By David French
Friday, July 22, 2016
In the battle over the role of government in American
life, it’s clear that the Left is winning decisively. The era of small
government is over. As Donald Trump’s convention speech made clear, the
election of 2016 is a race between an old-school Democrat and a new-school
progressive — between a post-war Teamsters’ boss and a university professor.
Actual conservatism is nowhere in sight.
I can’t recall a Republican speech in my lifetime that
put such an overwhelming emphasis on the ability of a national leader to
transform American lives. I and I alone will protect Americans from ISIS, from
domestic crime, and from the free market, Trump declared. Corporations won’t
move their factories, wages will increase, and trade will suddenly become fair.
How? Don’t ask. He’ll make it so.
Nor can I remember a modern Republican speech that put
less emphasis on life, liberty, or the Constitution. He never mentioned
abortion or Roe v. Wade. His
discussion of religious liberty focused entirely around the Johnson Amendment —
obscure legislation that has kept churches out of politics — and neglected the
far more grave concerns about the independence and even existence of religious
institutions in the face of increasingly militant secular progressives. In a
speech that lasted 75 minutes and felt even longer, he used the word “freedom”
once. “Liberty” was nowhere to be found.
Conservatives have long focused on the reality that
private individuals and private associations are the best-equipped to encourage
and foster human flourishing. Churches and civic associations take care of
their members better than government social workers. Businesses large and small
are best-equipped to respond to and spearhead economic innovation. Good
families are better than even the best government at raising children and
overseeing their education.
Thus, much of the modern conservative enterprise has been
focused around protecting individuals and private associations from government
encroachment, and ending government monopolies on enterprises such as education
in an attempt to spur competition and restore the primacy of the family in the
lives of children. This philosophy depends on a world of mutual obligations, with individuals and families primarily
responsible for their own well-being and governments responsible for protecting
their liberty and security.
The breakdown of the family and the increasing alienation
of the individual has changed this calculus. A person in an intact marriage who
belongs to a thriving church looks at the world very differently from a single
parent living on their own or an older divorcée who’s disconnected from the
surrounding community. During the primary, the more a Republican was connected
to a church or to civic associations, the less likely they were to vote for
Trump. The more alienated the citizen, the more likely they were to hop on the
Trump Train.
Trump understands what Democrats have long understood:
The disconnected and vulnerable often feel that they have nowhere to turn but
to government. They feel helpless and look for a champion. That’s why President
Obama put out his much-derided “Julia” cartoon: to show single women that they
have nothing to fear, because the government will meet all their most critical
earthly needs.
Trump could put out his own cartoon — let’s call his hero
“Frank” — describing how, thanks to his chosen leader, Frank can keep his job,
increase his wages, and prevent his nasty factory owner from closing up shop
and heading to Mexico. Trump will keep Frank safe, limit Frank’s economic
competition, and protect Frank from the world economy.
But Trump’s Frank relies not so much on his man’s
policies as his man’s promises. Obama came to the table bearing proposed gifts,
a potpourri of programs that purport to protect Americans from cradle to grave.
Trump comes to the table bearing himself, pledging to be Frank’s champion and
asking Frank to trust that Trump’s incredible talent and winning habits will
carry the day.
Conservatives have to face a sobering reality: At present
they simply do not have a message that reaches the Franks of the world like
Trump’s does.
Intact, church-going, engaged families face each day with
more hope and optimism — and with greater resilience — than their more
alienated peers. The connected conservative largely experiences government as
an impediment to prosperity, as a drag on their dreams. Yet — as I wrote in the
aftermath of the 2012 GOP defeat — a conservative message of small government,
self-reliance, and individual liberty turns out to be pretty terrifying to
millions of struggling Americans. In 2016, we learned that many of those
millions inhabit the GOP ranks. They weren’t ever going to embrace the
multicultural progressivism of the New Left, but the protectionism and
paternalism of the old liberal order had its appeals.
In other words: The southern Democrat is back. The
old-school Midwest union boss is back. They have their champion, and he’s the
GOP nominee. For now, the Left has won. The only real question is which version
of big-government liberalism will prevail in November.
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