Conservatism: A Rediscovery

by Yoram Hazony

Overview

The idea that American conservatism is identical to "classical" liberalism—widely held since the 1960s—is seriously mistaken.

The award-winning political theorist Yoram Hazony argues that the best hope for Western democracy is a return to the empiricist, religious, and nationalist traditions of America and Britain—the conservative traditions that brought greatness to the English-speaking nations and became the model for national freedom for the entire world.

Conservatism: A Rediscovery explains how Anglo-American conservatism became a distinctive alternative to divine-right monarchy, Puritan theocracy, and liberal revolution. After tracing the tradition from the Wars of the Roses to Burke and across the Atlantic to the American Federalists and Lincoln, Hazony describes the rise and fall of Enlightenment liberalism after World War II and the present-day debates between neoconservatives and national conservatives over how to respond to liberalism and the woke left.

Going where no political thinker has gone in decades, Hazony provides a fresh theoretical foundation for conservatism. Rejecting the liberalism of Hayek, Strauss, and the "fusionists" of the 1960s, and drawing on decades of personal experience in the conservative movement, he argues that a revival of authentic Anglo-American conservatism is possible in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684511099
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	05/17/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	233,120
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Yoram Hazony, an award-winning political theorist, is the chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation in Washington and the president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem. His previous book, The Virtue of Nationalism (Basic Books, 2018), was named Conservative Book of the Year for 2019 by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and has been translated into half a dozen languages. He appears frequently in the U.S. media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, NPR, Time, The New Republic, The Ben Shapiro Show, and the Rubin Report. A graduate of Princeton University (B.A.) and Rutgers (Ph.D.), Hazony lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Is Conservative Revival Possible? xiii

Part 1 History

Chapter I The English Conservative Tradition 1

1 What Is Conservatism? 1

2 John Fortescue and the Birth of Anglo-American Conservatism 4

3 Richard Hooker and Protestant Conservatism 7

4 The Greatest Conservative: John Selden 12

5 Edmund Burke and the Challenge of Liberalism 21

6 Principles of Anglo-American Conservatism 29

Chapter II American Nationalists 33

1 The Federalists, America's Nationalist Conservatives 36

2 A Distinct American Nation of British Heritage 44

3 Continuity with the British Constitution 46

4 Executive Power Vested in One Man 52

5 The Supreme Court and the Constitution 57

6 Economic Nationalism 63

7 Nationalist Immigration Policy 66

8 Alliance with Britain 70

9 Alliance between Religion and State 74

10 Opposition to Slavery 78

11 The Federalists and Modern American Nationalism 82

Part 2 Philosophy

Chapter III The Conservative Paradigm 89

1 Paradigm Blindness 89

2 The Premises of Conservatism 98

3 Rationalism and Empiricism 105

4 Mutual Loyalty 111

5 Honor 118

6 Hierarchy 125

7 Cohesion and Dissolution 133

8 Traditional Institutions 142

9 Political Obligation 154

10 Freedom and Constraint 162

11 Tradition and Truth 169

Chapter IV God, Scripture, Family, and Congregation 189

1 God and Scripture 190

2 Why There Is No Alternative to God and Scripture 196

3 The Traditional Family 207

4 The Community or Congregation 216

Chapter V The Purposes of Government 223

1 The National Interest or Common Good 223

2 The Government of the Family 224

3 The State as a Traditional Institution 232

4 Eight Purposes of National Government 239

5 Religion as a Purpose of Government 249

6 The Balance of Purposes in the State 253

Part 3 Current Affairs

Chapter VI Liberal Hegemony and Cold War Conservatism 259

1 From Christian Democracy to Liberal Democracy 261

2 Russell Kirk and the Conservative Revival 272

3 Friedrich Hayek's Liberalism 278

4 Leo Strausss Liberalism 290

5 William Buckley, Frank Meyer, and "Fusionism" 296

6 What Cold War Conservatives Contributed to Liberal Hegemony 302

Chapter VII The Challenge of Marxism 311

1 The Collapse of Liberal Hegemony 311

2 The Marxist Framework 312

3 The Attraction and Power of Marxism 315

4 The Flaws That Make Marxism Fatal 318

5 The Dance of Liberalism and Marxism 320

6 The Marxist Endgame and Democracy's End 325

Chapter VIII Conservative Democracy 331

1 Conservative Democracy as an Alternative 331

2 Liberalism vs. the Bible 332

3 Anglo-American Conservatism Revisited 335

4 What Would Conservative Democracy Be Like? 340

5 Experiments in Conservative Democracy 344

Part 4 Personal

Chapter IX Some Notes on Living a Conservative Life 351

1 Princeton Tories 351

2 Ronald Reagan and the Conservative Revival at Princeton 357

3 Stevenson Hall 364

4 George Will, Irving Kristol, and Conservative Ideas 369

5 A Conservative Life 379

Conclusion: On Being a Conservative Person 389

Acknowledgments 395

Notes 397

Index 437

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Conservatism:

