1

Conservativism in America: Spring 2020 2019 was quite the year for conservatives. India, Japan, and the United Kingdom all joined the United States, Brazil, and Poland in electing Right-wing governments. Worldwide, the median voter is now a populist conservative. What does this mean? What do these conservatives believe? How do they behave politically? These are difficult questions; too often we hear shallow, one-dimensional answers. Answers from those on the Right demand loyalty to their own particular brand of conservatism to the exclusion of all others. Answers from those on the Left sound like 19th Century colonial ethnographers, titillating their metropolitan readers with curiosities from Darkest Africa Flyover Country. Instead of giving you answers head-on, though, I want to sneak up on them from behind, so they don’t run away and hide in the noise and fury of today’s politics. You have grown up in an American educational system where what might be called a ‘liberal worldview’ is normative--in other words, that worldview is taken as Right and Good and Just. You may have had teachers who disagreed, and your parents may have objected, but fundamentally, liberal ideas about what it means to be human and how we live together form the foundation on which acceptable ideas about politics and society are built. This is true in contemporary K-12, higher education, and social media. Peering out from behind the walls around that worldview, Conservativism often seems illogical, unthinking, even hurtful. And if that worldview is all one really understands then conservatives can seem like, well...stupid racists. This means that instead of standing on the walls and pointing fingers at Conservatism from a distance like a tour guide on a bus, we need to leave the safety of our walls and get our hands dirty. We need to ask questions that will help us see an alternative understanding of the world first-hand, like learning about a foreign country with a homestay. We’re not going to spend the semester reading scholarly articles where 3rd party authors pronounce judgement. We’re going to ask fundamental questions about what it means to be human, go to primary sources to see how actual conservatives answer them, and discuss as a class what to make of those answers.

George Ehrhardt Anne Belk 351J 262-6920 ehrhardtgc@appstate.edu Class time MWF: 10-11 Anne Belk 223 Office Hours: Mon: 11:00-12:00 Wed: 11:00-12:00 Thur: 2:00-4:00

Am I conservative? Does that conservative hate me? Why do conservatives say things like that? What does conservatism really mean anymore?

2

Course Educational Goals: This is not a course about history or policy. Nor is it about the American Conservative Movement as it formerly existed, though we will spend a week on that to provide some context. This is a political philosophy course: it asks for conservative answers to fundamental questions. What does it mean to be human? How should we relate to ourselves and to others? What is Justice? What does it mean to be Male and Female? What does it mean to live in a community? What is our relationship to the Transcendent? When the course finishes:

• Students of all partisan stripes should be able to describe conservative answers to those questions and analyze them both critically and sympathetically.

• Students should also be able to identify the political implications of those answers.

Useful Readings In this course we will read primary sources, to better understand how conservatives themselves understand conservatism. If we want to correctly understand conservative rhetoric in today’s politics we need to understand what they mean by the words they use, and going to the primary sources is the only way to do that. I will make these readings available on ASUlearn, the school’s classroom software platform. The syllabus lists three types of readings:

Required: Unless otherwise marked, I expect you to have these read by the date they are listed on the syllabus. If it is necessary to have exams, their content will appear. I will not quiz you on small details, but you should understand the author’s arguments and how they support it.

Recommended: If you’re interested in going a little deeper into the topics under discussion, these

are good places to start. Their contents won’t be required to know, but if you would like to do an in-class presentation on them you may (see the grading section for how that would count).

In my experience it is very difficult for the non-religious—even someone who went to Sunday school every week as a child—to accurately understand the nature of faith and how it affects an adult believer’s view of the world. For those interested in trying, though, I recommend (but not require) the following book and have suggested chapters to read during the semester. Howard, Thomas. 1969. Chance or the Dance: A Critique of Modern Secularism (Ignatius Press) The author is Christian, but his argument is not based in Christian theology. From what I know of Buddhism and Paganism, at least, it applies equally well. I suspect devout Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and those of other faiths will find themselves nodding their heads as they read it.

Supplementary: These readings are related, but either too long or not quite relevant enough to make it into the first two categories. I’ve demoted some conservative classics to this list because there are usually shorter and easier to read modern summaries.

Some required readings are listed as entire books. Never fear, you don’t need to buy or read the whole book. I will copy selections and make them available on ASUlearn.

3

Things I have to say because there are too many lawyers in America There are super-duper important policies that the university says you need to know. Go read them! http://academicaffairs.appstate.edu/syllabi For your sake as well as that of your classmates, I strongly discourage the use of computers in class. If you feel like you need to use one and you’ve discussed it with the office that handles special accommodations, please come see me and we can talk about it. Otherwise, leave them in your backpack. On the other hand, sometimes we google stuff, so I don’t mind cell phones—just be respectful about it. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and none of my syllabi survive contact with students either. At some point mid-semester, I'll almost certainly, possibly arbitrarily, but probably not maliciously, change the schedule or the grading system.

