Republicans Have Replaced Conservatism With Tribalism

Traditionally, conservatives have believed that government works best when it is closest to the people. They wanted local governments to do more than state and/or national government. That has now changed. Red state governors are now issuing top-down edicts that overrule local governments and school boards. In other words, Republicans have tossed out their conservative principles in favor of a weird brand of tribalism.

Here's part of how conservative commentator Charlie Sykes puts it at MSNBC.com:

Until about five minutes ago, conservatives opposed centralized, top-down regulations and fiercely defended the right of businesses to make their own decisions. They also understood “personal responsibility” was not a license to recklessly endanger others.

Until the latest war on vaccine passports, Republicans had also prided themselves on their belief in the principle of subsidiarity, which former House Speaker Paul Ryan defined as the belief that “government closest to the people governs best.” Big government, he argued, crowded out civic society, which was why conservative supported “having enough space in our communities so that we can interact with each other, and take care of people who are down and out in our communities.”

All of that now feels so last decade.

In its place, conservatives have embraced less an idea than a slogan. Opponents of the vaccine and mask mandates insist they are fighting to protect “Freedom!” But their opposition to basic public health measures would have seemed bizarre to earlier generations of conservatives.

The founders themselves understood that freedom required self-control and a sense of civic responsibility. They regarded unrestrained individualism as a danger to the virtues required by a free republic, and they did not confuse narcissism and selfishness with liberty.

To previous generations of conservatives, this was more or less self-evident; they embraced the balanced idea of “ordered liberty.” They understood that rights were balanced by responsibilities, especially when it came to public health and human life.

But in today’s GOP — with some exceptions — those notions have been scrapped, along with so many other ideas and principles like fiscal responsibility, the rule of law, support for liberal democracy and the foundational concept that character matters.

The result is a party held hostage to its own post-coherence politics, in which faux populism, tribalism and owning the libs has eclipsed genuine conservatism.

Unfortunately, we are likely to measure its impact in the loss of human lives.