William Rusher on the future of conservatism

William Rusher, former publisher of the National Review and former vice chairman of the American Conservative Union, has written his final newspaper column.

After 36 years of writing a weekly column under the "Conservative Advocate" banner,
advancing age has caught up with Rusher, who is now 85.

Rusher uses his last column to share some thoughts about where conservatism has been and where it might be going.

Beginning in the 1960s, conservatism has certainly earned the right to call itself a "movement" — indeed, along with its great rival liberalism, one of the two major contenders for political leadership of the American society. Even many Democratic politicians insist today on describing themselves as "conservative," and the movement's influence is both vast and manifest.

Undoubtedly, the most important single factor in the growth of conservatism has been the realization, on the part of individual conservatives, that their views were shared by others, and constituted collectively a formidable national influence. There's a lot to be said for intellectual respectability, and conservatism today indisputably has it. Conservatives in the future will do well to remember this and deploy it in their support.

For the moment at least, the Republican Party is unquestionably the premier vehicle of the conservative movement. This is hugely important, for a political viewpoint needs an institutional vehicle just as much as a political party needs a viewpoint. Conservatism today is broadly comfortable in the Republican Party and would be extremely uneasy trying to adjust to life among the Democrats.

Thoughtful conservatives will realize that this fact makes it dangerous for them to engage in maneuvers that try to narrow the GOP's appeal to militant conservatives only. Conservatism should be the beating heart of the Republican Party, but the party must also reach out to incorporate people who are not necessarily ideologues but are sympathetic to conservative views in a general way.

For the future, conservatives can, I think, be confident that their viewpoint will be represented in the national debate. For conservatism is essentially an analysis of social problems from the standpoint of a particular understanding of human nature. As long as that understanding continues essentially unchanged, the ways of dealing with those problems will remain basically unchanged.

Read the full column at The Pottstown Mercury Web site.