Thread by @msbellows

.@RadioFreeTom's written an interesting thread here, but I keep thinking back to this old discussion where he said that conservatism's main feature isn't standing for things, but standing against them:

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/596084985754460161?s=20

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

@RadioFreeTom (Thread referenced above:)
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https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/596084985754460161?s=20

@RadioFreeTom That's the classic Buckleyesque statement of conservatism that all '80s college students (including both Tom and I) learned: that a conservative is someone who "stands athwart history, yelling Stop."

It's essentially nihilistic...
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@RadioFreeTom ... and I'd be curious whether Tom (and the other NT conservatives) still believes Buckley was correct in defining conservatism that way, or whether he's realized that by "stop!" Buckley meant "preserve the current unjust system that put people like us on top."
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@RadioFreeTom Because the original sin of modern conservatism was not populism or Trumpism. It was Buckley's essentially racist, classist nihilism, the conservative opposition to all progress, that seeded the GOP's current rot. And it was full-fledged in the '50s.
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@RadioFreeTom Until Never Trump conservatives can stop admiring conservatism's supposed intellectualism, + admit that the "intellectual crust" (incl. modern conservatism's Founding Father, Buckley) WAS ITSELF conservatism's "nasty base," I fear they're still lost...
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https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1398478931284615171

@RadioFreeTom I fear even NT conservatism still defines itself as shaping and improving progress, rather than by the kneejerk impulse to yell "stop!" When conservatives begin defining themselves as people who actually advance policies that move our nation forward, I'll be glad!...
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@RadioFreeTom I'd value a conservatism that says, "yes, this train must advance, but let's slow a little for that hairpin turn." That's what Romney did by advancing an early version of the Affordable Care Act in Mass. But the other 99.9% of conservatives opposed it. They yelled "stop."
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@RadioFreeTom Conservatives can't pretend to be a party of ideas and ideals, while still defining themselves primarily, as Tom once put it, as people who generally oppose policies rather than advancing them.

Bec, again, that's the nihilistic, amoral root rot of modern conservatism:
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@RadioFreeTom Buckley's famous "stop!" ALWAYS was window dressing for "preserve an imperfect, unjust status quo." Anyone who can't see the direct link between Buckley's posh racism and Trump's gutter racism still has scales on their eyes.
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@RadioFreeTom But I'd love to hear that Tom et al. see this now! I truly would!

In my mind, the starting point would be for Tom to say, "Buckley was dead wrong. Progress is good! We should've blocked fewer policies and shaped more of them, and New Conservatism will do that going forward."
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@RadioFreeTom For decades now, Buckleyesque conservatism has pretended to endorse travel while tearing up the tracks. Conservative values are HELPFUL when they function as brakes that know when to slow the train, and also when NOT to slow it. Conservatism can make progress surer, safer...
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@RadioFreeTom But it has to define itself in terms of progress, not obstruction. A new "yes, but also" conservatism would be good for America.

That means redefining itself in terms of advancing and shaping policies, not opposing them.
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@RadioFreeTom But a "new" conservatism that blames its "nasty base" while still admiring its "intellectual crust" – that thinks the GOP's problem is Trump or populism, rather than its Buckley roots, racist pseudointellectualism, opposition to change – falls short.

I hope for better.
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@RadioFreeTom P.S.: I should add that I AGREE with everything @RadioFreeTom says in his @TheAtlantic article (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…), except for paragraph 6 and his belief that Reagan-era Republicans actually stood optimistically FOR something. It's a good piece that liberals should read.

@RadioFreeTom @TheAtlantic P.P.S./correction: tweet 7 above should say, "I fear even Never Trump conservatism still defines itself by the kneejerk impulse to yell "stop!", rather than as shaping and improving progress," rather than vice versa.

Management regrets the error.
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