The Black Republican

My own thoughts on the subject of ideology began with a reading of The Rise of the Right by William A. Rusher, while I was still in high school. I never before understood what it was about Republicans that caused me to believe in the same things they believed (other than the fact that my parents were staunch Republicans). After reading Rusher's book, my beliefs had a name: conservatism.

I recently found a copy of that book at Amazon and I'm re-reading it now. What I remember most about it I found on page 90: a statement of conservative principles that was the founding philosophy of the Young Americans for Freedom, when they were established in 1960:

In this time of moral and political crisis is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.

We, as young conservatives, believe:

That foremost among the transcendent values is the individual's use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;

That liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;

That the purposes of government are to protect these freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;

That when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power which tends to diminish order and liberty;

That the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining from the concentration and abuse of power;

That the genius of the Constitution - the division of powers - is summed up in the clause which reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people, in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal Government;

That the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;

That when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation; that when it takes from one man to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;

That we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens consertedly defend their rights against all enemies;

That the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;

That the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with, this menace; and

That American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?

While some of these principles have become somewhat outdated by the passing of the Cold War, they are no less true today, and each of their warnings can be directly transferred to the present menaces of totalitarianism and islamofascism.

My philosophy continues to be reflected in the conservative opinions put forward on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, especially those penned by Peggy Noonan. Most recently, a column published under the heading "American Conservatism" upon the death of Ronald Reagan, defined many of the same principles as "Reaganism".

Traditional conservatism was based on six principles: a suspicion of the power of the state; a preference for liberty over equality; unashamed patriotism; a belief in established institutions and hierarchies; a pessimistic, backward-looking pragmatism; and elitism. This was the creed that Burke shaped into a philosophy in the 18th century - and that most famous conservatives, from Prince Metternich to Winston Churchill, understood in their bones. Mr. Reagan's conservatism exaggerated the first three of Burke's principles and contradicted the last three.

Looking back over some of these concepts, one can easily see the ideological inheritance from our forebears among the Black Republicans, through the Bull Moose progressives, to the Reaganites of the 80's, and ending up at the feet of some of those today who are called "neoconservative". What we need to do today is tidy them up a bit for a more relevant description of our wartime struggle with Idiotarians at home and abroad, and tie them straight back to the heart of the Classical Liberal tradition under Lincoln and TR.

Then put bunny slippers on them.