Politics
100 Years of W
BY LISA SCHIFFREN
hat does it mean to be a conservative today? To what principles must one adhere? Are
there policy ideas that you must accept, politicians you must support? We are living in an intellectually incoherent moment, watching the increasingly left-wing Dem- ocratic Party subvert much that conservatives hold dear about American gov- ernment and culture. And it’s not clear who or what is
riding to the rescue. Unless you think that Donald J. Trump can save the day . . . and if the permanent political class in D.C. will let him govern, or even be elected. Those are big ifs. It hasn’t always been like this. In his excellent book, The Right:
always been messy.
Continetti is conserva- tive. He has spent his life at
the intersection of Washington, D.C., conservative journalism, and policy — at The Weekly Standard and the American Enterprise Institute. The narrative begins with Warren
Harding and Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. Coming after the progressive Woodrow Wilson, their Republicanism
Coolidge was staunchly for racial equality and opportunity for Blacks. However, Harding and Coolidge were strongly anti-immigration.
Being ‘Right’
Author Matthew Continetti examines a century of conservatives who have shaped American politics.
The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism, Matthew Continetti examines the past century’s worth of conservative politics that have seen the American right wax and wane, win and lose, shape policy, and fail to do so.
If you care about conser- vative politics, the book is worth reading for the big picture of where we’ve been — and for the reminder that conservative
was based on “a popular mix of untrammeled commerce, high tariff s, disarmament, for- eign policy restraint, and devo- tion to the constitutional foundation.” Those years were a rare moment when everyday Republican politics overlapped greatly with basic con- servatism and the general ethos of the country.
Coolidge “urged his audience to pre- serve the inheritance of the founders and to follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed.”
The Ku Klux Klan grew during this politics has
high immigration period, but Coolidge was staunchly for racial equality and opportunity for Blacks. However, Harding and Coolidge were strongly anti-immigration. All of this worked well during the prosperous, peaceful decade of the 1920s. It crumbled in the face of the Great Depression. When Herbert Hoover fell to
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, it would be 20 years and a radical trans- formation of government before a sig- nifi cant new conservatism appeared. Meanwhile, the New Deal expand-
ed the size of American government, especially the welfare state, and ini- tiated the administrative state, with unelected bureaucrats making policy decisions previously belonging to the
COOLIDGE 38 NEWSMAX | APRIL 2023
HARDING
BUCKLEY JR.
ELEPHANT/RCARNER/SHUTTERSTOCK / BUCKLEY JR./AP IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