Course Schedule I. Before setting out: the view from behind the ramparts Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas? Joseph Stalin 1.13 Course Introduction and Syllabus Explanation 1.15 The Standardized Academic Article on Conservatives

97% of political scientists agree, conservatives have no ideas. On the other hand, they have the market cornered on mental deficiencies and negative emotions.

Required Setzler, Mark, and Alixandra B. Yanus. 2018. “Why Did Women Vote for Donald Trump?” PS:

Political Science & Politics 51 (3). Pp. 523–27. Recommended Douglas Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” Harper’s Magazine, November

1964, http://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/. James Crouse and Douglas Stalker, 2007. “Do Right-Wing Authoritarian Beliefs Originate from

Psychological Conflict?” in Psychoanalytic Psychology. Vol. 24 no. 1 pp. 25-44. Hajnal, Zoltan and Marisa Abrajano, 2016. “Trump’s All Too Familiar Strategy and Its Future in

the GOP” The Forum. Vol. 14 No. 3. pp. 295-309. Supplementary Adorno, Theodor. 1950. The Authoritarian Personality. Harper & Brothers Press. Altemeyer, Robert. 1981. Right-wing Authoritarianism. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba

Press. Altemeyer, Robert, 2006. The Authoritarians. Smith, Robert C. 2010. Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same. New York City,

NY: SUNY Press. Dietrich, D., (2014). Rebellious Conservatives: Social Movements in Defense of Privilege. New York

City, Palgrave Macmillan. Hochschild, A., (2016). Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.

Berkeley, New Press.

4

Inglehart, Ronald; Norris, Pippa. (2017). Trump and the Populist Authoritarian Parties: The Silent Revolution in Reverse.” Perspectives on Politics; Vol. 15, Iss. 2, (Jun 2017): 443-454

Robin, Corey, 2017. The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump. Oxford University Press.

1.17 Where did this stereotype come from? Origins of the Standard Academic Article

Required Oakeshott, Michael. 1991. “On Being Conservative." Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 2nd

edition, pp. 407-437. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund. Recommended Kenneth Minogue (2009). “The Elusive Oakeshott” in The American Conservative October 1, 2009.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-elusive-oakeshott/ Supplementary Rossiter, Clinton. 1955. Conservatism in America. New York, NY: Knopf. Hartz, Louis. 1995. The Liberal Tradition in America. Mariner Books. Lyons, Paul. 2011. American Conservatism: Thinking It, Teaching It. Vanderbilt University Press. Hawley, George. 2016. Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism. Lawrence, KS: University of

Kansas Press. II. The Rise and Fall of the Conservative Movement And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias"

1.22 RIP: The American Conservative Movement, 1964-2016: Day 1 Required Nash, George. 2009. “The Uneasy Future of the Conservative Movement” in Reappraising the Right:

The Past and Future of American Conservatism. Wilmington, DE; ISI Press, pp. 317-336. Supplementary: General Histories of the Conservative Movement George Nash is the leading historian of the Conservative Movement. Read him first, then turn to other authors for analysis of specific topics. Huntington, Samuel. 1957. “Conservatism as an Ideology” The American Political Science Review, Vol.

51, No. 2 (Jun., 1957), pp. 454-473. Nash, George.1976. The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945. Wilmington, DE; ISI

Press. Bjerre-Poulsen, Niels. 2002. Right Face: Organizing the Conservative Movement. UK: Museum

Tusculanum Press. Gregory Schneider, 2003. Conservatism in America since 1930: A Reader, (NYU Press). Micklethwait, John and Adrien Wooldridge. 2004. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. New

York, NY, Penguin Press. Schulman and Zelizer: 2008. Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press. Supplementary: Libertarianism Refer to the readings for April 3rd.

5

Supplementary Reading: Traditional Conservatism Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France Weaver, Richard. 1948. Ideas have Consequences. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press. Kirk, Russell. The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana. Washington, DC: Regenery Press. Russell Kirk, The Politics of Prudence Richard Weaver, Ideas have Consequences Nisbet, Robert. 1944. “DeBonald and the Concept of the Social Group” Journal of the History of Ideas,

Vol. 5, No. 3 (Jun., 1944), pp. 315-331 -----. 1948. “The Politics of Social Pluralism: Some Reflections on Lamennais” The Journal of Politics,

Vol. 10, No. 4 (Nov., 1948), pp. 764-786. -----. 1968. Tradition and Revolt. New York, Random House. -----. 1975. The Twilight of Authority. Oxford University Press. -----. 2014 (1953). The Quest for Community: a study in the ethics of order and freedom. New York: Oxford

University Press. Stone, B., (2000). Robert Nisbet: Communitarian Traditionalist. Delaware: ISI Books.

Supplementary: Fusionism Barry Goldwater. Conscience of a Conservative Smant, Kevin. 2002. Principles and Heresies: Frank Meyer and the Shaping of the American Conservative

Movement. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. Hart, Jeffery. 2006. The Making of the American Conservative Mind: the National Review and its Times.

