Common-Good Conservatism Debate: Proven Principles More Important

I recently debated Josh Hammer of Newsweek on his vision of “common-good conservatism,” and while you can watch our debate here, given the persistence of efforts to shape something along the lines of what Hammer is arguing, I thought it would be useful to readers to set out my own argument in print.

None of this debate is entirely new, of course. Whether they style themselves as the “New Right” (more properly the “New New New New Right,” given how regularly efforts at a “New Right” recur across generations), or whether they call themselves “common-good conservatives” or “national conservatives,” similar factions with similar arguments appear among conservative intellectuals every time we get a new generation of conservatives who did not live through the last “New Right.” I grew up in the Reagan years, and in my 50 years on this earth, I’ve lived through all manner of efforts at adjective-conservatism from all directions: Jack Kemp’s “bleeding-heart conservatives,” the Pat Buchanan paleoconservative revival, the McCain–Kristol–Brooks “national-greatness conservatives,” the George W. Bush “compassionate conservatives,” the Tea Party movement, “reform conservatism,” various efforts at a “libertarian moment,” “Trumpism,” and now this. The addition of adjectives to “conservative” tends to subtract more than it adds.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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I recently debated Josh Hammer of Newsweek on his vision of “common-good conservatism,” and while you can watch our debate here, given the persistence of efforts to shape something along the lines of what Hammer is arguing, I thought it would be useful to readers to set out my own argument in print.

None of this debate is entirely new, of course. Whether they style themselves as the “New Right” (more properly the “New New New New Right,” given how regularly efforts at a “New Right” recur across generations), or whether they call themselves “common-good conservatives” or “national conservatives,” similar factions with similar arguments appear among conservative intellectuals every time we get a new generation of conservatives who did not live through the last “New Right.” I grew up in the Reagan years, and in my 50 years on this earth, I’ve lived through all manner of efforts at adjective-conservatism from all directions: Jack Kemp’s “bleeding-heart conservatives,” the Pat Buchanan paleoconservative revival, the McCain–Kristol–Brooks “national-greatness conservatives,” the George W. Bush “compassionate conservatives,” the Tea Party movement, “reform conservatism,” various efforts at a “libertarian moment,” “Trumpism,” and now this. The addition of adjectives to “conservative” tends to subtract more than it adds.