“With this astonishing book, Yoram Hazony takes uncontestable leadership of postliberal conservatism, becoming not only its most important public intellectual, but also its passionate prophet. Conservatism: A Rediscovery is the book we have long been waiting for: a compelling critique of where the right went wrong and how it can create a vital new public philosophy by reinvigorating old truths. An unusually compelling mix of history, political science, cultural analysis, religious wisdom, and personal testimony, Hazony’s instant classic is not just the voice of a new conservatism; it is also the voice of an old civilization whose clarion call proclaims hope and sounds the way out of the contemporary West’s dark wood.”— Rod Dreher, senior editor at The American Conservative and author of Live Not by Lies

“Conservatism: A Rediscovery is a fascinating, erudite, and mind opening work—historically adept, philosophically vital, and clearly written. It’s a must-buy and a must-read for anyone who thinks deeply about liberty, responsibility, and community.”— Ben Shapiro, host of The Ben Shapiro Show and editor emeritus of The Daily Wire

“Steeped in history, framed with well-defined concepts, and presented in crystal clear prose, Hazony’s powerful vision of conservatism for the twenty-first century is capable of steering the ship of state out of our present perils.”— R. R. Reno, editor of First Things and author of Return of the Strong Gods

“Libertarians are used to arguing against those who praise government in the name of ‘progress’ and for the sake of their own power. But the more intellectually forceful challenge to libertarianism comes not from progressives but from conservatives. Yoram Hazony provides that challenge in this lucid exposition of a tradition of conservative nationalism that begins in the Old Testament and passes through George Washington and Alexander Hamilton to our own moment.”— Peter Thiel, author of Zero to One
 

“The most convincing and thorough evisceration and dismissal of Enlightenment political thought in the last 70 years.”

—Michael McKenna, Washington Times

“The most convincing and thorough evisceration and dismissal of Enlightenment political thought in the last 70 years.”

—Michael McKenna, Washington Times

“A magisterial book by an important conservative intellectual. To conceptualize and defend as sweeping a political philosophy as Hazony does is a real accomplishment.”

— Matthew McManus, Liberal Currents

“A magisterial book by an important conservative intellectual. To conceptualize and defend as sweeping a political philosophy as Hazony does is a real accomplishment.”

— Matthew McManus, Liberal Currents

“A brilliant, moving, and compelling account of what it means to be a conservative in today’s world.”

— Ben Dunson, American Reformer

“A brilliant, moving, and compelling account of what it means to be a conservative in today’s world.”

— Ben Dunson, American Reformer

“An astonishing essay in political anthropology... It is not often that a reviewer reaches for the word ‘masterpiece,’ but this is one book where the word is warranted.”

–Bradford Littlejohn, Law and Liberty

“An astonishing essay in political anthropology... It is not often that a reviewer reaches for the word ‘masterpiece,’ but this is one book where the word is warranted.”

–Bradford Littlejohn, Law and Liberty

“For the first time in a generation or more, American readers are presented with a full-fledged and non-Lockean conservative political theory... I believe my undergraduates would call this book ‘based.’”

— Daniel Burns, Public Discourse

“For the first time in a generation or more, American readers are presented with a full-fledged and non-Lockean conservative political theory... I believe my undergraduates would call this book ‘based.’”

— Daniel Burns, Public Discourse

“An impressive and heroic work.”

— Paul Krause, Voegelin View

“An impressive and heroic work.”

— Paul Krause, Voegelin View

“Steeped in history, framed with well-defined concepts, and presented in crystal clear prose, Hazony’s powerful vision of conservatism for the twenty-first century is capable of steering the ship of state out of our present perils.”

— R. R. Reno

“Steeped in history, framed with well-defined concepts, and presented in crystal clear prose, Hazony’s powerful vision of conservatism for the twenty-first century is capable of steering the ship of state out of our present perils.”

— R. R. Reno

“With this astonishing book, Yoram Hazony takes uncontestable leadership of postliberal conservatism, becoming not only its most important public intellectual, but also its passionate prophet. Conservatism: A Rediscovery is the book we have long been waiting for.”

— Rod Dreher

“With this astonishing book, Yoram Hazony takes uncontestable leadership of postliberal conservatism, becoming not only its most important public intellectual, but also its passionate prophet. Conservatism: A Rediscovery is the book we have long been waiting for.”

— Rod Dreher

“Conservatism: A Rediscovery is a fascinating, erudite, and mind opening work—historically adept, philosophically vital, and clearly written. It’s a must-buy and a must-read for anyone who think deeply about liberty, responsibility, and community.”

— Ben Shapiro

“Conservatism: A Rediscovery is a fascinating, erudite, and mind opening work—historically adept, philosophically vital, and clearly written. It’s a must-buy and a must-read for anyone who think deeply about liberty, responsibility, and community.”

— Ben Shapiro

“The more intellectually forceful challenge to libertarianism comes not from progressives but from conservatives. Yoram Hazony provides that challenge in this lucid exposition of a tradition of conservative nationalism that begins in the Old Testament and passes through George Washington and Alexander Hamilton to our own moment.”

— Peter Thiel

“The more intellectually forceful challenge to libertarianism comes not from progressives but from conservatives. Yoram Hazony provides that challenge in this lucid exposition of a tradition of conservative nationalism that begins in the Old Testament and passes through George Washington and Alexander Hamilton to our own moment.”

— Peter Thiel

From the Publisher