Where ‘freedom conservatives’ and ‘national conservatives’ can, and can’t, find common ground
Awell-known and recurring vice of conservatism is a bias toward a pessimism tinged with nostalgia. Think of Whittaker Chambers’s remark about leaving the winning side when he turned against communism, or about the most common understanding of National Review’s opening statement that it meant to “stand athwart history, yelling Stop.” Or think of Burke’s lament that “the age of chivalry is gone” and “the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.”
And while Americans have a self-understanding as an optimistic people, we also have a tradition of deep worry about the republic’s future. Lincoln in 1838 spoke of “the increasing disregard for ...
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