Confronting the New Conservatism: The Rise of the Right in America PDF
Preview Confronting the New Conservatism: The Rise of the Right in America
Confronting the New Conservatism Confronting the New Conservatism The Rise of the Right in America edited by Michael J. Thompson a New York University Press new york and london new york university press New York and London www.nyupress.org © 2007by New York University All rights reserved Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Confronting the new conservatism :the rise ofthe right in America / edited by Michael J.Thompson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13:978-0-8147-8298-9(cloth :alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-8147-8298-1(cloth :alk.paper) ISBN-13:978-0-8147-8299-6(pbk.:alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-8147-8299-X (pbk.:alk.paper) 1.Conservatism—United States. 2.Political culture—United States. 3.Political parties—United States. 4.United States— Politics and government. I.Thompson,Michael,1973– JC573.2.U6C6532007 320.520973—dc22 2006025996 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction:Confronting the New Conservatism 1 Michael J.Thompson part i What Is the New Conservatism? 1 America’s Conservative Landscape:The New Conservatism and the Reorientation of American Democracy 9 Michael J.Thompson 2 Cultural Rage and the Right-Wing Intellectuals 31 Philip Green 3 Considerations on the Origins ofNeoconservatism: Looking Backward 56 Stanley Aronowitz 4 The New Political Right in the United States:Reaction, Rollback,and Resentment 71 Chip Berlet part ii The New Conservatism at Home 5 From Neoconservative to New Right:American Conservatives and the Welfare State 109 Charles Noble 6 Tearing Down the Wall:Conservative Use and Abuse of Religion in Politics 125 Diana M.Judd v vi Contents 7 Paradox or Contradiction:The Marriage Mythos in Neoconservative Ideology 144 R.Claire Snyder 8 The Neoconservative Assault on the Courts:How Worried Should We Be? 164 Thomas M.Keck part iii The Global Reach of the New Conservative Ideology 9 The Imperial Presidency:The Legacy ofReagan’s Central America Policy 197 Greg Grandin 10 The Neocon Con Game:Nihilism Revisited 225 Nicholas Xenos 11 One-Dimensional Men:Neoconservatives,Their Allies and Models 247 Lawrence Davidson 12 Resisting the Right:Challenging the Neoconservative Agenda 269 Stephen Eric Bronner Contributors 285 Index 289 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Sam Aboelela, Stephen Eric Bronner, John Ehren- berg, Elena Mancini, Frances Fox Piven, Brett Stoudt, Debbie Wolf, and Greg Zucker for discussions and comments that helped me flesh out the general idea of this book,as well as all the contributors for their enthusi- asm for the project. I would also like to thank my editor at NYU Press, Ilene Kalish,for her interest in this project from its inception and for her excellent editorial work. Finally, I would like to thank Mark Major for compiling the index. vii Introduction Confronting the New Conservatism Michael J. Thompson Conservative politics has been on the rise in America throughout the postwar era.Although conservatism has generally been the politics of the minority, the past several decades have seen a new assertion of conser- vatism in many domains of politics and culture, which has reshaped American political and public life in the process.America’s supposed con- servative turn has taken many different forms,from the election ofRonald Reagan to the presidency in 1980 to the Contract with America in 1994 to the recent aggression in the Middle East.But in the end,conservatism in America has consistently defined itself against the liberal establishment and has sought a redirection ofAmerican political and cultural life. This book is an attempt to come to terms with various aspects of con- servative political, social, economic, and cultural ideas, movements, and predispositions in contemporary American life. The essays collected here are each in their own way an attempt to reveal the deeper mechanisms that have come to define different aspects of conservative movements and politics: neoconservative foreign policy, the problem of populism, “cul- tural rage,” family values, gay marriage, far right-wing movements, the conservative turn in the courts, and the renewed attack on the welfare state, among other and related topics. As a whole, this book sees both a continuity and a distinction between “old” and “new” conservatism. On the one hand,there is a continuity with certain older forms ofracial back- lash,with provincialism,and with nationalism.But at the same time,there is something quite new about contemporary American conservatism:that it latches on to liberal notions ofprivate property and the rule oflaw;that it embraces markets,celebrates the autonomy of the individual,and most importantly sees itself as a “progressive” movement promising renewal, 1
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