Steven Ellis
Chapter 13 speech outline
1. Chapter’s beginning
- The chapter begins with the lowly condition of conservatism at the end of WWII,
where it is thought of as lacking the resources to deal with the postwar world
due to being identified as with fascism and the policies that produced the
Great Depression.
- Some people went as far as to say liberalism was dominant, that conservatism
was no longer in any great circulation and a relic of the past. This was
proven wrong with the onset of McCarthyism.
- This of course didn't stop liberals from defining the conservative ideology
using such rhetoric as psychologically disturbed, among other statements.
- It was during the time of McCarthyism that conservative thinkers began
"reclaiming" the idea of freedom, setting the stage for the dominating train
of thought among today's conservatives.
- One such thought was antistatism, basically meaning decentralized power,
limited government, and a free market economy. The people with this mindset
were called "libertarian conservatives," with the defining divisive
characteristic being a relationship between freedom and unregulated capitalism.
Some of these thinkers even went so far as to say that virtually all
government functions should be privatized, such as Social Security and national
parks. Individual freedom could not be controlled by the state as that was not
its purpose; morality should not be the law.
- Of course, not everyone was convinced a free market held the answer. Another
side of the argument was that absolute values, such as Christian values, were
called for. Absolute truth was much more a necessity than toleration of
difference, the cardinal virtue of modern liberalism.
- One of the only similarities between moral and libertarian conservatives was
their shared hostility toward liberals. Otherwise, those seeking moral values
cared little for economic concerns.
- This division remains to this very day, the actual purpose of conservatism
clouded by the struggle of the opposing trains of thought.
- Question 1: Is the purpose of conservatism to create and encourage the free
man, or the good man?
- Most seemed to agree it was the good man, and as a result, many conservatives
agreed with McCarthyism and its invasions on individual freedom, much to the
dismay of the libertarian side.
2. Goldwater
- Barry Goldwater entered the picture in the 1964 presidental campaign. His
ideas were a mix of spiritualism and libertarianism. Goldwater established
himself by winning a Senate seat in Arizona in 1958 and with a book in 1960
called The Conscience of a Conservative.
- Goldwater claimed that no people dependent on a central government's subsidies
can ever state they are free. He did however call for private charities in
place of programs like public welfare.
- Goldwater's 1964 nomination was considered a great triumph by a movement
viewed as "out to repeal the twentieth century." He sought to reclaim "the
words of freedom" from Johnson and the New Deal state.
- However, the Democrats painted him as an extremist who would rid us of Soc. Sec.
and risk nuclear war, not that Goldwater didn't help much on that end with a
statement that nuclear war may be the price of freedom, and defeated Goldwater
who only got 40% of the vote.
- While a failure, the campaign helped solidify ideas that would remain with
conservatives for years to come. He also carried five states in the Deep South,
becoming the first Republican to ever do so, setting the stage for a "Southern
Steven Ellis
Chapter 13 speech outline
strategy" that would help Nixon claim the White House four years later.
3. Racial tension
- Goldwaters five state victory in the south was an indication that the civil
rights revolution was already redrawing the political map of the country.
- In the 50's, conservatives weren't exactly open to the ideas of desegragation
and black freedom. Brown vs. Board of Education, for example, was viewed as
an invasion of freedom of association, as people should be allowed to be
racist if they so choose.
- Libertarians did not share the same sentiment, but rather, didn't care. They
thought the free market would cause desegragation itself without the help of
government as the market would penalize racist policies. Even Goldwater
agreed when he voted against the 1964 Civil Rights act. He claimed that
people should be able to enjoy the freedom not to associate.
- In the early 60's, conservatives as a whole began to back off of any racial
superiority arguments, although such overtones were inherent in such arguments
such as freedom of association and the evils of welfare should you look for
them. This was incredibly apparent with George Wallace's rallying cry at the
1964 Democratic primaries with "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
segragation forever!"
- Another stronger premonition was Proposition 14 in California, which repealed
a 1963 law banning racial discrimination in real estate sales. Nearly 3 out of
4 whites voted for Proposition 14, which was stricken down by the California
Supreme Court in 1966, giving the impression that government was imposing reform
on the majority.
4. The late 70’s rise of conservatism and religious right
- The backlash among voters from these kinds of actions also helped propel Richard
Nixon to the White House in 1968, though he turned out to be just another
mainstream Republican, not satisfying conservatives at all.
- The early 70's saw events, national and international, reshape the political
landscape in a setup to the 80's and that decade's conservative triumph.
Foremost was the end of 1973 that saw a period of slow growth and high inflation,
resulting in such things as a rise in the rate of jobs shifted overseas.
- These events only made calls for lower taxes by conservatives more and more
appealing as anxiety climbed higher. Moral and libertarian conservatives both
agreed on such ideas and worked toghether despite their radically different base
ideas on freedom.
- Events of the 70's such as the withdrawal from Vietnam and Watergate gave the
impression that the era of worldwide dominance the US had so enjoyed had come
to a close. The hostage situation in Iran made things even worse, and President
Jimmy Carter even contributed by saying Americans were mistaken in their ideas of
freedom, that we should be devoted to a common purpose and not ourselves.
- Carter's unpopular ideas on freedom, along with his attempts to reorient foreign
policy away from the Cold War as American fears of communism were rather out of
the ordinary, led to his electoral defeat at the hands of Reagan in 1980. This
defeat marked the rise of religious conservatives to the world of politics.
- Christian consevatives embraced the free market ideas of their libertarian
counterparts, but they owed far more to the moral conservative ideas, even going
so far as to believe that if morality needed to be legislated, they should do so.
- Another reflection of the rise to power of this new breed of conservative was marked
by the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972. It was approved by Congress without
opposition and sent to the states.
- Thought to be uncontroversial, things took a surprising twist when the ERA made
Steven Ellis
Chapter 13 speech outline
obvious a divide among women as wide as the gender gap itself. To its supporters,
it was guaranteed freedom, no longer bound by the ball and chain that is the home.
To its opponents, the roles of wife and mother were freedom and this amendment was
a threat.
- The amendment failed to be ratified by a required number of 38 states. It showed
that traditional gender roles were still important to many women despite the
feminist's opinions.
- Abortion rights also revealed a deep divide. Roe vs. Wade helped to draw a bitter
line through US politics and set the religious against the secular. It was similar
to the ERA in that it showed that women were divided over their own freedom, although
other opinions aren't about so much personal freedom as it is the rights of the
unborn children in question.
- Nevertheless, the so-called Reagan Revolution changed freedom from a rallying cry
of the left to the cry of the right.
5. Reagan
- Reagan, originally a New Deal Democrat, emerged as a publicist for GE, coming to
national attention with his nominating speech for Goldwater at the 1964 Republican
convention. When he won the 1966 election for California governor, he became the
best hope for conservatives to reach the White House. His presidental victory
united many conservatives on both sides.
- Like Roosevelt, Reagan was a master of the media, often invoking the very language
of his opposition to suit his own needs.
- He also associated himself with symbols of nationality, such as the flag, and
repeated that America is to be a beacon of liberty and freedom.
- Although many of his policies are said to be started by Carter oddly enough, Reagan
championed them with the prevaling theme of freedom.
- Indeed, freedom was the word of the Reagan preidency, as he brought it up more than
any president ever. He completed the process of the left's abandonment of the word
and the right wing's identification with the subject.
- Foreign policy was no different in this regard, as the U.S. and its allies were
considered part of a "crusade for freedom." He even went so far as to sarcastically
remark that the Russian language had no word for freedom, though as the book clearly
shows, the author selectively denies any sense of sarcastic humor.
- Reagan saw two threats to the survival of freedom: communism abroad and big government
here. As a result, his administration brought about an end to the era of the New Deal
as a dominant set of public policies and such.
- Economic freedom to Reagan was not mere rhetoric like his predecessors; his vision was
the dismantlement of regulations and power reduction for unions so that individuals
could freely contract for goods and services.
- It also included the radical reduction of high taxes, which was essential to Reagan's
philosophy that the right to earn your keep and keep what you earn was what it meant to
be free.
- Reagan's presidency, overall, sought to serve both sides of conservative thought, that
while a free market was essential to freedom, so was morality. Economic freedom was
evident in his policies, while moralistic freedom was evident in his support and his
own words. However, the willingness to admit one was liberal pretty much died during
his terms in office, as liberal became a horrible label to have whereas not a few
decades earlier, it was thought of as the most common train of thought in America.
6. The 90’s
- The 90's, in their own way, are considered a triumph of conservative thought. The
decade began with the supposed collapse of communism as an ideological force and of
the Soviet Union.
Steven Ellis
Chapter 13 speech outline
- 1994 also saw success as Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since
the 50's. Called the Freedom Revolution, the triumph is mainly attributed to the use
of freedom as a political selling point. Claiming that the Cold War's end also marked
the end of any need for a powerful central government, conservatives turned to the
federal government for their next set of issues.
- One of the results of this turn came in 1996 when Congress abolished, with the approval
of President Clinton, the New Deal program of Aid to Dependent Children, commonly known
as welfare, replacing it with state grants and hope that the needy would turn to friends,
families, charities, and churches.
- The 90's were also an era where retro was the style when it came to debates. Freedom
of expression is one of many examples, where arguments in 1942 that America was illprepared to handle threats on free speech were repeated again 50 years later.
- This issue, according to the book, is no longer popular in court with individuals, but
with corporations in legal action or trouble with regulations on media ownership. The
corporate view was backed by the Supreme Court and the ACLU by their thoughts that
spending money was deserving of 1st amendment protection.
- Social Darwinism, the belief that government should not interfere with the economy, was
once thought dead, but was also revived in the 90's. Leaders of both the Republicans
and the Democrats did nothing to address such issues as this one but that we should let
the market take its course.
- Still, the ideas of Carter were not dead either. Some believe we, as a majority, believe
freedom is little more than the right to be left aone, that it was the right to not be
forced into believing other's ideas or values.
- The end of the cold war triggered a cynicism about public institutions. People became far
more obsessed with the rights of individuals and groups than the nation as a whole. Some
became militant, and formed militias at the far end of the right wing spectrum, such as
the Freemen in Montana. The end of the war and the spawning of a global economy had
formed what one philosopher called a "rebellion of particularisms."
- This rebellion included the renewed assertions of group power, of racial power in
particular. Such unions only raised the alarm of a fragmented society, the coming death
of the melting pot, if you will.
- Both conservatives and liberals have decried the rise of identity politics and
multiculturalism ever since, as such things that undermine a sense of American identity.
7. The end of the century
- At the end of the century, it was very apparent that freedom was not only a self-definition
for society as individuals and a whole, but that it was still a source of contention. Even
so, it is the one aspect of this country a majority of Americans believe in... at least,
according to one poll. What they actually meant by freedom, however, was not asked for,
and therefore, the poll really didn't answer anything. We may say we cherish freedom most
of all, but in the end, what exactly it is we cherish may always be debatable.
Questions:
1. Is the purpose of conservatism to create and encourage the free man, or the good man?