Libertarians vs. Common-Good Conservatives: A Debate Older than You Think

Between Sohrab Ahmari’s denunciations of “David Frenchism,” Adrian Vermeule’s murkily authoritarian “common-good constitutionalism,” and Patrick Deneen’s book-long broadside against the liberal tradition, much ink has been spilled about the emergent ideological fissures within American conservatism. But such debates are hardly new. In fact, they’ve been going on for at least three decades.

Back in 1990, William F. Buckley Jr. published a little book called Gratitude. Subtitled “Reflections On What We Owe To Our Country,” the book was Buckley’s attempt to propose a Switzerland-style national-service program for America’s youth, born out of his concern that the younger generation lacked responsibility and patriotism. No doubt fully aware of the controversy that his proposal would ignite among many of his fellow travelers on the political right, Buckley wrote:

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Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

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Between Sohrab Ahmari’s denunciations of “David Frenchism,” Adrian Vermeule’s murkily authoritarian “common-good constitutionalism,” and Patrick Deneen’s book-long broadside against the liberal tradition, much ink has been spilled about the emergent ideological fissures within American conservatism. But such debates are hardly new. In fact, they’ve been going on for at least three decades.

Back in 1990, William F. Buckley Jr. published a little book called Gratitude. Subtitled “Reflections On What We Owe To Our Country,” the book was Buckley’s attempt to propose a Switzerland-style national-service program for America’s youth, born out of his concern that the younger generation lacked responsibility and patriotism. No doubt fully aware of the controversy that his proposal would ignite among many of his fellow travelers on the political right, Buckley wrote: