A grand merger between conservatism and populism is a logical
inevitability that will boost both the movement and, more importantly, the
nation.
Since Donald Trump’s surprise victory
several weeks ago, a debate has raged in conservative circles over to what
extent, if any, conservatives should adopt some of Trump’s more “populist”
tendencies and policies. While Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party and
ascension to the presidency are complete, there clearly remains resistance in
some conservative circles. However, a grand merger between conservatism and
populism is a logical inevitability that will boost both the movement and, more
importantly, the nation. That’s because at its core, conservatism is a populist
movement.
Princeton University’s Wordnet defines populism as “the political
doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their
struggle with the privileged elite,” which is a reasonably fair description.
Unlike other political philosophies, populism does not clearly offer specific
policy prescriptions, rather a framework through which to view policies:
whether they help the working man and woman. This fits perfectly within
conservatism.
Conservatives share a natural skepticism of
the ruling class, recognizing the corrupting influence of power. It is one of
man’s seemingly inescapable flaws that upon taking power he engages in
rent-seeking behavior or misuses power for personal profit. Recognizing this
weakness, George Washington did a great service, setting the precedence of only
serving two terms as president. Rather than trust elites, conservatives have
faith in the ingenuity of the average citizen and aim to have citizens retain
as much power as possible. Entrusting the citizenry over elites? Sure sounds
populist to me.
The Right Needs Skepticism of Big Business
This battle with Trump’s populism is not a
new one, but an elevation of an existing struggle within the movement. At its
most striking, you can contrast Fox’s Bill O’Reilly (a pragmatic populist) with
George Will (an elite intellectual, doctrinaire). The battle obviously runs
deeper, typically pitting workingman-oriented conservatives (like Tom Cotton or
Mike Huckabee) against Chamber of Commerce Republicans (like Mitt Romney or Jeb
Bush).
Having endured years of intellectual
stagnation if not rotting since the Reagan years, Chamber of Commerce types
have obtained increasing levels of political power. Unfortunately, that has at
times led to a policy mix that is more corporatist than capitalist or
conservative. After all, the corrosive nature of power is not limited to just
government officials but infects big business and the media just as easily. A
complex tax code and entangling regulations often serve as mere barriers to
entry that let entrenched firms continue to dominate, at the expense of
innovators and ultimately consumers.
Additionally when it comes to trade or
immigration, corporate interests can deviate from those of the citizenry.
Immigration policies that may boost aggregate but not per capita output can
goose corporate profits while hurting most existing citizens. Similarly, a
large corporation that can relocate production easily may be less interested in
fair terms of trade and more in gaining access to a new market. The family of
four in Wisconsin probably feels differently. Ultimately, conservatives should
have the same skepticism for big business as they do for big government.
Before Trump, that was not the case, or
certainly not perceived to be the case, and in politics perception is reality.
In 2012 among voters who primarily wanted a president “who cared about people
like me,” Mitt Romney lost by an embarrassing 81 to 18 percent divide. Conservatives
had been unable to shake off the caricature that we care only about the rich
and big businesses. At its best, conservatism is the optimistic and populist
political ideology. When people vote for conservatives, they should feel like
they are placing a bet on themselves. We needed to return to this message of
empowerment and hope.
How This Worked for Ronald Reagan
President Reagan laid this out perfectly in
his 1980 Inaugural Address. While history has
remembered “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our
problem; government is the problem,” this section rings most powerfully:
We have every right to dream
heroic dreams. Those who say that we’re in a time when there are not heroes,
they just don’t know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and
out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed
all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and
they’re on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in
themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and
opportunity. They’re individuals and families whose taxes support the
government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and
education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our
national life.
Now, I have used the words
‘they’ and ‘their’ in speaking of these heroes. I could say ‘you’ and
‘your,’ because I’m addressing the heroes of whom I speak — you, the citizens
of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be
the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.
Reagan’s brand of conservatism was so
powerful because it was so clearly driven by his faith and belief in every
individual in this country. In the years since his presidency, conservatism has
lost this spark, moving from an affirmation of the individual to an ideology
obsessed with the top marginal tax rate. Defying parody, a top donor even called eliminating the estate tax “the
linchpin of the conservative movement.” When did our great movement become so
small-minded?
Trump is the first major Republican public
official in years to explicitly put his faith in working Americans and tell
them to dream big again. Maddeningly, some conservatives have argued back that
these dreams (like growing manufacturing jobs) are too big to be achieved. The
fact is that the past 16 years have been difficult for many. While the Obama
recovery has been epically tepid, the Bush economy was no panacea. Gross
domestic product growth was a meager 2.1 percent during his presidency, and real median
incomes fell from $57,790 in 2000 to $55,376 in
2008. New thinking on the Right is needed.
Germany Saw a Manufacturing Resurgence. Why Can’t
We?
At $56,516, household median incomes are
lower today than they were in 1998. Since the 1998 high, manufacturing
employment has plummeted by more than 5 million. That’s more
than 750 jobs shed every single day for at least 18 years. Trump’s focus on
reinvigorating our manufacturing sector has earned him tremendous disdain from
some conservatives who almost seem willing to sell Americans short.
Yet decline in this sector is a choice, not
destiny. Since the start of 2005, while American manufacturing employment has
fallen by nearly 15 percent, Germany’s manufacturing employment has increased
by 7 percent. Developed economies can compete in value-add manufacturing. Had
our manufacturing sector underperformed Germany not by 22 percent but only 11
percent, another 1.5 million Americans would have a job today.
Rather than dismiss manufacturing as a
populist folly, conservatives should look to fix our outdated tax code,
encourage learning skilled trades in high school, and streamline regulations to
boost the sector. These are worker-oriented, populist policies. It is no
coincidence that the sector we regulate least, the Internet, has enjoyed
explosive growth, while a sector burdened by regulation, manufacturing, has
stagnated. Innovators flock to areas where innovation isn’t inhibited.
