“Someone has said that heroes may not be braver than anyone else, they’re just braver five minutes longer.”
—Ronald Reagan
Conservatism is at a crossroads. Will this generation decide to double down on angry populist rhetoric that stirs up aging, rural, white voters—or will we seek to make the conservative philosophy appealing to all Americans? This book highlights the problems—the negatives. And so, there are villains such as Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, Scam-PACs, and others who are (in my view) moving us in the wrong direction. You might have noticed that talk radio hosts are a pet peeve of mine, but this in no way is meant to impugn the many terrific hosts out there who raise the level of intellectual discussion. I go on many talk radio shows, and I find most of them stimulating. Among the best is Hugh Hewitt, who is widely considered to be one of the most important conservative commentators covering the 2016 Republican primaries.
Having said that, there does tend to be a contrast between many of the most famous talk radio hosts and the conservative columnists and journalists who focus on the written word. For example, sage conservative columnists Charles Krauthammer and George Will continue to churn out enlightening copy. And there are several young writers who have taken on the fever swamps of late. Commentary’s Noah Rothman, The Federalist’s Ben Domenech, and National Review’s Charles C. W. Cooke are among the smart, young, up-and-coming conservatives to keep an eye on.
It’s important to end the book on a hopeful note and to point out some of the thoughtful people who are challenging the movement’s stasis. Genuine conservative leaders are making a strong case for why conservatism is the best philosophy for anyone who wants to pursue the American Dream. Today, Christian or conservative institutions of higher learning provide better academic opportunities. Examples such as Hillsdale College, Biola University, Houston Baptist University, and the King’s College (in New York City!) abound. Other accomplished conservative intellectuals like Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor the New York Times has dubbed “this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker,” provide an intellectual inspiration for conservatives. Some important and effective organizations and leaders are helping to bring the conservative movement forward. Among my favorites: the Club for Growth, the Leadership Institute, and the Federalist Society. Here, I have chosen to highlight a few groups and individuals who are specifically focusing on the kinds of projects this book calls for—the work of restoring conservatism to its rightful place as a proud, intellectually coherent philosophy.
A French horn player turned Syracuse professor—turned head of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)—the bespectacled Brooks has continued to make conservatism look hip and smart. Championing what he calls the moral case for free markets, a message he has continued to promote in his capacity as a contributing columnist at the New York Times, Brooks has greatly influenced prominent Republican politicians and conservative leaders to reject the dark side. As a book author, he is prolific and his columns typically have illuminating themes like “Abundance without Attachment,” “The Trick to Being More Virtuous,” “Love People, Not Pleasure,” and “Breaking Out of the Party Box.” Brooks is also a devout Catholic, one who even New York hipsters would appreciate—and might even learn something from. And they wouldn’t be alone. Brooks’s evangelizing of the free market is so effective that he can persuade people who have fully formed, and opposing, worldviews. “After [listening] yesterday and to the presenters today, I developed more respect about capitalism,” said the Dalai Lama, who was part of a February 2014 panel Brooks hosted at AEI. In short, the Dalai Lama, a Marxist, discovered capitalism is not just about money and exploitation, thanks to Brooks. How many fire-breathing conservatives could have accomplished that?
Russell D. Moore is a Southern Baptist, but he’s not what you’d think of when you think of either part of that term. President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Moore is a devout believer, but he’s more interested in loving people into the Kingdom of God than in preaching fire and brimstone. He combines old-fashioned Baptist theology with a younger generation’s appreciation for pop culture, sports, and entertainment. Though Dr. Moore sees some troubling aspects to fighting the culture wars, during an October 2013 conversation with me, Moore lamented that more young evangelicals are eschewing politics. And he stressed the importance of taking one’s faith into the public square. When asked how to be in this world but not of this world, he references Johnny Cash’s song “Walk the Line,” telling me, “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.” It turns out that Moore is a huge Cash fan. “He always presented himself as a sinner—a sinner who was in need of mercy and in need of grace,” he says of the late country star. Cash didn’t revel in his sin—but he also didn’t push the kind of “sappy sentimental Christian testimony” that can turn off people who are hurting or paint an overly optimistic picture of Christian life, either, Moore avers.
