Abigail Anthony reports that police in Brussels are attempting to shut down the National Conservatism Conference currently being held there. The supposed motive is to “guarantee public safety.” But the mayor of the district in which the event is being held was explicit about his rationale, claiming that “the far-right is not welcome” in the area.
There are many problems with the ideology of national conservatism, such as, for example, its apparent discomfort with the principles of the Declaration of Independence. I prefer freedom conservatism, a political tendency that is often seen as a competitor with NatCons for predominance on the right. But my allegiance to freedom conservatism, whose statement of principles professes a deeply American commitment to “the freedom to say and think what one believes to be true,” is but one reason why I think what Brussels is doing to the NatCons is ridiculous.
Other FreeCons agree. A group of them have put together a letter making clear their disapproval of local-government actions taken against the conference. They do not do so out of great admiration for the principles of national conservatism, which they describe as characterized by an “incompatibility with the principles of a society of free people.” They are, however, “opposed much more deeply to the illiberalism on display in Brussels today,” as “the use of public authority and police force to shut down peaceful conferences and public meetings is anathema to a free and open society.”
Indeed. Some critics of national conservatism might go so far as to say that, if NatCons are not allowed to speak publicly, it will be impossible to know how wrong they are. But one needn’t go that far to support them against a demonstration of what one attendee described as “the state of free speech in Europe.” The unfortunate truth of that observation ought to make us grateful for the freedoms American society enjoys, and to inspire us to work to preserve and (when necessary) restore the tradition that has bequeathed them.