{"id":1979181,"date":"2023-07-21T05:19:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T09:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-freedom-conservatism-matters\/"},"modified":"2023-07-21T05:21:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T09:21:50","slug":"why-freedom-conservatism-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-freedom-conservatism-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Significance of Freedom Conservatism"},"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\">10<\/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%2Fwhy-freedom-conservatism-matters%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=1979181&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--><div>\n<h2>Freedom Conservatism: A New\u2062 Front in the War \u200cfor \u2062American Conservatism<\/h2>\n<p>On July 13, a group of journalists, policy wonks, and political activists opened a \u200dnew\u2064 front in\u200c the war for\u2064 American conservatism. One-hundred-and-twenty-two signatories,\u2063 led by \u2063Avik Roy of the\u2063 Foundation for Research on Equal \u2063Opportunity and John\u2062 Hood of the\u2062 John William Pope Foundation, affirmed\u2063 10 principles that define &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomconservatism.org\/p\/freedom-conservatism-a-statement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Freedom Conservatism<\/a>.&#8221; It&#8217;s \u2062a\u200d meaningful and necessary \u200bintervention in\u200c the ongoing debate on the Right\u200b over political\u200c economy that deserves to be read and \u2062shared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Emphasizing Key Issues<\/h3>\n<p>Most of \u200cFreedom Conservatism will be familiar to anyone with knowledge or experience\u200d of the conservative movement before June 2015. Still, the statement of principles \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomconservatism.org\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emphasizes<\/a> several \u2064issues \u200bthat \u200bhave \u200bemerged recently:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reducing the cost of living<\/li>\n<li>Restoring fiscal sobriety<\/li>\n<li>Addressing the legacy of slavery and Jim\u200c Crow while adhering to the Colorblind Constitution<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The\u200b major theme \u200cis\u200d that <strong>individual\u2063 liberty is necessary for human flourishing<\/strong>. &#8220;We call \u200dourselves Freedom\u2062 Conservatives,&#8221; the organizers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomconservatism.org\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">write<\/a>, &#8220;not because freedom \u2063is our sole interest but because without\u200b individual and\u2064 economic liberty, our other fundamental values and aspirations will prove impossible to sustain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>The Unraveling of the\u2062 Conservative Consensus<\/h3>\n<p>What&#8217;s\u200c remarkable about the document is that it had to be written at all. Conservatives have placed freedom at the heart of their political program since the 1930s. \u200cThey have resisted the encroaching control of centralized\u200b bureaucracies by appealing to the \u2062dignity of human \u200dlife,\u2062 the limited government \u2063of the Constitution, and the space that market economics provides for individual choice\u2064 and competition.<\/p>\n<p>This consensus held despite criticism from Libertarians \u2063and Traditionalists. It held because the principles and institutions of the American Founding anchored conservatives in a national history and \u2064culture that, among other things, have long been individualistic and suspicious of \u2064authority.\u2063 It \u200bheld because conservatives of\u2064 all stripes perceived\u2064 a common danger \u2063in unconstrained government \u2063and, perhaps most \u200dimportant, in \u200cthe Soviet Union and global communism.<\/p>\n<p>The consensus unraveled\u2063 in the\u2064 1990s. \u2064Victory defeated American \u2063conservatism. The collapse of the Soviet Empire, disintegration \u200dof the Soviet Union, \u200cand \u200bChina&#8217;s turn toward state capitalism removed,\u200c or obscured, the Communist threat. \u2063Congress lowered marginal \u200btax rates\u200c and exempted \u200bmore\u2062 Americans from income taxes. Lawmakers imposed time limits\u200c and work requirements on welfare, and caseloads fell. Cities adopted\u200d broken-windows policing and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-doj-celebrates-fewest-arrests-in-20-years\/\" title=\"Biden DOJ Celebrates Less Arrests in 20 years\">removed violent criminals<\/a> from the streets, and crime declined. For a moment in 2001,\u200b and again from 2003 to 2007, \u2064Republicans enjoyed full \u200bcontrol of\u2064 the federal government for the\u200b first time in\u200b 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>Success breeds confidence. \u2063It also leads to \u2064hubris\u200d and complacency. As President George \u2064W. Bush prosecuted the global war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, \u200csome younger\u2062 conservatives warned\u200d that the Republican Party \u200dwas neglecting the domestic concerns \u200cof its increasingly non-college voter base. The &#8220;Reform Conservative&#8221; group, writing in\u200d the pages \u200cof the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/weekly-standard\/the-party-of-sams-club\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Weekly<\/i><\/a><i> <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/weekly-standard\/putting-parents-first\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Standard<\/i><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2012\/05\/empty-playground-and-welfare-state-ramesh-ponnuru\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>National