Similarly, for a movement that doubts
government’s competence, I’ve been stunned to see how fiercely some
conservatives defend our trade deals, as though it is impossible to fathom the
idea our government negotiators did a subpar job. The empirical data shows that since 1994, import growth
has exceeded export growth by 30 percentage points. Had exports kept pace with
imports, they would be more than $300 billion higher today, enough to support
north of 1 million jobs.
Considering these trade deals were supposed
to get us access to new, fast-growing markets, there is a credible argument to
be made that export growth should have exceeded imports. We know that nations
like China have little respect for intellectual property laws and subsidize
state-owned enterprises to take market share internationally. Allowing foreign
nations to distort trade to benefit themselves isn’t conservative.
Conservatives and populists alike should push for trade deals that benefit
American citizens and renegotiate those that don’t.
Specific Policies Aren’t Principles and Need to Be
Revamped
Our economy clearly isn’t working like it
should. For the past 40 years, GDP growth has averaged 3.2 percent. Today, the
Federal Reserve sees potential growth at a paltry 1.8
percent. When there is less growth to go around, the politically connected
inevitably enjoy a disproportionate share of the gains, typically at the
expense of average citizens. We also must remember that small deviations in
growth matter “big league.” If our economy grows at 3 percent instead of 2
percent over the next 25 years, real per capita annual income will be over
$20,000 higher. That is a dramatic difference in living standards.
Reagan’s core
conservative principle was not cutting the top tax rate; it was returning power
to the citizenry.
We all should be working tirelessly to get
potential growth back up, but we also must realize that the policy mix of the
past 16 years hasn’t been working particularly well for all but a very few. The
last eight years, where growth has frequently fallen short of 2 percent, is a
reminder that big government doesn’t work, but conservatives do themselves no
favors reflexively going back to the 1980 playbook.
For too long, many conservatives have been
confusing policies with principles. Reagan’s core conservative principle was
not cutting the top tax rate; it was returning power to the citizenry. Given
the problems the economy faced in 1980 (an aggregate supply shortage driven by
excessively high costs of capital), Reagan cut top tax rates to free up
capital, creating an investment boom that lasted for 20 years. Cutting top tax
rates was a policy but not the underlying principle.
Today’s problems are different, so the
policies should be. Inflation isn’t excessive, and apart from cash idiotically
trapped overseas, the cost of capital is fairly low. Our problems are a
persistent skills gap, industrial production that is no higher than a decade
ago, and exports that are significantly below potential levels. The answers to
these problems lie in Trump’s populist conservatism: namely focusing on U.S.
manufacturing, bettering trade deals, increasing the earned income tax credit,
and sweeping education reform. These policies are all aimed at giving Americans
more control over their own lives, which has been conservatives’ goal for
decades, while boosting otherwise stagnant median income.
The Core Should Be Giving Americans More Power
In recent years, we as conservatives have
lost our way, and too often, we parrot the same policies without remembering
the rationale for what we believe: entrusting each citizen with more power and
responsibility. This problem brings me to my favorite homily. As most Catholics
(and I suspect many of other faiths) can relate to, many homilies are quite
forgettable, but on occasion, one is particularly powerful. I heard it one
Christmas when I was in elementary school and it has stuck with me for years.
It tells a story that is applicable across many facets of our lives and
relevant to the current battle in conservatism. Here is the story as I remember
it.
In the Swiss Alps, there was a small church
with a small but devoted congregation. On the side of the church, there was a
white plaster wall. Upon entering the church, everyone would kneel or bow in
front of the wall. Often, people would say a brief prayer. This tradition had
been going on for many years, for longer than most parishioners had belonged to
the church. No one gave thought to why it was done, merely carrying on with the
tradition.
This fight
between the common citizenry and centralized elites of all kinds, whether they
be in government, media, or business, has been the defining battle of the
republic.
One year, the church was undergoing a
much-needed restoration. Having chipped after years of wear and tear, part of
the restoration involved stripping down the white plaster from the wall to redo
it. As they stripped down the wall, the construction workers uncovered a giant mural
of Christ on the cross. The construction workers immediately beckoned the
pastor, asking what to do. He of course told them not to re-cover the mural.
No one could ever understand when or why
the mural was covered with that coat of white plaster, but going forward, every
time a parishioner entered the church he or she bowed or knelt in front the
mural of Christ.
I don’t know whether this anecdote is
factual or embellished, but it has remained with me nonetheless. Regardless of
its veracity, the underlying message is just as important. Often in life, we go
through the motions, losing sight of why we do things or why we believe what we
believe. This is the issue that faces conservatives today. Our movement has
faced an intellectual stagnation in the post-Reagan era, failing to modernize
policy proposals to fix today’s problems. It is this intellectual exhaustion
that made the party so susceptible to a “hostile takeover” from an outsider
like Trump.
As our leaders argued for lower taxes or
pro-corporate policies seemingly for their own sake, Trump reminded us that
conservatism is about the average person, not the elite or big business. Heck,
it was Reagan who disparaged the idea “that a little
intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better
than we can plan them ourselves.”
This fight between the common citizenry and
centralized elites of all kinds, whether they be in government, media, or business,
has been the defining battle of the republic. In recent years, many Republicans
have been on the wrong side of this fight. With his campaign and
worker-oriented policies that meet our present troubles, Trump promises to
return power to the average citizen and unleash our ingenuity. He should remind
all conservatives just what our movement is all about: the people. We should
adapt accordingly.
Scott
Ruesterholz is a politically active conservative in New York, NY. He works in
financial services. He can be followed on Twitter @Read_N_Learn.
