Thread by @JonahDispatch

Good thread. Here’s mine:
I find the “conservatism was always a con” stuff to be total b.s. It misses the fact that people(s) can change over time. The neo-populist right isn’t revealing conservatism’s “true colors” it’s trying to replace conservatism. Many admit it. 1/

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1398478925496520707

Ideological commitments ≠ identity politics. People and parties change because cultures change. A lot of Democrats say they are socialist today. This doesn’t mean Ds were always secretly socialist and only now are showing their “true colors.” 2/

The left’s changed a lot over the last 40 years. But you don’t hear people trying to seriously argue that Sam Nunn or Scoop Jackson were just providing cover for socialists or were secret socialists, because they weren’t. 2021 Al Gore is a different dude than 1990 Gore. 3/

But a lot of people are making that kind of argument about the right, as if Trump merely exposed what it was all along. No doubt he exposed some ugliness, fraud, and cynicism but the truth is the right has changed. It’s suffering from populism poisoning. 4/

Populism changes peoples’ outlook. It corrupts and overwhelms institutions. It distorts incentive structures and creates horrible permission structures. Conservatives deserve a lot of blame for fueling it, and even more for surrendering to it. But... 5/

That’s a different thing than saying “this was conservatism all along.” Anyway, I have more thoughts on this here, particularly the bottom section gfile.thedispatch.com/p/conservatism… 6/

Oh, I should also say that this was a major argument of Suicide of the West. Our society — on the right and the left — suffers from a profound epidemic of ingratitude, resentment and contempt for our country, our traditions, our history, and our ideals. 7/

That trend, which is psychological and cultural, is what’s driving most of what’s wrong in our politics, including the corruption of conservatism. 8/8