{"id":1637345,"date":"2022-09-09T06:32:46","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T10:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637345"},"modified":"2022-09-09T06:33:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T10:33:17","slug":"four-myths-about-national-conservatism-you-should-stop-believing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/four-myths-about-national-conservatism-you-should-stop-believing\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Myths About National Conservatism You Should Stop Believing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffour-myths-about-national-conservatism-you-should-stop-believing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637345&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>This Sunday, many of the most important names in American conservatism will be gathering in Miami for the third annual National Conservatism conference. Within a few short years, we\u2019ve gone from a vague tendency to a full-fledged movement. No discussion of conservative lanes fails to mention the NatCons.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, some of the competing conservative camps would rather delegitimize us than debate us. Forget our opponents on the left; our erstwhile allies on the right have been spreading myths about who we are and what we believe. It\u2019s time to set the record straight.<\/p>\n<h2>Myth #1: NatCons Are Isolationists<\/h2>\n<p>After Iraq and Afghanistan, most of the country \u2014 both right and left \u2014 is far more reluctant to send our troops to fight foreign wars. Don\u2019t blame the NatCons for this; blame neocon overreach.<\/p>\n<p>The new consensus is to engage abroad only when we identify clear threats to our national security. But this still leaves enormous room for debate about what constitutes such a threat and how to respond to such threats.<\/p>\n<p>As opposed to the stereotype, the NatCon movement is home to a broad spectrum of opinions on these issues. There are those like Fox News host Tucker Carlson who urge us to concentrate on the most dangerous looming threat \u2014 China \u2014 rather than being distracted by what they view as lesser challenges. That\u2019s not isolation; that\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n<p>I and many other NatCons recognize a broader cast of enemies, including Iran and Russia. The solution we propose, however, is not to send American troops abroad to confront them. We instead recommend identifying and supporting allies who are willing to confront these enemies on our behalf. We see strengthening allies like Japan, South Korea, India, Israel, and Ukraine as the best way to protect our interests abroad. That\u2019s not isolation. That\u2019s the one form of internationalism that may well survive our Middle Eastern debacles.<\/p>\n<h2>Myth #2: NatCons Oppose Free Markets<\/h2>\n<p>I have yet to meet a NatCon who doesn\u2019t revere the free market as the engine of our prosperity. But we see the free market as the best means to an end and not an end in itself. We\u2019re therefore willing to depart from orthodox laissez faire when the national interest requires it.<\/p>\n<p>Market intervention becomes especially important when supposedly free trade isn\u2019t free at all. Many of the Founders, for example, recognized that Great Britain was manipulating free markets by subsidizing its domestic industries and then protecting them through tariffs. They understood that Great Britain would employ these tools to crush American manufacturing in the cradle, condemning us to be a supplier of raw materials for British factories. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In response, our first secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, advocated an industrial policy that included subsidies for infant industries along with protective tariffs. His policies were later championed by Henry Clay and were ultimately implemented to their fullest by President Abraham Lincoln. By the close of the 19th century, American industry was beginning to surpass that of Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Many NatCons see a parallel between British abuse of free trade in prior centuries and Chinese practices today. Thus we too call for a wise industrial policy and protective tariffs to level the playing field. This may betray the views of some Austrian economists. But it fulfills the free market vision of our most commerce-oriented Founders.<\/p>\n<h2>Myth #3: \u2018NatCon\u2019 Is Just Another Word for Trumpist<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re focused on policy, not personalities. You\u2019ll find no hero worship or life-size cut-outs at our events.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us supported President Donald Trump and voted for him twice. We give him credit for moving our nationalist agenda from the conservative fringes to its vital center. I and many of my colleagues were conservative pariahs until Trump mainstreamed our policy preferences.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, we welcome any politician who champions all or even part of our agenda. Among the speakers featured prominently at our conferences are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Josh Hawley. If you held a presidential straw poll at NatCon, I have no idea who would win it. That\u2019s exactly the way it should be.<\/p>\n<h2>Myth #4: NatCons Are White Nationalists with Better PR<\/h2>\n<p>We both have the word \u201cnationalist\u201d in our name, but that\u2019s where the similarity ends.<\/p>\n<p>From our very first days, we\u2019ve told white nationalists not to attend our events. I publicized the ban during the first plenary session of our first conference by declaring, \u201cWe are nationalists, not white nationalists. If anyone here tonight believes that being an American has anything to do with the color of someone\u2019s skin, please leave. There\u2019s the door. Your ideas are not welcome here.\u201d\u00a0No flirting with white nationalism here.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re used to the left shouting \u201cracist\u201d to shut down dissent. It\u2019s disappointing \u2014<br \/>and telling \u2014 when our critics on the right stoop to the same tactic.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  David Brog is the president of the Edmund Burke Foundation, which hosts the annual National Conservatism conference. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidKBrog.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Sunday, many of the most important names in American conservatism will be gathering in Miami for the third annual National Conservatism conference. Within a few short years, we\u2019ve gone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1343,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}