Delaware: ISI Books. 1.24 RIP: The American Conservative Movement, 1964-2016: Day 2

If you are planning on doing the “Know Thyself” Assignment you need to upload your initial answers today.

Supplementary Reading: Neoconservatism John F Kennedy "I am a Berliner" [Speech] Irving Kristol. 1995. Neoconservatism: the Autobiography of an Idea. Free Press. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. "How the Great Society Destroyed the American Family." Nathan Glazer "The Reagan Administration's Social Policy" Daniel Patrick Moynihan Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding: Community Action in the War on Poverty Francis Fukuyama "The End of History and the Last Man" Supplementary Reading: Paleoconservatism Gottfried, Paul. 1992. The Conservative Movement. Twayne Publishers. Buchanan, Patrick. 2006. State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. Macmillan.

Supplementary Reading: Social Conservatism P. Schlafly. "A Choice, not an Echo" Barbara Dafoe Whitehead. "Dan Qualye was Right." (Atlantic Monthly, 4/93) Ralph Reed. Politically Incorrect Stephen Carter. Culture of Disbelief Richard John Neuhaus. The Naked Public Square

Supplementary Reading: Crunchy Conservatism Wendell Berry, "The Agrarian Standard" (2002) Dreher, Rod. 2006. Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-Loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-

Range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-Wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (Or at Least the Republican Party). New York: Crown Forum.

6

1.27 Fiddling while Rome burns: the Final Days of the Conservative Moment Required Publius Decius Mus. “The Flight 93 Election” in Claremont Review of Books (9/2016). Recommended Anton, Michael. 2016. “The Bankruptcy of Conservative Intellectuals” American Greatness. 7

November. Deneen, Patrick. 2017. “Ghosts of Conservatism Past” in Modern Age.

https://home.isi.org/ghost-conservatism-past Supplementary Frum, David. 2003. “Unpatriotic Conservatives” in The National Review. February 19. Tanenhaus, Sam. 2009. "Conservatism is Dead" The New Republic 18 February. Ryn, Claes. 2009. “The Conservative Movement in Chapter 11.” Speech given to The Philadelphia

Society National Meeting, March 29. Dionne E. J. Jr. 2016. Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism-From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond.

New York Simon and Shuster 2016

1.29 Back to the Future? Tory Radicalism and the new Conservatism Required Goodhart, David, 2017. The Road to Somewhere: the Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics. Hurst. Recommended McGowan, John. 1989. “The New Tory Radicals” Soundings. Vol 72, no. 2/3, pp 477-500. Supplementary Driver, F. 1991. “Tory Radicalism? Ideology, Strategy, and Locality in Popular Politics in the

Eighteen-Thirties. Northern History, Vol 27, No. 1 pp.120-138.

III. Contemporary Conservatism

1.31 Yay freedom! But…freedom from what?

Required Obama for President. 2012. “The Life of Julia” Video published at barackobama.com. Recommended

Schaefer, Jack. 1949. Shane. Houghton Miffin. Nisbet, R. 1953. Quest for Community. Ch.2 pp. 19-32 Supplementary Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” Four Essays on Liberty, (Oxford, England: Oxford University

Press, 1969), p. 118-172. Deneen, Patrick. 2016. “Community and Freedom OR Individualism and Statism” or “Choosing the

Road to Serfdom” in Conserving America. 2.3 Why do conservatives think that family is so important? NOW this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,

And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back;

For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Rudyard Kipling, “The Law for the Wolves”

Required Nisbet, R. 1953. Quest for Community. Ch.3 pp. 51-59. Recommended

7

Supplementary Burke, Edmund. 1790. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Penguin Books. Burke’s famous reference to

“loving the little platoons to which we belong” can be found in Paragraph 75. 2.5 Is the Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge really plotting to take over the country?

Required Nisbet, R. 1953. Quest for Community. Ch.3 pp. 39-47 and 59-65, Ch. 4 73-76. Recommended Tocqueville, Alexis, 1983 (2nd Ed.). Democracy in America, (Server and Francis, Cambridge MA). Putnam Robert. 1995. “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” Journal of Democracy Vol. 6

(1) :65-78. Supplementary Peter Berger and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. 1975. To Empower People: The Role of Mediating

Structures in Public Policy" Washington DC. Putnam, Robert, 2001. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, (Touchstone Books,

New York City, NY) 2.7: Overflow/Weather/Medical Make-up Day IV. How do we relate to the Transcendent? The term ‘democracy’…does not contain enough positive content to stand alone against the forces that you dislike—it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God) you should pay your respects to Hitler or Stalin.” T.S. Eliot 2.10 How does belief in the transcendent transform what it means to be human?

