified...the influence of Right-leaning business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce has only grown."[80][81] In the culture war of recent decades, multiculturalism has been a flashpoint, especially regarding the humanities curriculum. Historian Peter N. Stearns finds a polarization since the 1960s between conservatives, who believe that the humanities express eternal truths that should be taught, and those who think that the humanities curriculum should be tailored to demonstrate diversity.[82] Generally conservatism opposes the "identity politics" associated with multiculturalism, and supports individualism.[83] In campus battles, progressives demand "Cultural diversity" while conservatives denounce efforts to impose "political correctness" and stifle free speech.[84]
Conservatives typically favor a "melting pot" model of assimilation into common English-speaking American culture, as opposed to a "salad bowl" approach that lends legitimacy to many different cultures.[85][86] In the 21st century, conservatives have warned on the dangers of tolerating radical Islamic elements, of the sort that they say are engaging in large-scale terrorism in Europe.[87]
Electoral politics
In the United States, the Republican Party has been the party of conservatism since the 1890s, although there was a strong Eastern liberal wing. Since 1964, the conservatives largely took control. Meanwhile, the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, based in the South and strongly opposed to Civil Rights, grew weaker. The most dramatic realignment took place within the White South, which moved from 3–1 Democratic to 3–1 Republican between 1960 and 2000.
In addition, some American libertarians, in the Libertarian Party and even some in the Republican Party, see themselves as conservative, even though they advocate significant economic and social changes—for instance, further dismantling the welfare system or liberalizing drug policy. They see these as conservative policies because they conform to the spirit of individual liberty that they consider to be a traditional American value. However, many libertarian think-tanks such as the Cato Institute, and libertarian intellectuals such as David Boaz describe libertarianism as being "socially liberal and fiscally conservative."[88][89]
On the other hand, some conservatives tend to oppose free-market trade policies and support protectionism instead. They want government intervention to support the economy and protect American jobs. They oppose free trade on the ground that it benefits other countries (especially China) at the expense of American workers. However, in spite of their support for protectionism, they tend to support other free-market principles like low taxes, small government and balanced budgets.
Geography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Conservative_Gallup_8-10.svg/220px-Conservative_Gallup_8-10.svg.png)
The South, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain states, and Alaska are generally conservative strongholds. The Northeast, Great Lakes Region, West Coast and Hawaii are the main liberal strongholds. Conservatives are strongest in rural America because the demographic population caters more towards the Republican Party: older, blue-collar, evangelical, and white.[91] Voters in the urban cores of large metropolitan areas tend to be more liberal and Democratic. Thus, within each state, there is a division between urban, suburban, exurban, and rural areas.[92] In recent decades, the electoral geography has helped give Republicans control of the House of Representatives, and Democrats a decided edge in the Electoral College which elects the president.[93]
Other topics
Russell Kirk's principles of conservatism
Russell Kirk developed six "canons" of conservatism, which Gerald J. Russello described as follows:
- A belief in a transcendent order, which Kirk described variously as based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law;
- An affection for the "variety and mystery" of human existence;
- A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize "natural" distinctions;
- A belief that property and freedom are closely linked;
- A faith in custom, convention, and prescription, and
- A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.[94]
Kirk said that Christianity and Western Civilization are "unimaginable apart from one another"[95] and that "all culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space after the religion which has nourished it has sunk into disbelief."[96]
In later works, Kirk expanded this list into his "Ten Principles of Conservatism"[97] which are as follows:
- First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.
- Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.
- Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.
- Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.
- Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.
- Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.
- Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.
- Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.
- Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.
- Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.
Courts
One stream of conservatism exemplified by William Howard Taft extols independent judges as experts in fairness and the final arbiters of the Constitution. In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt broke with most of his lawyer friends and called for popular votes that could overturn unwelcome decisions by state courts. Taft denounced his old friend and rallied conservatives to defeat him for the 1912 GOP nomination. Taft and the conservative Republicans controlled the Supreme Court until the late 1930s.[98][99]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a liberal Democrat, did not attack the Supreme Court directly in 1937, but ignited a firestorm of protest by a proposal to add seven new justices. Conservative Democrats immediately broke with FDR, defeated his proposal, and built up the Conservative Coalition. While the liberals did take over the Court through replacements, they lost control of Congress. That is, the Court no longer overthrew liberal laws passed by Congress, but there were very few such laws that passed in 1937–60.[100]
Conservatives' views of the courts are based on their beliefs: maintaining the present state of affairs, conventional and rule-oriented, and disapproval of government power.[101] A recent variant of conservatism condemns "judicial activism"; that is, judges using their decisions to control policy, along the lines of the Warren Court in the 1960s. It came under conservative attack for decisions regarding redistricting, desegregation, and the rights of those accused of crimes. This position goes back to Jefferson's vehement attacks on federal judges and to Abraham Lincoln's attacks on the Dred Scott decision of 1857.[102][103]
Originalism
A more recent variant that emerged in the 1980s is "originalism", the assertion that the United States Constitution should be interpreted to the maximum extent possible in the light of what it meant when it was adopted. Originalism should not be confused with a similar conservative ideology, strict constructionism, which deals with the interpretation of the Constitution as written, but not necessarily within the context of the time when it was adopted. In modern times, the term originalism has been used by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, former federal judge Robert Bork and some other conservative jurists to explain their beliefs.[104]
Opposition to environmentalism
In the past, conservatives have supported conservation efforts, from the protection of the Yosemite Valley, to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.[105] However, more recently, neoconservatives have opposed environmentalism; with environmentalists often ridiculed as "tree huggers". Republican Party leaders such as Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann advocate the abolition of the EPA, calling it "the job-killing organization of America." [106]
