US New Conservatism

1. US New Conservatism Simon Shen

2. Old Conservatism • Founder of Conservatism: • Edmund Burke • Tocqueville • Vs French Revolution • Experimentalism Vs Rationality / Populism • On Human Nature • On Class • On Tradition (Forward Vs Backward) • On Liberty (Absolute Vs Societal)

3. Old Conservatism in USA • Conservative Tradition in the American War of Independence • Foundation of USA: “Classical Liberalism” = “European Conservatism” • Social Contract • Private Property Rights • Adam Smith Vs Thomas Jefferson • Constitution Vs Bills of Rights

4. Conservatism in the Economic Front • Keynesian Economics / Welfare State • Known as “Conservatism” in Europe • Known as “Liberalism” in USA • FDR New Deal • Hayek and Conservatism Economics • Vs Communism • Vs Social Democracy • Vs Welfare State

5. New Conservatism Since 1960s • “Liberalism” in the USA after Cold War •  New Leftists (mix with Stalinism, Marxism, or Anarchism……) •  Anti-Leftist Liberalists (+ The Jewish Influence) • The Goldwater Revolution • Michael Harrington Assigns the term “New Conservatism” to the “traitors” of Liberalism • New Conservatism allies with Old Conservatism

6. The Tragedy of American Compassion (Marvin Olasky) • “Compassion” = Social Darwinism • The Poor People Lose their Ability of Self-living and Self-strengthening • Welfare Bureau Replaces the Socio-Economic Function of Family (from Class to Caste) • The Concept of Compassion Redefined (Moral Guidance) •  Vs Social Security System = “Compassionate Conservatism”

7. The Dream and the Nightmare (Myron Magnet) • The 60s Legacy to the Underclass • JFK: New Culture Movement • LBJ: The Grand Society • The Excess of Ultra-liberalism / Collapse of the Value System • Hippies, Family, Homosexuality, Abortion, Drug Addiction •  Need the God

8. Give Peace a Chance Lyrics • Two, one, two, three, four Ev'rybody's talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance • Ev'rybody's talking about ministers, Sinister, Banisters And canisters, Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop eyes, Bye, bye, bye byes All we are saying is give peace a chance, All we are saying is give peace a chance • Let me tell you now Revoluton, evolution, masturbation, Flagellation, regulation, integrations, Meditations, United Nations, Congratulations • Ev'rybody's talking about John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Copper,Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

9. Destructive Generation (Peter Collier) • The “Dark Age” • The 3 Assassinations • From Civil Movement to Radical Movement • Malcolm X and the Black Panthers • Fifth Columnists and the Red Menace •  Public Order, with Costs

10. Theodore Rex (Edmund Morris) • Theodore Roosevelt as the “Pre-incarnated Bush” • American Exceptionalism • Gunboat Policy / Carrot and Stick  Pre-emptive • Mahon’s Sea Power  Rumsfeld’s Aerial Power • Global Military Redeployment • From Isolationism to Unilateralism

11. Essence of New Conservatism (I)Continuity with Old Conservatism • Individual Rights, Free Market • Further Promote Isaiah Berlin’s Positive Liberty (individual’s ability to acquire resources) • Hayek Economy (Reagan Economy) …… • Liberty > Equality (Noblemen) • Individuality > Totalitarianism

12. (II) From the “Leftists” • FDR’s New Deal • Welfare State, to a certain extent • Encroachment Vs Isaiah Berlin’s Negative Liberty (individual’s ability to avoid intervention by the social/ political mechanism) • Mass Base / Civil Movement • Organization • “Permanent Revolution” Theory, Rightist Version

13. New Inventions • Christian Rights Movement • Morality • Ethics … towards the Liberalist Ideal • Moral Absolutism Vs Relativism • International Salvation • Anti-Communism: Activism Vs Isolation / Engagement • The Missionary Approach • Forward Looking (Meliorism)

14. “Christian Right” • “Christian Fundamentalism” • Islamic and Jewish Fundamentalists Revisited • 1910-1915: “The Fundamentals” • Pro-life: Vs Abortion; Bio-ethics • Family Values: Self-help; Vs Homosexual • Religion from Private to Public Domain • Education (e.g. “homeschooling”) • Politics (e.g. Southern Evangelicalism) • International Relations (e.g. PNAC) • Moral Values according to the Bible