“Cash came in with this sense of a great hurt,” Moore says, “a sense of a past that he was carrying with him, the sort of ‘man in black’ sort of mythology that was there—that I think resonated with people to say, ‘the love of God extends to you.’”
Despite being blamed for all sorts of evils by Harry Reid, billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are actually incredibly generous philanthropists. What is more, many of the organizations they run and fund are committed to reforming conservatism. This book has generally avoided providing a specific policy recipe, focusing instead on more fundamental questions. But it is clear that modernizing will require some substantive changes. Along those lines, the Koch Brothers are active in pushing conservatism toward certain policy reform goals. For example, they are committed to immigration reform. But it might be in the area of criminal justice reform where they are making the most inroads. Mark Holden, general counsel at Koch Industries, and Vikrant Reddy, senior fellow for criminal justice at the Charles Koch Institute, are among the most eloquent advocates for reforming criminal justice (reducing mandatory minimum sentences and mass incarceration—and seeking to reform offenders who are amendable) to ensure that people don’t come out of prison worse than when they went in. Many of these reforms don’t just receive bipartisan support—they also unite social conservatives (who stress compassion) with libertarians (who stress civil liberties) and fiscal conservatives (who find our bloated incarceration rates to be inefficient and costly).
As the youngest-ever op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Ross Douthat reaches Americans who otherwise might never come into contact with a conservative worldview. But rather than revel in his early success, Douthat went to work churning out insightful columns that don’t just preach to the choir, but expose liberal readers to a smart, Christian, conservative worldview they might not otherwise know exists. In the process, he also manages to expose liberal hypocrisy, and he does so in a manner that liberal readers might actually not find inherently repellent.
Take his July 5, 2014, piece on Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores. Upon discovering that the Affordable Care Act would mandate providing birth control products, the company decided to supply just sixteen of the twenty FDA-approved contraceptive options. The point was to cover only the drugs they viewed as “preventative,” and not the ones they believed to be abortifacients. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and Hobby Lobby narrowly won. Conservatives saw it as a victory for religious liberty, while liberals framed the conflict as a corporation “denying birth control” to its employees.
Douthat framed his column differently, noting that liberals have long “bemoaned the disappearance of the socially conscious corporation, the boardroom devoted to the common good.” To the intellectually honest liberal, this should have been a thought-provoking column. How is it that the Left has suddenly gotten on the wrong side of socially conscious companies—that don’t allow profits or the desire to avoid controversy to trump their core values? There are other Douthats out there doing this kind of interesting writing. While it might be more fun (and easier) to pen a blog post attacking the Left for being evil hypocrites, Douthat’s method is more persuasive. “Anyone can lie to the press,” quipped former Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger, “but confusing them with the truth is an art I am proud to have mastered.” Likewise, anyone can tell liberals to “go to hell,” but Douthat has a way of making them look forward to the trip.
If you’re not familiar with the story of Dr. Francis Collins, then get this: one of the nation’s top scientists is also a believing Christian. Dr. Collins was director of the Human Genome Project when he wrote a 2006 book called The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. In 2007, Dr. Collins established the BioLogus Foundation, a 501c3 organization to spread his message, and in 2009, he was appointed by President Obama to be director of the National Institutes of Health. As the BioLogus website notes, “In [his book] Collins recounted his own development from atheism to Christian belief, and argued that science is not in conflict with biblical faith but actually enhances faith.” Collins subsequently stepped down from his official role with BioLogus, but the mission of helping “the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith as we present an evolutionary understanding of God’s creation” is ongoing, and the organization continues to grow.
With books like Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery; Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy; and Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life, Eric Metaxas, who is in his early fifties, has emerged as one of the most important Christian writer-historians of our time. During a recent conversation about his book Miracles, I asked Metaxas whether he thought his status as an urban intellectual who sports hipster glasses helped advance his message.