Conservative think tanks since the 1990s have opposed the concept of man-made global warming; they challenged scientific evidence, publicised what they perceived as beneficial aspects of global warming, and stated their strong beliefs that proposed remedies would do more harm than good.[107] The concept of anthropogenic global warming continues to be an ongoing debate among Conservatives in the United States,[108] but the majority reject the scientific consensus that climate change is caused by humans; 73% of Republicans believed humans were uninvolved in causing global warming, according to a 2015 poll by Pew Research.[109]
In recent times, American conservatives have generally supported deregulation of pollution and reduced restrictions on carbon emissions.[110] Similarly, they have advocated increased oil drilling with less regulatory interference, such as in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.[111] In the 2008 election, the phrase, "Drill baby drill" was used to express the Republican position on the subject.[112]
As for President Trump's administration, he had rolled-back over 76 rules that President Obama had put in place. Ranging from air pollution and emissions, drilling and extracting oil, infrastructure and planning, wildlife protections, toxic substances and safety, and water pollution. President Trump had also announced that the US would stop payments to the United Nations program "Green Climate Fund", and proposed limiting studies used by the E.P.A for rulemaking.[113]
Semantics, language and media
Socialism
The term "socialist" has been used as a "rhetorical weapon" against the Left by conservatives.[114][115] David Hinshaw writes that William Allen White, editor of a small-town newspaper in Kansas from 1895, used "socialistic" as "his big gun to blast radical opposition."[116] White set "Americanism" as the alternative, warning, "The election will sustain Americanism or it will plant Socialism." White became famous when Mark Hanna, campaign manager for Republican candidate William McKinley distributed upwards of a million or more copies of one White editorial to rally opposition to William Jennings Bryan, the nominee of both the Democratic and Populist parties.[117][118]
By the 1950s, the conservative press had discovered that the word 'socialism' "proved to be a successful derogatory epithet rather than a descriptive label for a meaningful political alternative."[119] At the 1952 Republican national convention, former President Herbert Hoover repeated his warnings about two decades of New Deal policies, denouncing, says Gary Best, "The usurpation of power by the federal government, the loss of freedom in America, the poisoning of the American economy with fascism, socialism, and Keynesianism, the enormous growth of the federal bureaucracy."[120] Barry Goldwater in 1960 called for Republican unity against John F. Kennedy and the "blueprint for socialism presented by the Democrats."[121] Goldwater in 1964 attacked central planners like fellow Republican Nelson Rockefeller, implying he was a socialist in a millionaire's garb: "The Democratic party believes in what I call socialism: and if that upsets anybody's stomach, let me remind you that central planning of our economy is socialism."[122] Ronald Reagan often quoted Norman Thomas, the perennial Socialist nominee for president in the New Deal era, as saying, "The American people would never knowingly vote for Socialism, but that under the name of liberalism, they would adopt every fragment of the socialist program."[123] In 2010, Newt Gingrich defined "socialism in the broad sense" as "a government-dominated, bureaucratically-controlled, politician-dictated way of life."[124] Gingrich believes Barack Obama is committed to this form of socialism.[124]
Modern media
Conservatives gained a major new communications medium with the resurgence of talk radio in the late 1980s. This enabled them to spread their message much more effectively to the general public, which had previously been confined to the major Big Three television networks.
Rush Limbaugh proved there was a huge nationwide audience for specific and heated discussions of current events from a conservative viewpoint. Other major hosts who describe themselves as conservative include: Michael Peroutka, Jim Quinn, Dennis Miller, Ben Ferguson, William Bennett, Andrew Wilkow, Lars Larson, Sean Hannity, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Mike Church, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Kim Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Michael Reagan, Jason Lewis, Ken Hamblin, and Herman Cain.[125] The Salem Radio Network syndicates a group of religiously oriented Republican activists, including Roman Catholic Hugh Hewitt, and Jewish conservatives Dennis Prager and Michael Medved. One popular Jewish conservative, Laura Schlessinger, offers parental and personal advice, but is outspoken on social and political issues. In 2011, the largest weekly audiences for talk radio were 15 million for Limbaugh and 14 million for Hannity, with about nine million each for Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin. The audiences overlap, depending on how many each listener dials into every week.[126]
Fox News features conservative hosts.[127] One such host is Sean Hannity, who also has a talk radio program.[128] One former host is Matt Drudge;[129] prior, and after his time on Fox News, Drudge has operated Drudge Report a news aggregation website and is a self-professed conservative.[130] It is more conservative than other news sources in the United States, such as National Public Radio and CNN.[131] Canadian-American political commentator David Frum has been a critic of this development, and has argued that the influence of conservative talk radio and Fox News has harmed American conservatism, turning it from "a political philosophy into a market segment" for extremism and conflict making "for bad politics but great TV."[132]
Academia
Admission to academe
Liberal and leftist viewpoints have dominated higher education faculties since the 1970s, according to many studies,[133][134][135] whereas conservatives are better represented in policy-oriented think tanks. Data from a survey conducted in 2004 indicated that 72% of full-time faculty identify as liberal,[136] while 9–18% self-identify as conservative. Conservative self-identification is higher in two-year colleges than other categories of higher education but has been declining overall.[137] Those in natural sciences, engineering, and business were less liberal than those in the social sciences and humanities. A 2005 study found that liberal views had increased compared to the older studies. 15% in the survey described themselves as center-right. While the humanities and the social sciences are still the most left leaning, 67% of those in other fields combined described themselves as center-left on the spectrum. In business and engineering, liberals outnumber conservatives by a 2:1 ratio. The study also found that more women, practicing Christians, and Republicans taught at lower ranked schools than would be expected from objectively measured professional accomplishments.[138][139] A study by psychologists Yoel Inbar and Joris Lammars, of the Netherlands' Tilburg University, published in September 2012 in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, found that, in social and personality psychology,[140] about a third of those surveyed say that they would to a small extent favor a liberal point of view over a conservative point of view.[141] A 2007 poll found that 58% of Americans thought that college professors' political bias was a "serious problem". This varied depending on the political views of those asked. 91% of "very conservative" adults agreed compared with only 3% of liberals.[142] That same year a documentary, Indoctrinate U, was released which focuses on the perceived bias within academia.[143][144][145]
On the other hand, liberal critic Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times that this phenomenon is more due to personal choice than some kind of discrimination or conspiracy, noting that, for example, vocations such as military officers are much more likely to be filled by conservatives, rather than liberals.[146] Additionally, two studies published in the journal of the American Political Science Association have suggested that the political orientations of college students' professors have little influence or "indoctrination" in terms of students' political belief.[147]
