Posted by
hwalker on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:37:44 PM
Could it be that we are witnessing a paradigmatic shift in American political thought? The current economic crisis, the dwindling middle class, and the disgust with a "me, me, me" society all lend themselves to answering that question with a resounding "yes." You may be asking yourselves, "what about the Bush administration and all he has generously gifted to the country's outlook on conservativism?" That's a great question, glad you asked.
It's pretty clear by now that the Bush administration in no way embodies, advocates, or even thinks about contemporary conservativism, let alone classic conservativism. It may be helpful to back up a little and talk about the differences between classic conservativism, classic liberalism and their contemporary counterparts. Classic conservativism juxtaposes itself against classic liberalism, and the values they uphold. Classic conservativism places a heavy emphasis on civic involvement, self-government, and how society as a whole functions to support democracy. Classic liberalism places a heavy emphasis on individualism, minimal government interference with individual choice, and liberty. It is important to note that these two lines of thought are what influenced the way our country's government was set up, and function in a hybrid fashion to do so. Classic liberalism, for instance, does not require democracy for liberty. Theories of classic liberalism could play themselves out under a dictatorship or a monarchy just as easily as they could under a system of democracy. The founders opted for democracy, and so we see the influence of classic conservativism. Conversely, classic conservativism does not require capitalism as it's economic system to function consistently with its values. Yet the founders chose to protect individual choice through capitalism, and so we see the influence of classic liberalism.
It is easy to see that in the modern versions of these two social theories, things have gotten a little mixed up. Further, we can see classic liberalism prevail, as the span of current American political thought fits largely into this rhealm of reasoning. Classic conservativism has fallen by the wayside, with its tendency towards collective action as a true means towards self-government. While democracy as a value and an ideal is upheld, it falls into submission to individual choice and liberty. Perhaps the American system was even designed to foster this development, with it's built in protection against mob rule and its one-step removal from democracy to a system of representation.
I postulate that this election season, we have seen a fundamental shift away from classic liberalism toward classic conservativism. We have seen our candidates sit down together and talk about the expansion of the Peace Corps, and the development of other nation-wide volunteer networks to encourage non-governmental civic participation. We have heard both talk at length about the requirement that the American people conserve energy in our effort to free ourselves from international ties that bind. As the current economic crisis has developed, between tales of Wall-Street punishment, we heard Governor Palin call to all Americans to take responsibility and make sure they are never duped into unsafe borrowing again. Tonight, Senator McCain, the passionate capitalist with faith to a fault in the Market to correct itself, proposed a ridiculously expensive policy that would have the federal government buying up and renegotiating inflated mortgages that would allow Americans to stay in their homes and make affordable payments. Step by step we get further and further away from the ideal of individual choice, which is sacrificed any time you advocate collective action, and closer to the ideal of society functioning as a whole to support democracy.
Perhaps this is the result of nominating a moderate Republican and a far left Democrat, and is not generally reflective of the entire nation. Perhaps this is a knee-jerk reaction to the economic crisis, and in a few years we will be back to our old ways. However, we as a nation did nominate these two candidates. Whether or not this is a blip on the screen of political history or a paradigmatic shift in political thought, the fact remains that in the dwindling hours of Election Eve, Jefferson and Roosevelt are proud papas and Reagan and Hamilton are rolling over in their graves.