Where Have All the Conservatives Gone?

There is a strange trend I'm seeing (and sensing) all over the media - whether it is with informal bloggers or more seasoned writers. People are turning to some form of libertarianism.

Here are a few examples:

Kathy Shaidle who now blogs at David Horowitz's NewsReal Blog, had a post up describing her political position as "Libertarian for myself, but conservative for everyone else."

Dymphna, of Gates of Vienna, has written that she and her co-blogger husband Baron Bodissey avoid using the label "Republican" to describe their political leanings, but adds that libertarian might be a better fit for them.

Ezra Levant, who clearly is not a liberal and most likely supports Harper's Conservative Party, shows signs that he is a libertarian at heart, especially with his profile at his Facebook site. His official website mentions no such affiliation.

Kevin Michael Grace who hosts the website The Ambler, who at one time was writing sharp articles on immigration (he was definitely against it, and it seemed for cultural reasons), appears these days to be a libertarian - of the paleo sort.

Although Peter Brimelow, of Vdare, has never come out directly and said what his political position is, I have come to the conclusion that he also is a paleo-libertarian.

And here is the vanishing, and magically reappearing, libertarian stance of Ilana Mercer, who’s not really indecisive , but instead has never really left libertarianism (read the page headings). Once one's caught the libertarian bug, it is there to stay.

Taki Magazine's Taki himself, whose online magazine is an alterative to the liberal media, has declared that he doesn't want his writers to use the word "conservative." He apparently endorsed Ron Paul in the last elections, so this founder of the magazine The American Conservative is most likely another (paleo) libertarian.

The editors and directors of the International Free Press Society often write articles emphasizing loss of freedom rather than loss of culture. Even the Mohammed cartoon debates focussed on the freedoms that Muslims are curtailing rather than the cultures they’re destroying.

There seems to be a distancing from conservatism amongst the intellectual elites. Perhaps a comprehensive conservative outlook is difficult to embrace. For example, it is far easier for Levant to focus his energy on dismantling the body that is limiting his free speech - the Human Rights Commissions - rather than addressing the phenomenon holistically and looking at the underlying causes and problems. "Then what?" becomes the million dollar question. Unpleasant truths and harsh measures start to rear their ugly heads.

I think what these writers and leaders are afraid of is the looming responsibility they would have if they took on conservatism as a whole, rather than in small segments - and their own favorite segments, at that, which usually have to do with some freedom or other.

Vdare writers can go on about immigration, yet they seem reluctant to walk the walk (unlike Numbers USA) to direct their protests into action. Levant, by just addressing the Human Rights Commissions is in effect saying "Après moi, le déluge; I’ve done my bit, the rest is too hard." Grace has simply become more nihilistic and pessimistic over time.

I think the solution is not to be overwhelmed, and not to cut up the problem into small pieces, which then often become unrelated when left in their truncated sections. A holistic, all-inclusive approach is really the best. And if that becomes overwhelming for individuals, then they should form groups of people who can contribute to different areas.

Perhaps I’m being too optimistic. Perhaps none of those I mentioned above is willing to pick up the torch of conservatism. I still don’t know why conservatism is so maligned. It reminds me of non-Christians who feel they would be oppressed if they became Christian – that they would lose all their freedom. Paradoxically, the opposite is true. And, it is the same with conservatism.

Conservatives have become (should become) the avant-garde of our time, the front-line warriors. It takes courage, vision and a certain humility to be a conservative. All those chattering writers, who think they’re so brave taking on the "liberal media" have barely scraped the surface of what needs to be done, and not only that, they are also clearly unwilling to do anything but write (i.e. complain). Thus, being a self-serving libertarian is much easier than being a society-rescuing conservative.