Relativism versus universal truths
Postmodernism is an approach common in the humanities on campus that greatly troubles conservative intellectuals.[148][149] The issue is relativism versus absolute truths. Ellen Grigsby says, "Postmodern perspectives contend that any ideology putting forward absolute statements as timeless truths should be viewed with profound skepticism."[150] Kellner says, "Postmodern discourse frequently argues that all discourses and values are socially constructed and laden with interests and biases. Against postmodern and liberal relativism, cultural conservatives have argued for values of universal truth and absolute standards of right and wrong."[151]
Neoconservative historian Gertrude Himmelfarb has energetically rejected postmodern academic approaches:
- [Postmodernism in history] is a denial of the objectivity of the historian, of the factuality or reality of the past, and thus of the possibility of arriving at any truths about the past. For all disciplines it induces a radical skepticism, relativism, and subjectivism that denies not this or that truth about any subject but the very idea of truth—that denies even the ideal of truth, truth is something to aspire to even if it can never be fully attained.[152]
Here is a representative summary of postmodern literary studies of the sort that antagonize conservatives, written by Jay Stevenson:
- [in] the postmodern period. Traditional literature has been found to have been written by "dead white males" to serve the ideological aims of a conservative and repressive Anglo hegemony....In an array of reactions against the race, gender, and class biases found to be woven into the tradition of Anglo lit, multicultural writers and political literary theorists have sought to expose, resist, and redress injustices and prejudices. These prejudices are often covert—disguised in literature and other discourses as positive ideals and objective truths—but they slant our sense of reality in favor of power and privilege.[153]
Conservative intellectuals have championed a "high conservative modernism" that insists that universal truths exist, and have opposed approaches that deny the existence of universal truths.[154] Many argued that natural law was the repository of timeless truths.[155] Allan Bloom, in his highly influential The Closing of the American Mind (1987) argues that moral degradation results from ignorance of the great classics that shaped Western culture. His book was widely cited by conservative intellectuals for its argument that the classics contained universal truths and timeless values which were being ignored by cultural relativists.[156][157]
Historiography
Historians in recent years have agreed that they need to rethink the role of conservatism in recent American history.[158] An important new approach rejects the older consensus that liberalism was the dominant ethos. Labor historians Jefferson Cowie and Nick Salvatore argue the New Deal was a short-term response to depression and did not mark a permanent commitment to a welfare state, claiming that America has always been too individualistic and too hostile to labor unions to ever embrace liberalism for any extended period of time. This new interpretation argues that conservatism has largely dominated American politics since the 1920s, with the brief exceptions of the New Deal era (1933–38) and the Great Society (1964–66).[159] Historian Julian Zelizer, however, argues that "The coherence of conservatism has been exaggerated. The movement was as fragile as the New Deal coalition that it replaced....Policy change has thus proved to be much more difficult than conservatives hoped for."[160] Zelizer does find four areas where conservatives did make major changes: retrenchment of domestic programs, lowering taxes, deregulation, and opposition to labor unions. He concludes, "The fact is that liberalism survived the rise of conservatism."[161]
American exceptionalism
American conservatives typically promote American exceptionalism, the idea that the United States is inherently different from other nations and has a duty to take the lead in spreading democracy and free markets to the world. Reagan especially articulated this role (and many liberals also agree with it).[162][163] They see American values emerging from the American Revolution, thereby becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"[164] and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy, laissez-faire capitalism and Judeo-Christian values.[33][165]
Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and other American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense.[166][167] To them, the U.S. is like the biblical "City upon a Hill"—a phrase evoked by Puritan settlers in Massachusetts as early as 1630—and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.[168]
Scholars have argued that British and European conservatism has little or no relevance to American traditions. According to political scientist Louis Hartz, because the United States skipped the feudal stage of history, the American community was united by liberal principles, and the conflict between the "Whig" and "Democratic" parties were conflicts within a liberal framework.[169] In this view, what is called "conservatism" in America is not European conservatism (with its royalty, landowning aristocracy, elite officer corps, and established churches) but rather 19th century classical liberalism with an emphasis on economic freedom and entrepreneurship.[170] This is in contrast to the view that Burkean conservatism has a set of universal principles which can be applied to all societies.[171] Russell Kirk in The Conservative Mind argued that the American Revolution was "a conservative reaction, in the English political tradition, against royal innovation".[61] Liberal historian Richard Hofstader criticized modern American conservatives as "pseudo-conservatives", because their negative reaction to the policies of Harry Truman showed "dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions" and because they had "little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism".[172]
Thinkers and leaders
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/John_C._Calhoun.jpeg/220px-John_C._Calhoun.jpeg)
Clinton Rossiter's Giants
Clinton Rossiter, a leading expert on American political history, published his history of Conservatism in America (1956) and also a summary article on "The Giants Of American Conservatism" in American Heritage.[173] His goal was to identify the "great men who did conservative deeds, thought conservative thoughts, practiced conservative virtues, and stood for conservative principles." To Rossiter, conservatism was defined by the rule of the upper class. He wrote, "The Right of these freewheeling decades was a genuine Right: it was led by the rich and well-placed; it was skeptical of popular government; it was opposed to all parties, unions, leagues, or other movements that sought to invade its positions of power and profit; it was politically, socially, and culturally anti-radical." His "giants of American conservatism" were: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Marshall, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Elihu Root, and Theodore Roosevelt. He added that Washington and Lincoln transcend the usual categories, but that conservatives "may argue with some conviction that Washington and Lincoln can also be added to his list."
Rossiter went to note the importance of other conservative leaders over the past two centuries. Among the fathers of the Constitution, which he calls "a triumph of conservative statesmanship", Rossiter said conservatives may "take special pride" in James Madison, James Wilson, Roger Sherman, John Dickinson, Gouverneur Morris and the Pinckneys of South Carolina. For the early 19th century, Rossiter said the libertarians and constitutionalists who deserve the conservative spotlight for their fight against Jacksonian democracy include Joseph Story and Josiah Quincy in Massachusetts; Chancellor James Kent in New York; James Madison, James Monroe, and John Randolph of Roanoke in Virginia.
