"When philosophy paints its grey in grey then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey in grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk." -- G.W.F. Hegel, 'Preface', Philosophy of Right.
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'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx
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conservative populism
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December 5, 2006
I've always had a soft spot for Christopher Lasch and the Revolt of the Elites as I thought that he tapped something significant. He articulated a theme that was taken up by social conservatives in response to economic globalization. In this reconsideration of Lasch Jeremy Beer states that:
In The Revolt of the Elites Lasch foretold the political divide that would preoccupy political commentators a decade later. "The new elites are in revolt against "Middle America", he warned, "imagined by them to be technologically backward, politically reactionary, repressive in its sexual morality, middlebrow in its tastes,smug and complacent, dull and dowdy."
This account led Lasch to support a conservative populism the unenlightened, traditional values and preferences of the petit bourgeois---family, hard work, loyalty, craftsmanship, voluntary association, ethnicity, sport, moral clarity, and faith---- and traditional communities against the values of the New Class.
Lasch explored the best way to transcend the Left-Right impasse in American life was through the reinvigoration of the populist tradition. Beer says that:
...the populist tradition he hoped to rejuvenate as the natural home of cultural conservatives, so long as they truly wished to be associated with "a respect for limits, localism, a work ethic as opposed to a consumerist ethic, a rejection of unlimited economic growth, and a certain skepticism about the ideology of progress."....Lasch denied, furthermore, that conservatism necessarily implied a defense of social hierarchy and existing distributions of power. Economically, he was a leveler, convinced that cultural conservatism was "quite compatible...with a commitment to radical democracy."
Hence this culturally conservative populism is different from old fashioned conservatism based on hierarchy and authority.
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In my opinion the trouble with right wing populists is that they are at best only half right. Unfortunately the half that is wrong is the most important part: the elephant in the room as it were.
Traditional USA culture was built upon the Taboo Against the Superior Man (1)(2) and by a very childish sense of religiosity (3) Or a religion founded on the Taboo Against the Superior Man.
An archaic religion which can no longer satisfy the Heart--it never really did.
A belief in a good luck santa claus "god".
And of course USA "conservative" populists cant even begin to acknowledge that white America was founded on grand theft, genocide and slavery--in other words lies!(4)
And that the idea of "manifest destiny" is in effect a toxic meme which implies perpetual change and INEVITABLE imperial conquests abroad. It is in effect a statement of terrorist intent!
1.www.dabase.net/2armP1.htm#ch2
2.www.dabase.net/proofch6.htm 3.www.aboutadidam.org/readings/parental_deity/index.html
4. www.dabase.net/popdisgu.htm
It could also be argued that the most distinguishing feature of USA "culture" is that it is entirely and only anti-traditional--despite the claims of the would be traditionalists such as those at First Things or Russell Kirk for instance.