National Conservatism

 

If someone wants to learn about the beliefs of the national conservatives, it turns out to be easy to do so. There is a web site with a manifesto of their principles, signed by a large number of people, including several well known and prominent conservatives. It is worth reading. The “national” is made clear in the preamble: ”We emphasize idea of the nation because we see a world of independent nations – each pursuing its own national interests and upholding national traditions that are its own – as the only general alternative to universalist ideologies now seeking to impose a homogenizing, locality-destroying imperium over the entire globe.”

The first enumerated principle is national independence: “Each nation capable of self-government should chart its own course in accordance with its own particular constitutional, linguistic, and religious inheritance.” The second expands on this idea with a rejection of globalism and supernational organizations and a condemnation of both authoritarian imperialism and “liberal imperialism”.

The third is basically a proposal for shifting power from the executive and judicial branches to the legislative branch and the states. The fourth is a call to end the separation of church and state and equal treatment for various religions: “When a Christian majority exists, public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision, which should be honored by the state and other institutions both public and private.” The fifth is an affirmation of the notion of the rule of law.

The sixth is a plan for government control of the economy so that economic policy will “serve the general welfare of the nation” and a condemnation of disloyal multi-national corporations. The seventh is a call for more government funding of scientific and technological research but not at universities “unless they rededicate themselves to the national interest”.

The eighth declares the traditional family is “the source of society’s virtues and deserves grater support from public policy”. It criticizes the “unconstrained individualism” of childless people, and “radical forms of sexual license and experimentation as an alternative to the responsibilities of family and congregational life”. Number nine is a plan for restrictive policies on immigration which may include a moratorium on all immigration. The last item is a condemnation of racial discrimination.

It is not happenstance that the outfit that put this document together is called the Edmund Burke Foundation. Leftists have Rousseau. Liberals and libertarians have Paine, and traditionalist conservatives have Burke. This is a very traditionalistic document. It rejects not only the left but also the liberal, enlightenment notions of liberty, personal autonomy, and individual rights. It has a lot in common with the ideologies of the historical continental European right. As such it is not only un-American, but in terms of the ideals of Americanism explicitly anti-American. One may agree with some of the things some of those who signed the manifesto say some of the time, but by signing it they have shown that are not on the side of freedom and should not be trusted too far by those who are.