In the decades around 1900, Rossiter finds that Grover Cleveland, Elihu Root, William Howard Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt "were most successful in shaping the old truths of conservatism to the new facts of industrialism and democracy." In what Rossiter called the “Great Train Robbery of Intellectual History,” the laissez-faire conservatives appropriated the themes of classical liberalism—especially liberty, opportunity, progress, and individualism, and packaged them into an ideology that supported the property rights of big corporations.[174]
Writing in 1955 Rossiter suggests that Robert A. Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, and Dwight D. Eisenhower may someday be added to the list.
See also
- Bibliography of conservatism in the United States
- Christian right
- Compassionate conservatism
- Conservative Party (United States)
- Constitution Party
- Fusionism
- Libertarian conservatism
- Media bias in the United States
- Neoconservatism and paleoconservatism
- Old Right (United States)
- Radical right (United States)
- Republican Party (United States)
- Social conservatism
- Timeline of modern American conservatism
- Other ideologies
References
- ^ Smith, Don (2003). If It Ain't Broke - Break It!: A Document for Both Liberals and Conservatives. United States. p. 59. ISBN 9780595275342.
Conservatives have not liked what they see as the 'mushy' and 'confused' morals and the political, sexual and social mores of the American Nation of the last 50 years. They want clarity. They want guidelines based on Judeo-Christian values. They trust God. Most Conservatives believe any sexual activity outside of the marriage contract is wrong. They believe that abortion is equivalent to murder, and they oppose assisted suicide.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Farmer, Brian (2005). American Conservatism: History, Theory and Practice. United States: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 978-1904303541.
To traditional conservatives, there most definitely are moral absolutes and they can most definitely and definitively identify those moral absolutes.
- ^ Baldwin, Robert (2000). Congressional Trade Votes: From NAFTA Approval to Fast-track Defeat. United States: Peterson Institute for International Economics. p. 30. ISBN 9780881322675.
Conservatism generally is associated with pro-business, anti-labor, and strong-national-defense stances, all of which lead to support for free trade principles.
- ^ a b c Lipsman, Ron (2007). Liberal Hearts and Conservative Brains: The Correlation Between Age and Political Philosophy. United States: United States. p. 232. ISBN 9780595463206.
The American conservative system of rugged individualism, free markets, economic competition and deep respect for tradition...
- ^ Critchlow, Donald (2009). Debating the American Conservative Movement: 1945 to the Present. United States: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 978-0742548244.
Conservatives had a fear of Communism shared by most Americans. During this time a popular anti-Communist culture emerged in America, evident in movies, television programs, community activities, and grassroots organizations. This popular anti-Communist culture generated patriotic rallies, parades, city resolutions, and an array of anti—Communist groups concerned about Communist influence in the schools, textbooks, churches, labor unions, industry, and universities.
- ^ Langdale, John (2012). Superfluous Southerners: Cultural Conservatism and the South, 1920-1990. United States: University of Missouri Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780826272850.
- ^ Pilbeam, Bruce (2003). Anglo-American Conservative Ideology After the Cold War. United States: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 100. ISBN 978-0333997659.
For most conservatives, if there is a common culprit in explaining society's descent into moral chaos, then it is relativism – the notion that there are no absolute values or standards, merely different interpretations and perspectives.
- ^ Gregory L. Schneider, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution "The label (conservatism) is in frequent use and has come to stand for a skepticism, at times an outright hostility, toward government social policies; a muscular foreign policy combined with a patriotic nationalism; a defense of traditional Christian religious values; and support for the free market economic system.", "Within the conservative disposition in America, there are inherent contradictions between supporters of social order and tradition and supporters of individual freedom." (2009) pp. 4–9, 136
- ^ Sherwood Thompson, Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice. p. 7: "Historically...social justice became associated with liberalism in which equality is the ideal.", Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, ISBN 978-1442216044.
- ^ Modern Political Philosophy (1999), Richard Hudelson, pp. 37–38
- ^ M. O. Dickerson et al., An Introduction to Government and Politics: A Conceptual Approach (2009) p. 129.
- ^ Patrick Allitt, The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History, "before the 1950s there was no such thing as a conservative movement in the United States.", p. 2, Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-300-16418-3
- ^ Kirk, Russell. The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot (1953) traced a continuous tradition since the 1790s.
- ^ Nicol C. Rae (1994). Southern Democrats. Oxford U.P. p. 66. ISBN 9780198024774.
- ^ Merle Black, "The transformation of the southern Democratic Party." Journal of Politics 66.4 (2004): 1001–1017.
- ^ Katznelson, Ira; Geiger, Kim; Kryder, Daniel (Summer 1993). "Limiting Liberalism: The Southern Veto in Congress, 1933–1950" (PDF). Political Science Quarterly. 108 (2): 283. doi:10.2307/2152013. JSTOR 2152013.
- ^ Safire, William (January 25, 2004). "The Way We Live Now: On Language; Guns, God And Gays". The New York Times.
- ^ Ahoura Afshar, "The Anti-gay Rights Movement in the United States: The Framing of Religion," Essex Human Rights Review (2006) 3#1 pp. 64–79
- ^ Glenn Utter and Robert J. Spitzer, Encyclopedia of Gun Control & Gun Rights (2nd ed. 2011)
- ^ Cal Jillson (2011). Texas Politics: Governing the Lone Star State. Taylor & Francis. p. 87. ISBN 9780203829417.
Social conservatives focus on moral or values issues, such as abortion, marriage, school prayer, and judicial appointments.
- ^ John Anderson; University of North Carolina John Anderson (September 19, 2014). Conservative Christian Politics in Russia and the United States: Dreaming of Christian Nations. Routledge. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-317-60663-5.
Amy Lind; Stephanie Brzuzy (2008). Battleground: M-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 508. ISBN 978-0-313-34039-0.
