I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, blogging here daily to track my progress. In Thursday Thinker, I share a smart idea or theory.
In her new book Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, Stephanie Slade shares a vision for American conservatism rooted in political philosopher Frank Meyer’s fusionism: the joining of libertarian and traditionalist ideals to ground individual pursuit of freedom and virtue.
Imagine, if you can, a society where both liberty and virtue are given pride of place: one in which the size and scope of government are much reduced compared to what we’re used to but one with a morally healthy culture supported by a rich ecosystem of social institutions that are willing and able to pick up the slack.
In such a society, children would learn from a young age to believe that they have personal agency (the capacity to make choices and solve problems) as well as moral obligations (the duty to use their capacities to better themselves, treat others well, etc.). Virtues such as honesty and diligence would be encouraged, and people with exceptional abilities would be rewarded for making good use of their gifts. There would be high rates of family formation, church attendance, volunteerism, and the like. Parents would be able to choose from a panoply of educational options rather than being stuck in a one-size-fits-all public schooling system, and nonstate institutions of all kinds would flourish, finding creative ways to meet people’s needs.
Government institutions would be focused on the small handful of responsibilities that truly require state power: protecting basic rights and liberties by punishing crimes such as theft and assault, enforcing contracts so that the free economy can hum along, and so on. Government actors would take seriously the rule of law, recognizing that due process and equal treatment are essential elements of just governance and making every effort to ensure that the policies they enact are legible, forward-looking, and consistently applied—binding those in positions of authority just as they do members of the general public. Counterbalancing institutions would check one another’s excesses, and a vigilant free press would be on guard to publicize abuses and demand that perpetrators be held accountable.
If you think this sounds nothing like the current right-wing U.S. governmental administration and MAGA more broadly, you’re right. After Reagan, the Republican party has taken a turn towards extremism and oppression, seeking and accruing power so as to impose their beliefs on others, what Slade styles as will-to-power conservatism.
Slade particularly grounds her promotion of fusionism in traditionalist Judeo-Christian principles, but she speaks of virtue generically. This is something I can get behind: a small government which ensures freedom for individuals to pursue their own virtuous lives. What I don’t agree with is the pseudo-Judeo-Christian bludgeoning that people suffer if they don’t live traditional lives, and I certainly don’t agree with the current right-wing racist and sexist efforts which are often justified with reference to the Bible.
Jesus taught love for your neighbor, even if they were very different from yourself or even were somehow your enemy. He prescribed putting such love into action: feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, care for the sick, show mercy. That is virtuous, but it is far from any traditionalist conservative vision I’ve seen in my lifetime.