Maybe that is the problem im encountering amongst a lot of fellow right wingers right now. I havent been able to narrow it down to what the problem has been. Your post got me thinking though. I get why there was a reaction to the conservatism of the 20th century, because of the destruction of the middle class & Nafta & American jobs being shipped overseas or filled by immigrsnts willing to work for far less. Its understandable, there was a reaction against the elite of both parties. AEntire groups of people were left behind. So it had to change to represent this reality. America First really did great deal to address that.
I think the problem comes in the accompanying anti-jntellectualism. I admit, I came of age in the late 90’s. My parents were 20th century conservatives. They listened to Rush Limbaugh daily, my dad & I would always watch Firing Line with William F. Buckley. I remember just a little bit of President Reagan (I was in elementary school. They each seemed like titans of Conservative thought. There was such a high standard amongst Conservatives to live up to- keeping your marriage strong, disciplining your kids, following your faith, making sure to vote & do your civic duty. Most parents wouldnt let their kids leave the hose unless they looked decent & presentable. Somehow, looking back, I feel we were all the better for it. One of those traits was holding ourselves & friends and family to a high standard.
It feels like when we were updating conservatism in the last decade, that we attempted to throw a lot of the good stuff out with it. Expecting good public behavior may have been one of those things. I expect liberals to be wackos and celebrate gross stuff, what’s disappointing is reading so-called-conservatives defending Boeberts behavior. It’s funny, when liberals take on an anti-intellectual attitude it seems to wear better on them- maybe because they weren’t generally intellectual or contemplative- they were emotionally based. They just come off like dopey hippies. When conservative try donning the anti intellectual attitudes- they just seem downmarket, uncurious & full of excuses and justifications.
I hope we retain the America First principles but lose the tribal anti-intellectualism. I see a lot of people throwing around terms they seem to barely understand when they accuse fellow conservatives of being deep staters or establishment types because they don’t know how to engage in a conversation & win a principled argument. They seem much more motivated by an us v them, class warfare, end of civilization philosophy & it’s off-putting.
So I enjoy listening to Jordan Petersons and reading Victor David Hanson, etc., because they seem advocate both traditional & modern conservatism, uphold high standards, don’t make excuses & do it all with intellectual curiosity & humor 😉
” I get why there was a reaction to the conservatism of the 20th century, because of the destruction of the middle class & Nafta & American jobs being shipped overseas or filled by immigrsnts willing to work for far less. Its understandable, there was a reaction against the elite of both parties.”
Those of us in the Buchanan wing recognized it for what it was as early as the GHW Bush presidency. Those policies came from the Republican establishment and their donors in the fraudulently name US Chamber of Commerce. The Bush GOP happily called it conservatism in order to gain votes.
The Bush gang snookered Rush Limbaugh into helping them sell this as “conservatism”. Rush wasn’t being disingenuous, he simply didn’t know that there was a difference. A great broadcaster, but not as knowledgeable as some think.
Rush was my age. We could vote in 1972 and I did. He didn’t vote until 1988, when he was 37. I am quite sure he wasn’t even paying attention. By that time I’d been active in politics for years and crossed paths with a whole lot of movers and shakers in conservative and Republican politics. I can assure you that many of them are far from pristine in their personal lives. Boebert is just clown enough to get caught in public but she’s not doing anything new.