Kenneth M. Cosgrove (2007). Branded Conservatives: How the Brand Brought the Right from the Fringes to the Center of American Politics. Peter Lang. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8204-7465-6.
Steven L. Danver (May 14, 2013). Encyclopedia of Politics of the American West. SAGE Publications. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-4522-7606-9. - ^ Bruce Frohnen, ed. American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006) pp. ix–xiv
- ^ Michael Foley (2007). American credo: the place of ideas in US politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191528330.
Against accusations of being pre-modern or even anti-modern in outlook, paleoconservatives press for restrictions on immigration, a rollback of multicultural programmes, the decentralization of the federal polity, the restoration of controls upon free trade, a greater emphasis upon economic nationalism and isolationism in the conduct of American foreign policy, and a generally revanchist outlook upon a social order in need of recovering old lines of distinction and in particular the assignment of roles in accordance with traditional categories of gender, ethnicity, and race.
- ^ Paul Gottfried, Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right, p. 9, "Postwar conservatives set about creating their own synthesis of free-market capitalism, Christian morality, and the global struggle against Communism." (2009); Gottfried, Theologies and moral concern (1995) p. 12
- ^ "The Magazine's Credenda". National Review.
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(help) - ^ Peter Viereck, Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill (1956), pp. 1–22.
- ^ Milan Zafirovski (2008). Modern Free Society and Its Nemesis: Liberty Versus Conservatism in the New Millennium. Lexington Books. pp. 44–45. ISBN 9780739115169.
- ^ "The Value-Centered Historicism of Edmund Burke". National Humanities Institute. July 29, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ Grover Cleveland, "The President's message, 1887" (1887) online p. 37
- ^ "True believers". Retrieved February 8, 2018.
- ^ "In U.S., Nearly Half Identify as Economically Conservative". Retrieved February 8, 2018.
- ^ John Callaghan, The Cold War and the March of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Contemporary British History, Autumn 2001, Vol. 15 Issue 3, pp. 1–25
- ^ a b Joel D. Aberbach; Gillian Peele (2011). Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush. Oxford UP. p. 260. ISBN 9780199830268.
- ^ See President Reagan's speech to governors in 1987 at Reagan, Ronald (1989). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1987. p. 292. ISBN 9781623769505.
- ^ Majia Holmer Nadesan (June 10, 2010). Governmentality, Biopower, and Everyday Life. Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-135-90358-9.
Joel D. Aberbach; Gillian Peele (June 17, 2011). Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush. Oxford University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-19-983136-4.
Louise A. Tilly; Patricia Gurin (June 21, 1990). Women, Politics and Change. Russell Sage Foundation. p. 532. ISBN 978-1-61044-534-4. - ^ Darren Dochuk, From Bible Belt to Sun Belt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism (W.W. Norton & Company; 2010) shows how migrants to Southern California from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas provided evangelical support for social conservatism.
- ^ Ed Kilgore. "Starving the Beast". Blueprint Magazine. Archived from the original on November 20, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Article | The American Prospect". Prospect.org. March 15, 2005. Retrieved December 9, 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Kathleen G. Donohue (2005). Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Idea of the Consumer. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 2.
- ^ Dieter Plehwe, Bernhard Walpen, Gisela Neunhöffer (eds), Neoliberal Hegemony: A Global Critique, Routledge (February 8, 2006), ISBN 0415460034, p. 1
- ^ Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980–1989 (2009), p. 477
- ^ Chris Edwards, "Reagan's Budget Legacy," CATO Institute June 8, 2004 Archived December 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nash, George H (April 26, 2016). "The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America: Then and Now". National Review. New York City. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
Modern American conservatism is not, and has never been, monolithic. It is a coalition with many points of origin and diverse tendencies that are not always easy to reconcile.
- ^ Paul S. Boyer; et al. (2007). The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Cengage Learning. p. 934.
- ^ see Steven Brint and Jean Reith Schroedel, eds., Evangelicals and Democracy in America, Volume II: Religion and Politics (Russell Sage Foundation, 2009) for scholarly studies
- ^ J. Postell; J. O'Neill (November 12, 2013). Toward an American Conservatism: Constitutional Conservatism during the Progressive Era. Springer. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-137-30096-6.
Ken Blackwell; Ken Klukowski (May 31, 2011). Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America. Simon and Schuster. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-1-4516-2928-6. - ^ Peter Berkowitz (February 12, 2013). Constitutional Conservatism. Hoover Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8179-1604-6.
- ^ Schambra, William A. (August 20, 2012). "The Origins and Revival of Constitutional Conservatism: 1912 and 2012". Political Process. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
Lienesch, Michael (July 2016). "Creating Constitutional Conservatism". Polity. 48 (3): 387–413. doi:10.1057/pol.2016.10. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Mark A. Graber (March 6, 2015). A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism. Oxford University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-19-024523-8.
Bradley C. S. Watson (2009). Ourselves and Our Posterity: Essays in Constitutional Originalism. Lexington Books. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-7391-2789-6.
Daniel T. Rodgers (May 1, 2011). Age of Fracture. Harvard University Press. pp. 241–242. ISBN 978-0-674-05952-8.
Nancy Maveety (February 2, 2016). Picking Judges. Transaction Publishers. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4128-6224-0. - ^ Ronald Hamowy (2008). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781412965804.
- ^ Justin Vaïsse (2010). Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement. Harvard UP. pp. 244ff. ISBN 9780674050518.
- ^ Samuel P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations," Foreign Affairs Summer 1993, v72, n3, pp. 22–50, online version.
- ^ Joseph Scotchie. The Paleoconservatives: New Voices of the Old Right. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412838184.
- ^ Peter Berkowitz (2004). Varieties of Conservatism in America. Hoover Press. pp. 19ff. ISBN 9780817945732.
- ^ The Conservative Party of New York State was founded in 1962 and currently has about 1% support there.
- ^ The Conservative Party of Virginia (1867) also elected members to the U.S. House of Representatives from two other states (Maryland and North Carolina).