I think that I am, you know, I’m a Yale graduate, I live in Manhattan, and I don’t fit the stereotype of “person of faith”—which actually tells you how little we really think about this stuff rationally. I mean, the idea that we have this stereotype, based on what? You know, some of the smartest people who have ever lived are people of profound faith. So this is just kind of a recent thing that has crept into the culture, and we basically go with it out of intellectual sloppiness.
Not everyone can or should aspire to be like Metaxas. But I would suppose that there are a lot of fire-breathing conservative pundits who are more famous but much less effective at winning converts—at winning the intellectual or theological arguments.
Rather than lamenting the fact that few journalists have a deeply rooted understanding of religion and that this ignorance of theology and apologetics is often demonstrated in coverage of religion, the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s vice president, Michael Cromartie, has, since 1999, hosted twice-yearly meetings, called the Faith Angle Forum, in places like Miami, Florida.117 These meetings bring together respected journalists and top scholars to discuss issues related to faith and culture. This is only one aspect of the EPPC’s mission, but it’s a simple and important one. My guess is that this outreach to influential mainstream journalists and opinion leaders is more effective and efficient than 99 percent of what conservatives spend money on when they’re trying to impact the culture.
Pastor Tim Keller is not a political conservative—at least, not as far as I know. He believes that faith has a moderating impact on us, essentially making us less political (or, at least, putting politics in proper perspective). But Keller serves as a suitable example for many of the ideas summoned in this book, for combining a deep-abiding faith with urbanity and intellectualism. A 2004 Wall Street Journal profile noted that most of the people who show up for his services “are single and under thirty-five, whether bankers, lawyers, actors, or artists. Mr. Keller has a growing national following and is often described as a Christian intellectual who takes on the likes of Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud in a sermon rooted in a specific biblical text.”
Keller might well have decided that he could become an even more successful preacher by going the “televangelist” route—or by opening one of those megachurches in the suburbs, where land is cheap. Instead, he followed his calling to (again, of all places) New York City. And, in order to put people in the pews, he didn’t tone down his message about Jesus’s divinity or miracles or sacrifice, or any of the sacraments and traditions of believers. Nor did he dumb down his message. Instead, he went the other direction on both counts. He’s not afraid to preach about spiritual matters, and he’s not afraid to invoke philosophers or academics in order to make his point.
In fact, Keller argues that pastors should incorporate a certain amount of teaching on apologetics into sermons, because even if everyone in the room is already a Christian, people are more likely to bring friends and family to church if they hear the pastor teaching and explaining things in a manner that would appeal to someone who isn’t already a believer.
In short, Tim Keller’s model of starting a church is very close to what Republicans should consider doing when it comes to winning converts. This doesn’t mean that we should abandon rural areas any more than having a thriving church in New York City means we should close up the churches in the South or in suburbia. This isn’t an “or” thing, but an “and” thing.
Conservatism should be able to appeal to lowbrow, middlebrow, and highbrow audiences. If presented correctly, it can play in every geographical region in the nation—North or South, rural or urban. This is the gospel truth.
If you’re committed to helping turn this around, you’ll need some intellectual reinforcements. This is by no means a definitive reading list, but here are some books that I think are important for conservatives to read. This list generally includes three types of books: 1) those that are considered part of the conservative canon, 2) those that specifically influenced my thinking and the philosophy of this book, and 3) a few books about how politics is played. (Note: You might also want to check in with the Bible and the Constitution at some point.)
The Conservative Mind by Dr. Russell Kirk
Politics by Aristotle
The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver
The Conservative Heart by Arthur Brooks
Reagan’s Revolution by Craig Shirley
When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan
The Great Debate by Yuval Levin
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll
Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher
Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Upstream by Alfred Regnery
10 Books That Screwed Up the World by Benjamin Wiker
Hardball by Chris Matthews
Buck Up, Suck Up…and Come Back When You Foul Up by James Carville and Paul Begala
All Politics Is Local by Tip O’Neill
Nofziger by Lyn Nofziger