Required Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 1 “The Old Myth and the New” Recommended Knott, Lindsey. 2017. “Germs or Fairies: on speaking un-naturalistically.” Circe Institute, Oct. 20.

https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/germs-or-fairies Supplementary Reading Schall, Fr. James. 2014. On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs. ISI Press

2.12 What is Justice?

Required Kirk, Russell. 1954. “Social Justice and Mass Culture,” The Review of Politics 16: 438-451

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIl7gxsJHYU Recommended Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 6 “Sublimity, Soup Cans, Etc.” Supplementary Scalia, Antonin. 2006. Review of Steven D. Smith's Law's Quandary, 55 Catholic University Law

Review 687. Arnade, Chris. 2019. “Back Row America.” First Things. June.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/06/back-row-america 2.14 St. Valentine’s Day Special: why are religious people so hung up about sex?

Required Allan Bloom, 1987. Closing of the American Mind.

8

Recommended Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 7 “Sex” Supplementary Kass, Leon, 1992. “Regarding Daughters and Sisters,” Commentary Magazine, April.1 Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, 1993. "Dan Qualye was Right," The Atlantic Monthly, April 4. Christopher DeGroot. “Oblivious Eros” Jacobite, October 30, 2018

2.17 Are males and females different? Required Sayers, Dorothy, 1947. “Are Women Human?” Unpopular Opinions: Twenty-One Essays. New York:

Harcourt, Brace and Company. 129–41. Recommended Schlafly, P.. (1972). "What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women?" in Phyllis Schafly Report vol. 5 no. 7

February. Christina Hoff Summers, 1995. Who Stole Feminism: How Women have Betrayed Women (particularly: "The

Gender Wardens") Supplementary Nickerson, Michelle. 2012. Mothers of the Right: Women and the Postwar Right. Princeton University Press. Camile Paglia. 2016. Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education

2.21 Is Masculinity Toxic?

Required Something from Jordan Peterson… Recommended Watch and compare these two commercials:

Gilette Razors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0 Egard Watches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=x_HL0wiK4Zc

Courtney, Jennifer. 2013. “Lessons in Manhood from the Hobbit.” Circe Institute, Jan 8 2013. https://www.circeinstitute.org/2013/01/lessons-in-manhood-from-the-hobbit

Supplementary 2.24 Do religious people hate Gays and Trans-people? With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market who promised these beautiful things. Rudyard Kipling, the Gods of the Copybook Headings

Required Esolen, Anthony. “Hatred of Nature: Hatred of Sex” Crisis Magazine. July 10, 2013

Recommended George, Robert. 2009. “Marriage: What it Is and What it Isn’t.” First Things. August 2009.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/08/what-marriage-is-and-what-it-isnt Joyce, Andrew. 2017. “The Alt-Right and the Homosexual Question.” Altright.com Supplementary Havel, Václav. 1991. Wilson, Paul trans (ed.). "The Power of the Powerless" (in) Open Letters: Selected Writings:

1965—1990. Esolen, Anthony. 2015. “The Contemporary Denial of Reality” Crisis. 15 December.

1https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/regarding-daughters-and-sisters/

9

2.26 Is there a Natural Order? By “the Permanent Things” T.S. Eliot meant those elements in the human condition that give us our nature, without which we are as the beasts that perish. They work upon us all in the sense that both they and we are bound up in that continuity of belief and institution called the great mysterious incorporation of the human race. Russell Kirk

Required Lewis, C.S.. 1944. The Abolition of Man. Pp. 17-19 and Ch. 3 “The Abolition of Man.” Recommended Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 7. “Autocrats, Autonomy, and Acorns” Supplementary Readings Fr. James Schall. 2007. The Order of Things. Ignatius Press.

2.28 What happens when we refuse our place in the Natural Order?

Required Whittaker Chambers, 1952. Witness. In particular, the “Foreword in the Form of a Letter to My

Children.” 3.2 But we are not Gods. Human brains and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Required Daniel P. Moynihan. 1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, Washington, D.C., Office of

Policy Planning and Research, U.S. Department of Labor. Recommended Bastiat, Fredric. 1850. “What is Seen and Unseen” Abridged version for the Foundation for Economic

Education. Supplementary Robert K. Merton Source: American Merton, Robert. 1936. “The Unanticipated Consequences of

Purposive Social Action” Sociological Review, Vol. 1, No. 6 (Dec., 1936), pp. 894-904 3.4 Why do conservatives value tradition so much? In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."

G.K. Chesterton, The Thing 1929.

Required Pollan, Michael. 2011. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin Books. Recommended Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 3 “Lunch and Death” Dreher, Rod. “The Struggle of Memory against Forgetting” American Conservative, October 15, 2015.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/benedict-option-memory-forgetting/ Supplementary

10

Burke, Edmund. 1790. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Penguin Books. Particularly paragraphs 126-133.