- ^ Harrison, Brigid C. (January 1, 2016). Power and Society: An Introduction to the Social Sciences. Cengage Learning. pp. 47–49. ISBN 9781337025966. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- ^ For example, Arthur Aughey, Greta Jones, W. T. M. Riches, The Conservative Political Tradition in Britain and the United States (1992), p. 1: "there are those who advance the thesis that American exceptionalism means...there can be no American conservatism precisely because the American Revolution created a universally liberal society."
- ^ Patrick Allitt, The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History (Yale U.P. 2009), p. 278
- ^ Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, p. 114, "Conservative ideas are, thus, more genuine and profound than many critics suggest, but such unity as they have is purely negative, definable only by its opposition and rejection of abstract, universal, and ideal principles..."
- ^ a b Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind (1950), pp. 6, 63.
- ^ R.B. Ripley, “Adams, Burke, and Eighteenth-Century Conservatism.” Political Science Quarterly (1965). 80#2: 216–235. online
- ^ Russell Kirk, "Adams, John" in John Frohnen, ed., American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006) p 11
- ^ Clinton Rossiter, Conservatism in America (1955) p 114
- ^ A. Owen Aldridge, "John Adams: Pioneer American Conservative." Modern Age (2002) 44#3 pp 217-25.
- ^ Aldridge, p 224
- ^ Peter Viereck (1956). Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill. pp. 89–90.
- ^ Robert North Roberts; Scott Hammond; Valerie A. Sulfaro (2012). Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms: The Complete Encyclopedia [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 538. ISBN 9780313380938.
- ^ Sean Wilentz, The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008 (2009); John Ehrman, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2008)
- ^ Peter J. Jacques; Riley E. Dunlap; Mark Freeman, The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism, Environmental Politics. v12 m3 (2008), pp. 349–385
- ^ George H. Nash, Reappraising the Right: The Past and Future of American Conservatism (2009) p. 325
- ^ Michael W. Flamm, Law and Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism in the 1960s (2005)
- ^ Julian E. Zelizer, ed. The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment (2010) ch. 6
- ^ Gallup, Inc. "U.S. Liberals at Record 24%, but Still Trail Conservatives". Gallup.com.
- ^ Juliana Horowitz, "Winds of Political Change Haven't Shifted Public's Ideology Balance," Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, press release November 25, 2008 Archived July 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gallup, "U.S. Political Ideology Stable With Conservatives Leading" Gallup, August 1, 2011, online
- ^ Florida, Richard (2012). "Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative". The Atlantic.
- ^ Florida, Richard (2011). "The Conservative States of America". The Atlantic.
- ^ Anthony Stanford (2013). Homophobia in the Black Church: How Faith, Politics, and Fear Divide the Black Community. ABC-CLIO. p. 101. ISBN 9780313398698.
- ^ Elasina Plott, "Georgia Religious-Liberty Fight Reveals Christian Right's Weakened Influence," National Review April 4, 2016
- ^ Dale McConkey, "Whither Hunter's culture war? Shifts in evangelical morality, 1988–1998," Sociology of Religion 62#2 (2001): 149–174.
- ^ Peter N. Stearns, Meaning over Memory: Recasting the Teaching of Culture and History (1993).
- ^ Roger Chapman; James Ciment; Corey Fields (March 17, 2015). "Multicultural conservatism". Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices. Routledge. p. 440. ISBN 978-1-317-47351-0.
Barbara Goodwin (December 19, 2016). Using Political Ideas. John Wiley & Sons. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-118-70838-5. - ^ Rick Bonus, "Political Correctness" in Encyclopedia of American Studies, ed. Simon J. Bronner (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), online
- ^ Milton Gordon, "E Pluribus Unum? The Myth of the Melting Pot." in Heike Paul (2014). The Myths That Made America: An Introduction to American Studies. pp. 257–310. ISBN 9783839414859.
- ^ Olivier Zunz, John Bodnar, and Stephan Thernstrom, "American History and the Changing Meaning of Assimilation" Journal of American Ethnic History 4#2 (1985): 53–84.
- ^ Bruce Pilbeam, "Eurabian nightmares: American conservative discourses and the Islamisation of Europe," Journal of Transatlantic Studies (2011) 9#2 pp. 151–171.
- ^ Moseley, Daniel (June 25, 2011). "What is Libertarianism?". Basic Income Studies. 6 (2): 2. doi:10.1515/1932-0183.1215. SSRN 1872578.
- ^ Boaz, David; David Kirby (January 21, 2010). "The Libertarian Vote in the Age of Obama". Policy Analysis. Cato Institute. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- ^ Jones, Jeffrey. "Wyoming, Mississippi, Utah Rank as Most Conservative States". Gallup. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ CNN, Ronald Brownstein. "Republicans and Democrats increasingly really do occupy different worlds". CNN. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "The changing colors of America (1960–2004)". November 10, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ By Chris Cillizza, "Democrats' stranglehold on the electoral college," Washington Post, June 10, 2014
- ^ Russello, Gerald J., 1996, "The Jurisprudence of Russell Kirk," Modern Age 38: 354–363. ISSN 0026-7457
- ^ Book Review by Robert S. Griffin of Chilton Williamson, Jr., The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers, robertsgriffin.com.
- ^ Stephen Goode, Higher Education: Uniting the Great Books and Faith (August 2, 2004), Thomas Aquinas College.
- ^ "The Russell Kirk Center: Ten Conservative Principles by Russell Kirk". kirkcenter.org.
- ^ Lewis L. Gould, The William Howard Taft Presidency (2009) p. 175
- ^ Mark A. Graber and Michael Perhac, Marbury versus Madison: documents and commentary (2002) p. 111
- ^ Jeff Shesol, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court (2010) p. 525
- ^ "Conservatives and the Court". Retrieved October 24, 2018.
