Self-examination is a useful exercise. I’m grateful to Henry Olsen, Micah Meadowcroft, Josh Hammer, and Michael Lind (in a cognate posting) for their reflection on the sins of the American right. I’d like to add my voice to this collective mea culpa. As a sometime theology professor, I’ll key my observations to the classical list of seven deadly sins.
In March 2016, as Donald Trump was headed toward securing the nomination of the Republican party for president at the Republican national convention in July, I published a piece in The National Interest about the collapse of the establishment Republican agenda. Today, on the verge of the 2020 election, my essay is as relevant as ever:
American Compass’s Oren Cass joins Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti to discuss the deadly sins of the right, warning the GOP to learn from the 2016 election and update conservative orthodoxy.
If a realigned Republican Party is to emerge as a viable national political force, the ever-incisive Henry Olsen will be one of its leading architects. His American Compass essay, “The Three Deadly Sins of the Right,” once again shows us why. I would merely like to expand upon Olsen’s groundwork.
I will happily agree that those are three of the sins of the American Right. But while Olsen ties snobbery and hubris primarily to Republican religiosity, separating them out from market fundamentalism, I consider the three of a piece with each other, and Olsen’s concern about GOP Christianity a bit of a red herring.
Rod Dreher reflects on the political sins identified by Ruy Teixeira and Henry Olsen in their American Compass essays.
American Compass’s Oren Cass describes the process by which leaders of both the Republican and Democratic Parties have become unmoored from the voters they aspire to represent.
PRESS RELEASE—American Compass’s October collection explores how Democratic and Republican establishments have been co-opted by a ruling class with little connection to most Americans’ needs.
The authors of “Dignity” and “Hillbilly Elegy” reflect on Ruy Teixeira and Henry Olsen’s essays, describe the dynamics that lead to a politics disconnected from the economic and cultural mainstream, and identify possible glimmers of hope.
How the Left and Right Fail American Voters
In this commentary for the Financial Times, Cass considers what the presidential candidates would be talking about if workers and their interests were of primary concern
Market Fundamentalism. Snobbery. Hubris.
Identity Politics. Retro-Socialism. Catastrophism. Growthphobia. Technopessimism.
Anyone who cannot stand the phrase, “Actually, America is a republic,” had best stop reading now. This post is not for you. Except ye be converted, and become as little Read more…
American Compass’s Oren Cass argues that neither Biden nor Trump has given the necessary attention to issues like industrial, education, and labor policy that could help American workers.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-2) underscores the importance of discussing labor, middle-class issues, and industrial policy on the right-of-center.
In the unlikely event Trump ekes out a victory in November, it will be because the electoral college let him win without the popular vote, and the democratic imprimatur it Read more…
Donald Trump’s presence in 2016 was heralded as a fundamental shock to the system, as a new way for the Republican Party, as a final nail in the coffin of zombie Reagan-era public policy pushed by the billionaire and think tank class in Washington.
Campaign books are not written for the ages. But they can be telltales. A New Catholic Moment: Donald Trump and the Politics of the Common Good is a good example. It indicates a shift away from freedom as the leading motif on the American right and toward solidarity.
During his growing up years, Mark, an underemployed contract laborer in his 30s, often heard his mother describe their town as “the devil’s thumbprint.” The name alluded to both its literal location in a valley and its social stigma as the watering hole of riffraff. “You gotta go up the hill and get out,” Mark said of the place and his aspirations.
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