Eberstadt, Mary. 2014. How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization. Templeton Press. Dreher, Rod. “As Goes the Family…” American Conservative. October 17, 2018

Kirk, Russell. 1955. "What are American Traditions?" Georgia Review. 3.6 Overflow/Weather/Medical Make-up Day 3.9 – 3.13 Spring Break 3.16 The Importance of Place: what does it mean to be “local?” “I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Required Berry, Wendell. “It all Turns on Affection” 2012 Jefferson Award Lecture. Recommended Howard, Chance or the Dance. Ch. 8. “Bravo the Humdrum” Supplementary Schumacher, E.F.,1973. Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. Blond & Briggs. Wendell Berry. The Art of the Commonplace Wendell Berry, "The Agrarian Standard" (2002) Allan Carlson, “Compassionate Conservatism: Ten Lessons from the New Agrarians”

3.18 Why is it important to be Somewhere instead of Anywhere?

Required Nollman, Jim. 2014. Why We Garden. Cultivating a Sense of Place. Henry Holt. “Introduction: The Local Garden.” “December: The Political Garden.”

Recommended Goodhart, David, 2017. The Road to Somewhere: the Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics. Hurst. Supplementary Yi-Fu Tuan. 1975. “Place: An Experiential Perspective” Geographical Review, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1975),

pp. 151-165 3.20 What is diversity?

Required Biagetti, Samuel. 2017. “The IKEA Humans: the Social Base of Contemporary Liberalism” Jacobite.

Sept. 13. Recommended

Supplementary Readings Esolen, Anthony. 2017, “Diversity is not a Cult, but What is It?” Crisis Magazine, April 7.

11

3.25 Why do we build walls around our places? Hungary has explicitly defined itself as “Christian Europe” and that immigrants of other races and religions are only welcome on those terms. Is this “xenophobia?” Is it “hate?” Is it “anti-democratic?”

Required Recommended

Supplementary Deneen, Patrick. “Patriotic Visions: At Home in a World Made Strange” in Conserving America (2016) Donald Davidson. 1957. Still Rebels, Still Yankees. Louisiana State University Press.

3.27 Why are some American conservatives racist? America [is not] an “idea,” a “proposition,” or a “creed.” It is instead a concrete and particular culture, rooted in a particular historical experience, a set of particular institutions as well as particular beliefs and values, and a particular ethnic-racial identity, and, cut off from those roots, it cannot survive. Samuel Francis, The Paleo Persuasion

Required Hood, Gregory. 2017. “The Nation without a Country” Altright.com Recommended Spencer, Richard. 2017. “The Metapolitics of America” Altright.com Minkowitz. Donna, 2017. “The Racist Right looks Left.” The Nation. 8 December. Newell, Jamara. 2017. “Rid Yourself of the White Man” Mitrailleuse. 17 January. Supplementary Buckley, William. 1957. “Why the South Must Prevail.” National Review. August 24. Francis, Sam.1995. Beautiful Losers: Essays on the Failure of American Conservatism. Columbia, MO: University

of Missouri Press. -----., (1998) Mr. Clinton’s Third Revolution. Chronicles, June 1998. -----., (2006) Race and the American Prospect. The Occidental Press

3.30 Is the new Conservatism the same as the old Conservatism? Required Kirk, Russel. 1993. “10 Principles of Conservatism” Adapted from The Politics of Prudence. ISI Books.

https://kirkcenter.org/conservatism/ten-conservative-principles/ Supplementary Kirk, Russell. The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana. Washington, DC: Regenery Press.

4.1 Overflow/Medical/Makeup Day

12

V. On the other hand, the Classic Liberal Tradition The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind. Michael Douglas, Wall Street 4.3 Do Libertarians hate government?

Required Salatin, Joel. “Everything I want to do is Illegal” in Acres: a Voice for Eco-Agriculture Vol. 33, No. 9 (2003).

Recommended Koch, Charles. “This is the one issue on which Bernie Sanders is right” Washington Post. February 18,

2016. Supplementary Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom Albert Jay Nock. Memoirs of a Superfluous Man Fredrich Hayek. The Road to Serfdom Capitolus Manilus. 2016. “German Beer’s Greatness Agenda” American Greatness. April. https://jacksongazette.org/2016/06/22/german-beers-greatness-agenda/

4.6 Monsters from the Conservative Imagination: Property and the Profit Motive

Required Attarian, John. 1996. “Economics of the Permanent Things” Foundation for Economic Education.

April 1. https://fee.org/articles/russell-kirks-economics-of-the-permanent-things/ Recommended

Fredrich Hayek. "Uses of Information in Society" American Economic Review. XXXV, No. 4. pp. 519-30. Supplementary Reading Leeson, Peter. The Invisible Hook.

4.13 What does “Capitalism” mean?

Required Havel, Vaclav. 1993. Summer Meditations. Vintage Press. Recommended Supplementary Reading Ayn Rand. "The Morality of Capitalism"

4.15 Are Conservatism and Libertarianism compatible?

Required Williamson, Kevin. “Chaos in the Family, Chaos in the State: The White Working Class’s Dysfunction”

in the National Review. March 28, 2016 Recommended Nisbet, Robery. 1953. Quest for Community. Ch. 10 pp. 218-222. Supplementary Reading Meyer, Frank. 1955. “Collectivism Rebaptized” The Freeman. July, pp. 559-562. Hayek, F.A. 1960. “Why I am not a Conservative” in The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago, IL: University

of Chicago Press.

