May 6, 2023
Lee Drutman was quoted in a CNN article on the relationship between nationalism and conservatism.
Nationalism is identity over philosophy
So what is a nationalist and what is a conservative? And does it matter if we use these terms interchangeably?
First, a quick definition: When academics use “nationalism” by itself, it’s the concept that some kind of identity matters more than philosophy. That can be a place, an ethnicity or a religion. In current US politics, we typically see that identity with Christian nationalism or White nationalism.
Defining conservatism is tricky
Whether you throw all the way back to the philosopher Edmund Burke or start with former President Ronald Reagan, conservatism has typically meant a resistance to radical change and a faith in caution, especially when it comes to government’s role in a citizen’s life.
Many conservatives bristle at being lumped in with the very idea of nationalism, even without add-ons like “Christian” or “White.” Their version of conservatism is irrespective of place.
Former Heritage Foundation Executive Vice President Kim Holmes argued in 2019 that “American conservatives have argued that one of the great things about America was that it was different from all other countries. Different from all other nationalisms.”
Embracing nationalism under Trump
Trump flipped that more open principle of conservatism around when he declared himself to be a “nationalist” in 2018. Most of his policy proposals as president were focused on putting “America First.”
For Holmes, American identity is “based on a universal creed … grounded in America’s founding principles.” Holmes sees kindred spirits and a shared struggle with conservatives elsewhere in the world who might share those principles.
It wasn’t always partisan
Conservativism as a concept wasn’t even partisan in the 20th century. Joe Biden embraced the term during his first term in the US Senate, telling Kitty Kelley of the Washingtonian in 1974, “When it comes to civil rights and civil liberties, I’m a liberal but that’s it. I’m really quite conservative on most other issues.”
Over time, the term has evolved. As Lee Drutman, a political scientist at the think tank New America and author of “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America,” told me, “Once upon a time, there was a consistent meaning, but now you can be a national security conservative, an economic conservative, a social conservative. It’s become more of an identity.”
Holmes said when conservatives lose confidence in the strength of their philosophy, it risks becoming an identity. “They think that traditional fusionist conservatism and the American exceptionalism idea are not strong enough. These ideas are not muscular enough. They want something stronger to stand up to the universal claims of globalism and progressivism that they believe are anti-American.”