I was born and raised Republican, but I left the party several years ago shortly after my dad left the party. I'm having trouble remembering exactly when that was, and my reasons for leaving the party were my own. I won't speak for my dad, but I know his decision was a bit of an inspiration for me.
Despite the fact that I've been drifting away from the Republican platform for some time, and hold some views that would be downright shunned in some Republican circles, I've always thought of myself as being conservative. I still do, in fact. Of course, I also consider myself progressive in some regards, so what do labels tell you? Absolutely nothing!
My progressivism stems, in large part, from certain policy issues. I'd be perfectly happy under a single-payer healthcare system, for example. Also, boo to Citizens United! But my conservativism stems largely from my views of institutions and societal cohesion. I'm not a libertarian conservative. Concern for the free market is not my strong suit. Rather, it is my strong concern for the preservation of cultural, religious, societal, and governmental institutions that drives my conservativism. Perhaps I am best described as a Burkean conservative. I have a great amount of concern for what Michael Novak termed "intermediary institutions." These are institutions that exist between the individual level and the governmental level--institutions like the family, schools, churches, fraternal organizations, etc. (Note to self: Read more Michael Novak.)
But lately, I cannot help but feel that conservativism as we know it is becoming unmoored from it's foundations in Burkean philosophy. Conservatives have been beating the drums of individualism and corporatism and ignoring institutional integrity. The corporatism of Milton Friedman has eaten away at conservatism's core. Central to Friedman's philosophy is the belief that institutions do not have responsibility; only people have responsibility. His worldview gutted institutions of their moral function, placing moral responsibility on the individual while at the same time allowing institutions (corporations) to operate free of moral concern. In one swoop, Friedman's philosophy created both an excess of individualism and an excess in corporatism, and this continues to today where conservatism pushes bootstrap philosophy on individuals while offering tax cuts to the rich (I pay more taxes than Donald Trump) and corporate entities (Amazon pays zero taxes to the federal government).
This is not my conservatism. Friedman's philosophy destroys institutions like the family by robbing them of their moral function. At the same time, conservative moral norms can be used as a battering ram against individuals who, as the sole owners of responsibility, must also be at fault themselves whenever they fail to live up to a middle class ideal.
When conservatives look back fondly on the American family of the 1950's, they're looking back at an America under a totally different type of conservativism. Yes, you had your McCarthy's. But you had your Eisenhauers. You had a Republican administration which preserved many New Deal norms, that kept taxes high, that expanded social security, that administered affirmative action (I would say using troops to desegregate schools is affirmative action), that warned against a military-industrial complex. These are all considered radical by todays conservatives. Heck, some of these things would be radical to todays liberals! But the difference is, American institutions were strong at this time, and Eisenhauer cared deeply about preserving American institutions. (Oh, and side note: Eisenhauer was the last Republican president to pass a balanced budget.)
And that brings me to today, where the "principled conservatives" stand by and allow Donald Trump carte blanche as he attempts to undermine the institution of democratic election itself. Despite the fact that Trump's legal efforts are failing in the courts, that affidavits attesting to voter fraud are being discovered to contain known falsehoods, that "star witnesses" like Melissa Carone are making a mockery of governmental hearings, that the president's own Attorney General William Barr has stated to the public there is currently no evidence of voter fraud that would change the result of this election--in short, despite a complete lack of evidence--Donald Trump created a conspiracy theory that strikes at one of the most precious institutions we have: the institution of free elections.
But it's worse than this. Donald Trump has been planning this conspiracy for years. In his victory over Hillary Clinton, he claimed he would have won by more if Hillary didn't get all the illegal vote. For years before this he propagated a racist conspiracy that Barack Obama was not an American citizen, despite the fact that in order to get on the ballot Obama would have had to prove his citizenship to Attorneys General in all fifty states! You see, the frog was put into the pot years ago, and Trump has been slowly turning up the heat so he could arrive at this election at a full boil.
I've kept mostly quiet lately about Trump, but I've never kept my views secret. I believe he is a dangerous president, and his attack on free elections is precisely the sort of thing I have worried about.
But where does all this leave me? What is readily apparent to me is this: my conservatism is no longer accepted as an orthodox conservativism in American politics. The Republican party is bankrupt of my conservativism. Burkeanism has been abandoned for Friedmanism, and the principled conservatives of today would gladly abandon free elections if it meant keeping their power in office and their MyPillow endorsements on TV. (I'm looking at you, Sean Hannity!)
On the other hand, try being a Democrat when you identify as Burkean conservative! Democrats don't fight for American institutions. They hide behind them. (That, I'm afraid, is a completely different post.) Somewhere along the line, "conservatives" became OK with blatant attacks on our institutions. We see it playing out today to the point where a lone Republican state official in Georgia, Gabe Sterling, has to come forward and condemn the national Republican leadership for their silence in response to threats made against election workers.
Well, maybe there is one conservative of my ilk left.
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