13

VI. Green Sprouts among the Ashes 4.17 What happens to conservatives with nothing left to conserve?

Required Watch the following video (15 minutes) “Tucker’s Monologue”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/01/03/tucker_carlson_we_are_ruled_by_mercenaries_who_feel_no_long-term_obligation_to_the_people_they_rule.html

Recommended Browse the twitter feed for Sweet Meteor of Death, particularly back around the 2016 election. Twitter.com/smod4real Supplementary Macintyre, Alasdair. 1984. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theology. Notre Dame University Press. Lasch, Christopher. 1994. The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. W.W. Norton Press. Lilla, Mark. 2016. The Shipwrecked Mind: On Reactionary Politics. New York Review Books. Michael Anton. 2016. “The Bankruptcy of Conservative Intellectuals” American Greatness. 7 November.

4.20 Response #1: Donald Trump and the Populist Right They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again. And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger. And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. Carl Sandburg.

Required Codevilla, Angelo. 2010. “America’s Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution” American Spectator, July 16. Recommended

Supplementary Nisbet, Robert. 1978. “The Dilemma of Conservatives in a Populist Society” Policy Review. Spring 1978,

pp. 91-106. Hanson, Victor. 1995. The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization. Free

Press. Sowell, Thomas. 1995. Visions of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. Basic Books. Medina, Lorie. 2011. Community Organizing for Conservatives. Regernery Press. Wood, Gordon. 2011. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage Books.

4.22 More on Conservative Populism

Required Kauffman, Bill. 2006. Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists

14

4.24 Response #2 The Alt-Right Required Mcinnis, Gavin. “God Bless the Right-Wing Social Justice Warriors” Taki’s Mag. March, 2017 Recommended Jeffery, Philip, 2017. “A report from Morningside” First Things. June 8th, 2017. Duffy, Nathan. “The Asymmetric Meme Warfare of Its ok to be White.” Jacobite. Supplementary Mencius Moldbug. 2009. “A Gentle Introduction to Unqualified Reservations.” Bokhari, Allum and Milo Yiannopoulus. “The Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right”

Breitbart. March 26, 2016 Yang, Wesley. 2017. “Is it OK to be White? Meme Wars: the insular, circular, and viraltastic history of

a racist idea” Tablet Magazine. 27 November. http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/250053/is-it-ok-to-be-white

Yiannopoulos, Milo. (2017). Dangerous. Dangerous Books. Berry, Matthew. 2019. “The Alt Right and the Religious Impulse: A Tocquevillian Analysis” American Political Thought. Vol. 8, pp. 1-24.

4.27 Response #3 The Religious Right

Required Dreher, Rod. 2016. The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. New York, NY;

Sentinel Press. Recommended

George, Robert. 2014. “Speech at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast” May 13. Supplementary Richard John Neuhaus. 1984. The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America. William B.

Eerdmans Publishers. Caput, Charles. 2016. Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World. New York

City, NY: Henry Holt. Esolen, Anthony. 2015. “The Contemporary Denial of Reality” Crisis. 15 December. ——. 2017. Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture. Washington, DC: Regenery Press. ——. 2018. Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World. Washington, DC: Gateway Press. Deneen, Patrick. 2017. “Moral Minority” First Things. April.

VI. There and back again 4.29 How do conservatives move forward?

Required Deneen, Patrick. 2016. “After Liberalism” in Conserving America: Essays on Present Discontents. St. Augustine

Press.

15

Course Requirements Engaging in class discussion This is a seminar, and class discussion is an important part. But how to participate? Anyone can spout off opinions whether they’ve read the material or not. There’s a place for that, and when done right it can make class fun, but ultimately that’s not what helps everyone learn. My plan for class discussion is simple. I will present the material acting as someone who believes it is true (NOTE: I don't believe everything I say, but I’ll act like I do). If you sit there like bumps on a log, we’re all going to get bored. To prevent that, you’ll need to ask questions.

If you disagree with my presentation then ask critical questions. For example: “in another class I read author A that disagrees--how would you answer that?” “What about situation B?” “Doesn’t the position you’re suggesting have bad consequence C?”

If you agree with the readings, you can ask questions about where these ideas came from, or follow tangents, or ask how someone with this view would/should respond in a given situation.

