National Conservatism Conference still spreading nationalist propaganda
The 2021 edition of the National Conservatism Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida from October 31 – November 2, and just as it was in the 2019 edition held in Washington, DC, nationalist propaganda will be the theme of this so-called conservative gathering.
The socialist-leaning, liberty-killing, big government agenda — once the exclusive purview of Democrats and the Far-Left — has been receiving what I’ve come to call a “conservative socialist” makeover within the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed the reins over to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of how the party has destroyed conservatism came sharply into focus in the Age of Trump.
One of the ways this destruction has been accomplished is by rebranding conservatism into “America First” nationalism; Trump’s ace-in-the-hole from the very beginning of his presidency. As spreaders of nationalist propaganda, Republicans in Congress during the Trump years offered “conservative” versions of many of the Far-Left’s pet projects — such as paid family leave, the Green New Deal, and government-run healthcare.
Trump and nationalism served as the inspiration behind the first National Conservatism Conference, and while the definition of “national conservatism” was never clearly defined, the overarching theme of the get-together was that conservatism as traditionally understood has outlived its usefulness economically and culturally.
Specifically, the first National Conservatism Conference was motivated by a desire to find new ways to empower government with the means necessary to right the wrongs brought about by traditional conservatism. And if liberty had to be sacrificed to accomplish that goal, it’s a price nationalists were willing to pay.
“Today we declare independence from the set of ideas that sees the atomic individual, the free and equal individual, as the only thing that matters in politics,” ” NCC organizer Yoram Hazony said at the 2019 conference.
Based on that declaration, FOX News host Tucker Carlson — who a few weeks prior to NCC declared his love for Elizabeth Warren’s “Economic Patriotism” platform because it sounded like “Donald Trump at his best.” — said in a keynote speech at the event that big government was less a threat to liberty than the free market. “The main threat to your ability to live your life as your choose does not come from government anymore,” Carlson declared. “It comes from the private sector.” (emphasis mine)
Sen. Josh Hawley also gave a keynote speech at the 2019 event and sounded like a Democratic Socialist speaking at a Far-Left fundraiser — which come to think of it, is a pretty accurate description — by attacking the “powerful upper class and their cosmopolitan priorities,” and calling for “a new consensus” to address the “discontent of our time.”
Hawley will be making an encore appearance at the upcoming National Conservatism Conference in Orlando and will be joined by fellow evangelists of Trump’s nationalist gospel like Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio .
One newcomer to the NCC’s lineup of speakers this year is faux-conservative Trumpist and U.S. Senate candidate for the state of Ohio, J.D. Vance; an appropriate choice when you remember his appearance on Tucker Carlson’s FOX News program earlier this month.
During his interview with Carlson, Vance revealed his inner Bernie Sanders when he called on Washington to seize the assets of political non-profits that don’t believe as he does in order to redistribute the wealth to organizations that agree with his “conservative” views. Carlson gave a hearty “Amen” after hearing Vance’s liberty-hating, nationalism-inspired suggestion.
Though not all-inclusive, here are some of the other notable speakers and their nationalist (some might say socialist or Marxist) topics:
- Rachel Bovard, Senior Director of Policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute, will be speaking on “National Conservative Priorities.” CPI has become an arm of the pro-Trump propaganda machine as evidenced by the appointment of Mark Meadows as a senior partner.
- Oren Cass, Executive Director of American Compass, will be speaking on “Why National Conservatism Needs Worker Power”
- Brian Dijkema, Vice President of External Affairs with Cardus, will be speaking on “Reviving the Roots of the American Labor Movement”
- Josh Hammer is the Opinion Editor of Newsweek, will be speaking on “National Conservatism: The Only Path Forward”
- Julius Krein, Editor of American Affairs, will be speaking on “Nationalism: Theory and Practice”
- Rich Lowry, editor of National Review and author of The Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free will be speaking on “The Assault on American National Identity”
- Balázs Orbán, Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office in Hungary, will be speaking on “National Conservatism in Today’s Europe”
- Kiron Skinner, Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Carnegie Mellon University, will be speaking on “The Trump Doctrine Still Matters”
There are other speakers and topics, but it’s clear to see from the keynote speakers and the speakers listed above that nationalism is the message, not conservatism.
The destruction of conservatism has essentially been a work-in-progress by the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of its demise has come sharply into focus in the Age of Trump.
The organizers of the National Conservatism Conference want you to believe that their nationalist propaganda is “conservative,” but it’s not. It’s Marxism. It’s socialism. It’s big government. It’s anti-liberty.
There’s nothing conservative about it!
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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