Review<\/i><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalaffairs.com\/publications\/detail\/beyond-the-welfare-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>National Affairs<\/i><\/a>, \u200ctried to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-freedom-conservatism-matters\/\" title=\"The Significance of Freedom Conservatism\">modify conservative political economy<\/a>\u2063 to address \u200cthe challenges of \u2064the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/draftkings-largest-shareholder-drops-12-million-on-crypto-artwork\/\" title=\"DraftKings Largest Shareholder Drops  Million On Crypto Artwork\">early 21st century<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>The \u2063Rise of National Conservatism<\/h3>\n<p>In\u2062 2016, a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2016_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plurality<\/a> of the \u2064GOP primary electorate\u2064 voted for a candidate \u2062who rejected large parts\u2063 of the conservative consensus. Donald \u2062Trump opposed changes to Social Security and\u200d Medicare, \u200cby far\u200c the\u200d largest drivers of America&#8217;s national \u200cdebt. He demanded that the United States leave the North\u2062 American Free Trade Agreement and rejected the Trans-Pacific\u2063 Partnership. He called for a southern border \u2064wall, a ban on Muslim immigration, and mass deportation of \u200dillegal immigrants. He rebuked the foreign policy of\u200b George W. Bush and adopted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/donald-trumps-america-the-rogue-superpower\/2018\/06\/14\/c01bb540-6ff7-11e8-afd5-778aca903bbe_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unilateral-nationalist<\/a> approach to international affairs. He drew equivalences between the\u200b United States and despotic regimes. He spoke more \u200dabout sovereignty and\u2064 strength than \u2063about freedom.<\/p>\n<p>Trump won the\u2062 general election \u200cthanks\u200c to narrow margins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and\u200d Wisconsin.\u200c Republicans held\u2062 unified control \u200dof government \u2063for the \u200cfirst time in\u2064 a \u2062decade. And Trump&#8217;s presidency altered\u200c the trajectory of the conservative movement, both \u2064political parties, the \u2062country, and the world. One irony of the Trump Era, however, is \u2063that his\u2063 most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/we-got-our-hopes-up-american-families-adjust-to-life-without-the-expanded-child-tax-credit\/\" title=\"\u2018We Got Our Hopes Up\u2019: American Families Adjust To Life Without The Expanded Child Tax Credit\">effective policy achievements<\/a> came\u2064 from the conservative consensus he destroyed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>The Significance of Freedom Conservatism<\/h3>\n<p>That is why Freedom \u2064Conservatism matters. \u2062The statement isn&#8217;t\u2064 perfect. Hugh Hewitt <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hughhewitt\/status\/1679527464450547725\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">observes<\/a> that it ought to mention property\u200b rights. Andrew T. Walker \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/wng.org\/opinions\/true-conservatism-is-not-mere-progressivism-in-slow-motion-1689679845\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">notes<\/a> that it departs from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yaf.org\/news\/the-sharon-statement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1960 Sharon Statement<\/a> by neglecting transcendent values and the \u200dexistence \u200bof God. My own manifesto\u2014yet to be written\u2014would include additional language on human \u2063rights and democracy and the mediating institutions of family, \u2063community, vocation, \u200band faith.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that, after spending years on \u200bdefense, conservatives who believe in political and economic freedom\u200d have drawn \u2062a line. \u2062They have taken \u2064a stand. They have\u200d offered the \u200bRight a choice, not \u200dan echo\u200c of Trump. One path leads away from the Founding and \u2064toward marginalization and contempt. The other builds on the \u200dAmerican \u2062political\u200c tradition and resonates with public aspirations for advancement \u2064and growth. Choose \u200bwisely.<\/p>\n<p><i>Matthew Continetti&#8217;s<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/matthew-continetti\/the-right\/9781541600515\/?lens=basic-books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism<\/a> <i>is \u200bnow out in paperback\u2062 with a new afterword by the\u200c author.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On July 13, a coalition of journalists, policy experts, and activists launched a fresh battle for American conservatism. Led by Avik Roy and John Hood, 122 signatories from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and John William Pope Foundation embraced 10 principles that embody &#8220;Freedom Conservatism.&#8221; A significant step forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":1979182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1979181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979181","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\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1979182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}