If you’re confused then you have the easiest job of all--just say “What? Why? Explain that again.” If you really have something about the content, pro- or con-, that you need to get off your chest, that’s cool too. As long as you don’t monopolize our class time, I’m happy to hear it and let your classmates have fun responding. Contract Grading The grading for this course follows a non-standard philosophy called contract grading. Appropriately, it embodies the seeming contradiction in conservative thought between empowering individuals to make their own choices and imposing consequences for their choices. Listed below is a number of possible ways to engage the course material. You may do as many or as few of them as you like. Each one will earn a set amount of points, and your final grade will depend on the number of points you accumulate over the course of the semester. In other words, I will not decide your grade—you will earn it as a consequence of your choices! Minimum Requirements to get a C or better. 1. Miss no more than eight classes. Classes I have to cancel or which are weather-cancelled do not

count towards that number. Excused and unexcused absences count equally towards that total; if you know you’re going to miss classes for an interview or a conference or something, don’t skip class. If you have a serious condition which you think may make this difficult, talk to me at the beginning of the semester about possible alternatives, I will not consider this option retroactively.

2. Turn in on-time one writing assignment every other week. So you want to do better than a C? Here’s how. You may choose as many or as few of the following activities as you wish. Each activity has a certain point value attached. If you do an activity properly, you will accumulate the full point value. If I subjectively judge that you did a half-assed job, I will return it to you to redo or abandon for zero credit. This gives you the greatest possible freedom to express yourself with no worries about whether I agree with you. You will earn a percentage of your final course grade by the number of points you accumulate during the semester.

>1700 >1600 >1500 >1400 >1200 >1000 <1000 A A- B+ B B- C D or F

16

Some of these activities involve several steps. You must complete the multi-step process to receive credit for the activity.

Thinking about the

reading

Recommended Reading Speech

Speech Evaluation

Field Work

Know Thyself

100 100 25 200 100 I hope we will not have to have exams, but… Exams promote accountability, a version of “do the readings or else.” There is a lot of reading listed for this class but I don’t really expect everyone to do all of it. As long as a critical mass of people have done it each week, that’s fine and we won’t have exams. On the other hand, if I ask questions about the reading and am habitually met with the blank stares of people who haven’t done the readings, I will unilaterally impose a midterm and/or final to separate the wheat from the chaff. If we have to have exams I will announce how the grading totals will change at that time. If we do have exams, I will not be interested in reading your opinion or whether you agree with any of the readings. Nor will I be interested in hearing about class discussion. I will give you a question, and you should answer by explaining what the relevant authors we’ve read say on the topic. Good answers will discuss how they relate to each other. Excellent answers will put the authors into a larger context and a logical order. Remember, this is in your hands. If each of you acts virtuously and does the readings, the common good will benefit. If you slack off and don’t do your part for the community, all will suffer. Handing in Assignments on Time 1. Responsibility is a two-way street, and I can't expect you to be timely if I am not. Accordingly, if I

do not post the readings and a “Thinking about the Reading” assignment at least once per week by class time, one week before it is due, all students will receive the 100 points for having done the assignment that week. If I post it late you may still complete the assignment for an additional 100 points.

2.The “Thinking about the Reading” assignments must be turned in the day we discuss the topic. Students who have had me before know that I typically accept late work. It seems to me, however, that thinking about conservative ideas on individual responsibility and consequences will be easier if you experience them. As a result, I will not accept late work for this course.

3. Printer Exception. The fairies that inhabit printers are not the cute kind, with sparkly wings and names like Peasblossom and Ariel. Beholden to the Queen of Air and Darkness, they delight in trickery and trouble. Should you become the butt of their jokes, email your assignment to me before class and you can bring a hard copy the following class with no penalty. I do need that hard copy to give you credit for it, though.

4. Based on past experience, students tend to put their writing off until the end. To prevent that, you may only earn 900 points after the midterm. That means you must complete 600 points before midterm to get an A for the semester.

Format Preferences: The first page of anything you turn in (be it paper, peer feedback, or reflection) should include your name, the assignment due date and a statement of what the document is. Otherwise, I don't get compulsive about format, but I prefer 1.5 spacing and 1" margins for your written work. All multi-page documents should number each page.

