Return of Conservatism

Edmund...we did it!

By Darryl Weng

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Europe’s old guard of political leaders are retiring and losing out on polls. But there is a new wave of politicians - refreshing in almost any way. No longer are they idealistic to point of empty promises or branding themselves as populists and fascists, but rather they appeal to the masses with common sense. Britain’s Liz Truss, despite being deeply rooted in the conservative party faction, has taken a moderate stance on social issues while maintaining a strong resolve to fix economic troubles through the lens of “conservative economics.” Down south, Italy’s Meloni has pushed her campaign away from her party’s fascist roots and appeal to the people as a moderate conservative - branding herself as socially acceptable whilst maintaining support for all the positive economic policies that are closely aligned with conservative thought. Europeans are changing in a realistic way. During tough economic times such as today’s recession, people tend to focus on the most immediate personal issue: livelihood. Due to widespread success and popularity of conservative economic thought and policies, conservative factions and parties have gained support from both young and old voters, as depicted in Europe.

But one might be wondering: what about the U.S? Even though France still elected Emmanuel Macron, France’s President’s approval rating and popularity in the country is dropping to record-low figures. Even his own cabinet members have attempted to act against him. Meanwhile, Americans maintain approximately 44% approval rating for President Biden, whose policies are quite similar to Macron’s progressive social and economic policies - perhaps even more progressive at times.

Out on the exterior, American politics seems to favor Biden’s presidency and his allies. “Inflation Reduction Act” and its novel ideas on clean energy have excited many Americans in the fight against climate change. Yet, Biden has not addressed the inflation issue, nor the entire economic issue, barely, if not at all. Americans with wages enough to cover simple life expenses must already feel the brunt of Biden’s policies. In fact, the Wall Street Journal(WSJ) reported on a recent change in political party alignment in Latino voters. Aaron Zitner and Bryan Mena of WSJ observed how Latino voters of the working class have been largely disenchanted by the Democratic Party’s non-commitment to policies and failures to address recent economic issues. As a result, party allegiance among such voters have switched to Republican.

Thus, internally, American politics have turned rather conservative, just like their European counterparts. While the MAGA movement under Trump has symbolized much of the Republican party the past few years and presented a radicalized image of the GOP(due to both liberal media depictions and MAGA’s radical behavior in various aspects), the GOP has shifted away from that image and is diversifying its presidential candidates for 2024. Already, the GOP has amassed a wide range of capable candidates who are more than willing to fill the presidential spot. These candidates have pushed issues like the economy to the forefront of the debate, pressurizing President Biden to take more forceful measures against the recession and inflation to prevent the Democratic Party(or perhaps Biden as a 2024 candidate) from gaining disfavor from people of the working class - a substantial population of Americans that voted heavily for Trump during the 2016 Presidential Election and many still harbor enthusiasm for Trump as a future presidential candidate.

Conservative thought is being accessed once again and is finding overwhelming support in the Western Hemisphere. Although true conservatism(U.S definition) aligns greatly with traditional values as opposed to niche and social values, modern society’s values have not diminished conservatism at all. In one aspect, conservative thought at the highest levels of government have largely been unchanged, since economic policies have always been the forefront of conservative politics and are a key aspect of conservatism. In another aspect, conservatism is evolving, to fit in with society as its newer generations become idealistic, hopeful, and willing to break away from traditional values held by earlier generations. In another sense, Edmund Burke’s conservatism has returned - conservatism with social liberal aspects, yet still maintain moral and realistic thought derived from traditional conservatives.

If anyone says conservatism is waning away in American politics, we ought to refute that immediately without second thought. Burke has returned, and conservatives are stronger than ever.