National Conservatives vs. Lincoln

 

Having finished with Jefferson, the national conservatives have moved on to dumping Lincoln. They ditched Jefferson with their rejection of the notion that the United States is based on and made exceptional by ideas – the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the continuing thinking and work to live up to them. Now they have repudiated the idea of America having and being dedicated to a fundamental proposition – fairly clearly choosing the word “proposition” to reject Lincoln’s words that the nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (probably because Lincoln believed anyone could become an American and that this country was the world’s last best hope because of its ideas).

People should take them at their word and, understand that they are dismissing the country’s founding and basic principles as irrelevant and worse. They think enlightenment liberalism was a mistake and one they plan to correct. Accepting their premises requires rejected Americanism as the term is usually understood and the patriotism associated with it and replaced them with traditionalism and an atavistic tribal/religious sort of patriotism. Critics say the national conservatives want to go back to the American 1950s. That gives them too much credit. Their ideology points to going back much farther to times long before 1776 and places far from here.

It would be a mistake to ignore these people. They are organized, form a powerful faction within the Republican party, and have a president who seems to see many things in their way. Be on the lookout and speak up.