17

1. Writing about the Reading 100 points I will post a list of questions for a topic in a Word document on ASUlearn. Answer them before you do the reading. Put down what you believe right now, don't research the topic. Please type these into the downloaded file and print it out. Then do the reading. Go through the questions again, using a clean version of the Word document, and explain in detail how the author(s) would answer the questions. Write a short essay reflecting on how the author challenges your beliefs. You should do more than list differences: lay out the author's arguments (and evidence) against your beliefs, and reflect on what changes in your own beliefs may be warranted. By the way, it’s okay if you want to react negatively. Whatever you say, it probably won’t be any worse than what I’ve read before. J This essay should run at least two pages. The simple way to do this would be to break it up by belief. Tying the different beliefs into a single essay with a coherent structure is a good challenge for your writing skills. Logistics: When you're finished, you should have three files. Put the final essay on top, and mark it with your name, the date, and the author who is challenging your beliefs. Staple them and hand me a copy during the class we discuss that author. 2. Recommended Reading Speech Version 100 points Read one of the recommended readings on the syllabus. Give a 5-10 minute speech in which you do several things: 1) identify the author's thesis and his/her strongest arguments, 2) explain how this connects to the required reading and other texts we've covered, and 3) prepare three discussion-provoking questions for the class and lead a short discussion. Logistics. Please inform me 3 days in advance so I can try and prepare a video recorder. Afterwards, watch the video and write a 1-2 page essay critiquing your own performance and articulating what you can do differently to become a better speaker. 3. Speech Evaluation 25 points Provide public feedback immediately after the speech, with your first impressions about what the speaker did well, what did the speaker did poorly. The next day, watch the video on ASUlearn write a 2 page critique. Upload it to ASUlearn. You must have read the day's required assignment to critique a speech, but you don’t have to read the recommended one. 4. Field Work 200 points The best place to learn about the world is IN the world. You may do one of two things: conduct an interview and write a brief essay about what you find, or attend a meeting of a local conservative organization and write a brief essay about what you find. The interview should be with individuals who are (or were) politically active conservatives, but not members of your family or other students. Before doing your interview, you should think of a theme--central topic(s) that you want to learn about, and a provisional list of questions. You should also read the guide to interviewing I will put online. You must send me your theme and who you are interviewing ahead of time. When you are done, turn in: 1) an essay describing your theme, what you

18

wanted to learn, how the interview went, and what you learned, and 2) your interview notes (in their raw form). You may also observe a local conservative organization. The two obvious candidates are the Republican Party and any campaign meetings, though I am open to other suggestions (if your home is nearby, you are welcome to do your home county's organization), but it must be off-campus, and not a student group. You must get the group's permission. You should also read the guide to ethnography I will put online. Before starting, you should develop a set of topics you would like to pursue as you observe. This set may evolve as you watch and learn new things. You must send me your proposed group and topics ahead of time. When you are done, turn in: 1) an essay describing what you wanted to learn, what you observed about those topics, and what topics you might like to pursue in further research, and 2) your observation notes (in their raw form). 5. Know Thyself 100 points By 17 January, upload your personal answers to the following questions at the appropriate link on ASUlearn.

1. What does it mean to be human? 2. How should we relate to ourselves and to others? 3. What is Justice? 4. What does it mean to be Male and Female? 5. What does it mean to live in a community? 6. What is our relationship to the Transcendent?

Then on the final exam date, revisit those questions for yourself and as you would now imagine a conservative answer them. Write a brief essay on what, if any differences you see between the two and how you feel about those differences.

19

"The Educational Process is often an uncomfortable one." --my alma mater's Student Handbook, 1987.

If you follow the news from Higher Education you know that “safe spaces” are a big thing now. Many of your age-peers claim to feel threatened or scared if they hear ideas different than their own. As we’ll talk about in class, this is natural, and if it’s a bad thing, it isn’t really their fault. After all, if you’ve been taught that your beliefs really are wholly Right and Good and Just, then why should you be forced to listen to anything else? Dissing safe spaces is like insisting that Satanists and pornographers should be given equal time Sunday morning in a Baptist church. But if you believe that your views are wholly Right and Good and Just, then why are you here? If you believe that words are violence then why the heck are you in a place that pledges to allow a variety of perspectives? Staying in college makes as much sense as a Satanist pornographer taking holy vows as a monk. Seriously, if this describes you (the discomfort with other people’s words part, not the Satanist pornographer part), then you should drop out of college, find the cheapest website will sell you a piece of paper with a B.A. stamped on it and get on with your life! Go now, run and don’t look back! On the other hand, if you think that education is about more than just confirming your own views, and you think you’re psychologically resilient enough to hear views that challenge your sense of yourself and your world, then I think you’ll enjoy this course and learn from it. This class will be a “safe space,” in the sense that every member should feel safe to speak and to ask questions without censoring themselves for fear of how others might take it. This means that all students should prepare to hear things that may make them uncomfortable, may offend them, and may even scare them. Remember, though: you don’t have to be here! If you are not willing to accept these conditions for being in class, I will help you find a seat in an alternative course and wish you the best for your time in college. Just so we’re clear, IF MY SAFE SPACE POLICY MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE I WILL WILLINGLY AND NON-JUDGEMENTALLY HELP YOU FIND A MORE SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE CLASS. Ok? The current enthusiasm for burning heretics in academia would make a Dominican friar proud, though, and that forces me to require anyone wanting to stay in this class to read and sign the following: I ___________________________________ (printed name): a) understand that in this section of PS 3543 I will read and hear class material that will offend me. It may be unpleasant, it may make me angry, it may just plain make me feel bad, and b) understand that I will be expected to participate in the class during that material and will not receive exemptions from the class work and attendance requirements because I find material objectionable, and c) understand that if, for whatever reason, I do not want to or cannot remain in class under these conditions, the instructor will do his best to help me find a place in another suitable class up until the last day the school will allow class transfers (in Spring 2020, Jan 17th is the last day to add a new class). ______________________________________ (signature) __________ (date)