America Has Always Been Fusionist

Questions about the status of fusionism and liberalism in the Republican Party are live amid the ongoing presidential-primary season. Donald Trump’s election in 2016 emboldened a nascent, self-styled “new Right” that sees the legacy of fusionism — liberal economics combined with various forms of social conservatism — as either morally bankrupt or powerless. That fusionism has actuated most of the conservative social gains of the last six decades and the rising prosperity of the United States counts for little among new Right intellectuals. A book published in 2023 provocatively titled Up from Conservatism declares unambiguously that fusionism has failed. “The Left currently rules every consequential sector of society, from the nation’s educational institutions (K-12 and higher education), to large parts of the media, corporate America, Big Tech, and the federal administrative apparatus,” writes Arthur Milikh in the volume’s introductory essay. “The Left now seems even to own the top military brass.” The stakes, according to the new Right, are too high for conservatives to continue supporting fusionism. New more statist or even Caesarist solutions are needed.

There are a variety of criticisms of this new Right to make. Some are more accurate than others. The notion that the new Right is de facto racist is unhelpful and not particularly accurate. Its true central failure is its inability to reckon with the history of American political development. Ever since the American republic promulgated its Constitution in 1788, the United States and its institutions have always been fusionist, even if that descriptor remained unused until the 20th century.

About the Author

Miles Smith IV

Miles Smith IV is a professor in the history department at Hillsdale College.

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Questions about the status of fusionism and liberalism in the Republican Party are live amid the ongoing presidential-primary season. Donald Trump’s election in 2016 emboldened a nascent, self-styled “new Right” that sees the legacy of fusionism — liberal economics combined with various forms of social conservatism — as either morally bankrupt or powerless. That fusionism has actuated most of the conservative social gains of the last six decades and the rising prosperity of the United States counts for little among new Right intellectuals. A book published in 2023 provocatively titled Up from Conservatism declares unambiguously that fusionism has failed. “The Left currently rules every consequential sector of society, from the nation’s educational institutions (K-12 and higher education), to large parts of the media, corporate America, Big Tech, and the federal administrative apparatus,” writes Arthur Milikh in the volume’s introductory essay. “The Left now seems even to own the top military brass.” The stakes, according to the new Right, are too high for conservatives to continue supporting fusionism. New more statist or even Caesarist solutions are needed.

There are a variety of criticisms of this new Right to make. Some are more accurate than others. The notion that the new Right is de facto racist is unhelpful and not particularly accurate. Its true central failure is its inability to reckon with the history of American political development. Ever since the American republic promulgated its Constitution in 1788, the United States and its institutions have always been fusionist, even if that descriptor remained unused until the 20th century.