- ^ Graber and Perhac, Marbury versus Madison: documents and commentary (2002) p114
- ^ Mark V. Tushnet, A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law (2005) p. 338
- ^ Johnathan O'Neill, Originalism in American law and politics: a constitutional history (2005) pp. 7–11, 208
- ^ Tom Zeller Jr. (October 20, 2011). "Republican Environmental Group Seeks To Put Conservation Back On The Conservative Agenda". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
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(help) - ^ Broder, John M. (August 17, 2011). "Bashing EPA is New Theme in GOP Race". New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
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(help) - ^ Aaron M. McCright and Riley E. Dunlap, "Challenging Global Warming as a Social Problem: An Analysis of the Conservative Movement's Counter-Claims," Social Problems, Nov 2000, Vol. 47 Issue 4, pp. 499–522 in JSTOR
- ^ Levin, Mark R. (2009). "On EnviroStatism". Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. Simon and Schuster. pp. 114–146. ISBN 9781416562856. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
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- ^ Bailey, Christopher J. Congress and Air Pollution: Environmental Policies in the USA. Manchester University Press. p. 259. ISBN 0-7190-3661-5.
- ^ Cama, Timothy (April 15, 2015). "GOP criticizes Obama's 'restrictive' offshore drilling plan". The Hill. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
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(help) - ^ Michael Kraft (2015). Environmental Policy and Politics. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-317-34862-7.
- ^ Popovich, Nadja. "76 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump". Retrieved October 24, 2018.
- ^ Mugambi Jouet (2017). Exceptional America: What Divides Americans from the World and from Each Other. U of California Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780520293298.
- ^ "Conservative epithet of choice: Socialist". UPI. March 1, 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
Ekins, Emily; Pullmann, Joy (February 15, 2016). "Why So Many Millennials Are Socialists". The Federalist. FDRLST Media. Retrieved May 27, 2017.Conservatives often use the word "socialist" like an epithet, but they don't realize that neither their audience nor even their political opponents really know what the word even means.
Crary, David (June 4, 2012). "Obama a socialist? Many scoff, but claim persists". Deseret News. Utah. Associated Press. Retrieved May 27, 2017. - ^ David Hinshaw, A Man from Kansas: The Story of William Allen White (1945) p 108.
- ^ Thomas Frank (2007). What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. p. 33. ISBN 9781429900324.
- ^ William Safire (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. p. 18. ISBN 9780199711116.
- ^ Alan P. Grimes, "Contemporary American Liberalism' The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 344, (Nov., 1962), p 30 in JSTOR
- ^ Gary Dean Best (1983). Herbert Hoover, the Postpresidential Years, 1933-1964: 1946-1964. Hoover Press. p. 359. ISBN 9780817977511.
- ^ Lawson Bowling (2005). Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood. p. 137. ISBN 9780313314346.
- ^ LIFE. May 29, 1964. p. 29.
- ^ Tom Kemme (1987). Political Fiction, the Spirit of Age, and Allen Drury. Popular Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780879723743.
- ^ a b Tom Schaller, "Gingrich Slams Paulson, Obama, Sarbanes-Oxley and Even W (a little)" FiveThirtyEight May 24, 2010
- ^ Kathleen Hall Jamieson; Joseph N. Cappella (2009). Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford U.P. pp. 42–55. ISBN 9780199740864.
- ^ Jeremy M. Peters, "'Anybody but Mitt,'" New York Times Nov. 19, 2011
- ^ "House Republicans Defend Conservative Commentators, Decry White House Feud". Fox News. April 7, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
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(help) - ^ Theda Skocpol; Vanessa Williamson (January 2, 2012). The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-19-983263-7.
- ^ Roger Chapman; James Ciment (March 17, 2015). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices. Routledge. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-317-47351-0.
- ^ Lee Banville (December 12, 2016). Covering American Politics in the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia of News Media Titans, Trends, and Controversies [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 193–195. ISBN 978-1-4408-3553-7.
- ^ Tim Groseclose, PhD (July 19, 2011). Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind. St. Martin's Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4299-8746-2.
- ^ Frum, David (November 20, 2011). "When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality?". New York.
- ^ Everett Carll Ladd and Seymour Martin Lipset, Academics, politics, and the 1972 election (1973)
- ^ Jack H. Schuster and Martin J. Finkelstein, The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers (2008) p. 145
- ^ Louis Menand, The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University (2010) pp. 137–139
- ^ "Kurtz, H. (29 March 2005)". The Washington Post. March 29, 2005.
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(help) - ^ Maranto, Redding, Hess (2009). The Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms (PDF). The AEI Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 978-0-8447-4317-2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Rothman, S.; Lichter, S. R.; Nevitte, N. (2005). "Politics and Professional Advancement Among College Faculty". The Forum. 3. doi:10.2202/1540-8884.1067.
- ^ Kurtz, Howard (March 29, 2005). "College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds". Washington Post.
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(help) - ^ Inbar, Yoel; Lammers, Joris (2012). "Political Diversity in Social and Personality Psychology" (PDF). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 7 (5): 496. doi:10.1177/1745691612448792. PMID 26168506.
- ^ Emily Esfahani Smith (August 1, 2012). "Survey shocker: Liberal profs admit they'd discriminate against conservatives in hiring, advancement: 'Impossible lack of diversity' reflects ideological intimidation on campus". Washington Times. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
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(help) - ^ "Zogby Poll: Most Think Political Bias Among College Professors a Serious Problem". zogby.com. July 10, 2007. Archived from the original on October 21, 2011.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Sonny, Bunch (May 18, 2007). "Academic Thuggery". Weekly Standard. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
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(help) - ^ Kerr, Euan (October 27, 2007). ""Indoctrinate U" poses some uncomfortable questions". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
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(help) - ^ Barry, Emily (March 3, 2011). "'Indoctrine U' raises brows, offers insight". East Tennessean. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Krugman, Paul (February 8, 2011). "Ideas Are Not The Same As Race". New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
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(help) - ^ Cohen, Patricia (November 2, 2008). "Professors' Liberalism Contagious? Maybe Not". New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
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(help) - ^ Douglas Kellner (2001). Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 140. ISBN 9780742521032.
- ^ Hanson, Victor (Autumn 2008). Anderson, Brian (ed.). "The Humanities Move Off Campus". City Journal. Manhattan Institute. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
- ^ Ellen Grigsby (2008). Analyzing Politics. p. 161. ISBN 0495501123.
- ^ Kellner, Grand Theft 2000 p. 140
- ^ Gertrude Himmelfarb (2004). The New History and the Old: Critical Essays and Reappraisals. Harvard University Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780674013841.
- ^ Jay Stevenson (2007). The Complete Idiot's Guide to English Literature. Alpha Books. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9781592576562.
- ^ Gerald J. Russello, The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk (2007) p. 14
- ^ Hyrum S. Lewis (2007). Sacralizing the Right: William F. Buckley Jr., Whittaker Chambers, Will Herberg and the Transformation of Intellectual Conservatism, 1945–1964. ProQuest. p. 122. ISBN 9780549389996.
- ^ M. Keith Booker (2005). Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: A-G. Greenwood. pp. 180–181. ISBN 9780313329395.
- ^ Jeffrey Williams, ed. PC wars: Politics and theory in the academy (Routledge, 2013)
- ^ Kim Phillips-Fein, "Conservatism: A State of the Field," Journal of American History (Dec 2011) 98#3 pp. 723–743, with commentary by Wilfred M. McClay, Alan Brinkley, Donald T. Critchlow, Martin Durham, Matthew D. Lassiter, and Lisa McGirr, and response by Phillips-Fein, pp. 744–773 online
- ^ Jefferson Cowie, and Nick Salvatore, "The Long Exception: Rethinking the Place of the New Deal in American History," International Labor & Working-Class History, (2008) 74:3–32.
- ^ Julian E. Zelizer, "Rethinking the History of American Conservatism," Reviews in American History (2010) 38#2 pp. 367–392, quoting pp. 372, 379
- ^ Zelizer, "Rethinking the History of American Conservatism," p. 379, quote p. 380
- ^ Stephen Brooks (2013). American Exceptionalism in the Age of Obama. Routledge. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9780415636414.
- ^ Seymour Martin Lipset (1997). American Exceptionalism: A Double-edged Sword. W.W. Norton. pp. 17, 291. ISBN 9780393316148.
- ^ Seymour Martin Lipset, The first new nation (1963).
- ^ Martin Griffiths (November 26, 2013). Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-135-19087-3.
David Bernell (March 12, 2012). Constructing US Foreign Policy: The Curious Case of Cuba. Routledge. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-136-81411-2. - ^ Lipset, American Exceptionalism, pp. 1, 17–19, 165–174, 197
- ^ "In Defense of American Exceptionalism," The American Spectator "the conditions American Exceptionalism provides, allow us to enjoy the economic and social mobility that other countries envy" and "progressivism rejects American Exceptionalism".
- ^ Harold Koh, "America's Jekyll-and-Hyde Exceptionalism", in Michael Ignatieff, ed.American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (2005) p. 112
- ^ Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955), p. 17
- ^ Rainer-Olaf Schultze et al., Conservative parties and right-wing politics in North America (2003), p. 15 online
- ^ Arthur Aughey, et al., The conservative political tradition in Britain and the United States (1992), pp. 1–2. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. 1992. ISBN 9780838635001.
- ^ Richard Hofstadter (2008). The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays. Vintage Books. p. 43. ISBN 9780307388445.
- ^ Rossiter, Clinton, "The Giants of American Conservatism", American Heritage 1955 6(6): 56–59, 94–96
- ^ Richard K. Sherwin (2017). Popular Culture and Law. Taylor & Francis. p. 462.
Further reading
- Aberbach, Joel D. "Understanding American Political Conservatism." in Robert A. Scott and Stephen M. Kosslyn, eds. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource (2015). DOI: 10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0373
- Adams, Ian (2001). Political Ideology Today. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-719-06020-6.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Allitt, Patrick. The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History (2010) excerpt and text search
- Clark, Barry Stewart (1998). Political Economy: A Comparative Approach. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-95869-8.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Critchlow, Donald T. The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America (2nd ed. 2011)
- Critchlow, Donald T. and Nancy MacLean. Debating the American Conservative Movement: 1945 to the Present (2009)
- Farber, David. The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism: A Short History (2012).
- Filler, Louis. Dictionary of American Conservatism (Philosophical Library, 1987)
- Frohnen, Bruce et al. eds. American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006); the most detailed reference
- Gottfried, Paul. The Conservative Movement (Twayne, 1993.)
- Gross, Neil, Thomas Medvetz, and Rupert Russell. "The Contemporary American Conservative Movement," Annual Review of Sociology (2011) 37 pp. 325–354
- Guttman, Allan. The Conservative Tradition in America (Oxford University Press, 1967).
- Hayward, Steven F. The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order: 1964–1980 (2009) excerpt v 1; The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980–1989 (2009) excerpt and text search v2
- Hemmer, Nicole. Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). xvi, 320 pp.
- Kabaservice, Geoffrey. Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party (2012) scholarly history favorable to moderates excerpt and text search;
- Lora, Ronald.; The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America Greenwood Press, 1999 online edition
- Lyons, Paul. American Conservatism: Thinking It, Teaching It. (Vanderbilt University Press, 2009). 202 pp. ISBN 978-0-8265-1626-8
- Nash, George. The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (2006; 1st ed. 1978) influential history
- Phillips-Fein, Kim. "Conservatism: A State of the Field," Journal of American History, (Dec. 2011) 98#3 pp. 723–743 in JSTOR
- Rosen, Eliot A. The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States (2014)
- Schneider, Gregory. The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (2009)
- Thorne, Melvin J. American Conservative Thought since World War II: The Core Ideas (1990) online edition
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- "The Origins of the Modern American Conservative Movement," The Heritage Foundation.
- "Conservative Predominance in the U.S.: A Moment or an Era?", 21 experts from the U.S. and abroad, ponder the future of conservatism.
- Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Conservatism at the University of Virginia.
- "Comparative Decades: Conservatism in the 1920s and 1980s" Lesson plans
- Mark Riebling, "Prospectus for a Critique of Conservative Reason."
- A History of Conservative Movements – slideshow by Newsweek
- How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Kevin M. Kruse for Politico. April 16, 2015.