15. Francis Fukuyama • Francis Fukuyama (1952—) • The “Oriental” Descendent • The Elitist Background: • Cornell BA; Harvard PhD; John Hopkins Professor; RAND Researcher; PNAC Member • 2 Types of “General Education” Genius Reassessed • “Historiography” / “Universalism” • IPE + IR + Politics + History • + Philosophy • + Literature • + Science • “the words sort of American undergraduate term-paper” Vs “the most important defense of liberal democracy since John Rawl’s ‘A Theory of Justice’”

16. Hegel’s Dialectical History • A Dialectical Process: • A process through which the contradiction between a dominant truth (thesis) and its opposite (antithesis) are reconciled to produce a higher truth (synthesis) • Synthesis = a new Thesis Vs a new Antithesis until all prior contradictions are resolved and all human needs are satisfied • History culminated in an absolute moment – a moment in which a final, rational form of society and state became victorious”  “the End of History”

17. Nature of the Contradiction • Fukuyama: Ideological Consciousness (“the real subject underlying the apparent jumble of current events in the history of ideology”) • “Thymos” – man’s need for rational recognition • “Megalothymia” – the desire to be recognized as better than others [Master] • “Isothymia” – the human demand to be recognized as equal rather than superior [Slave] • The End of History Begins in 1806 (Battle of Jena) • (1) Capitalism satisfies man’s economic need of ownership and material goods • (2) Democracy abolishes the distinction between master and slave

18. How Liberalism > Rivals • Feudalism – Fell after 1806 • Fascism – Fell after WWII • Marxism / Neo-Marxism – Fell after 1989 • The Dialectical Theory of Marxism • Religion Fundamentalism / Nationalism / Huntingtonianism – Not Universalism

19. Why is Liberalism “Imperialistic”?!“The First Man” • Anglo-Saxon Liberalism (Hobbes: Leviathan) Vs German Liberalism (Hegel: the Phenomenology of Mind) • The First Man in the Natural World • Basic Instinct, Darwinism…… • German: “Megalothymia” [Master] and the Progressive Nature • Anglo-Saxon: “Isothymia” [Slave] and the Protective Nature

20. “The Last Man” • The last man emerges at this end point in history, as liberal society grants recognition and thus the satisfaction of the isothymia • The last man will inevitably find the life of masterless slavery “boring” • Too much equality is dangerous for society, as people will have nowhere to strive for (classless society = complete victory of the ethics of slaves) • The end of history has thus caused a thymotic imbalance, in that megalothymia has been oppressed and superseded by isothymia

21. Deterrence of the Last Man • It is important to avoid the disintegration of liberalism by ensuring that megalothymia can be expressed • Economic: Entrepreneurship • Political: Democratic Competition • Social: Sportsmanship • International: ???

22. Two Visible Rivals • The Fundamentalist Model • Rejection to Capitalist Economy • Failure to Revive their Tradition and Glory • The East Asian Model • Capitalist Economy • Social Bonds that are strong enough to withstand the fragmentary forces of liberal democracy • Trust: the Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995)

23. Fukuyama’s Acknowledged Fallacy of the Theory of End of History • 10th Anniversary Article • Biotechnical Revolution Changes the Human Nature (i.e. Ideological Consciousness, basis of Fukuyama’s Dialect) • Prozac: Vs Depression • Ritalin: Vs Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD) • Possible for Every “New Man” to Strive for Megalothymia or Isothymia Only •  Erase the Foundation of Liberalism •  Other Modifications (e.g. Post-gender Era……) • The Posthuman Future (2003)

24. The Worldview of Fukuyama • The Rule of Liberal Democracy • Rational Expression of Megalothymia • Enemies: • Vs Absolute Egalitarianism • Vs East Asian Model / New Authoritarianism • Vs Revivalism / Fundamentalism • Vs Biotechnical Revolution

25. Project for the New American Century (1997) • Chairman: William Kristol (boss: Murdoch) • Members: • Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz • Dan Quayle • Jeb Bush • Steve Forbes • Ellen Bork • Francis Fukuyama, Charles Krauthammer • The 1998 Petition to Clinton • September 2000: Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century

26. Goals • We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future; • We need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values • We need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad • We need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles. • Unilateralism • Vs Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty / Spatial Competition / Vs Tokyo Treaty …… • Kerry’s Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) [Soft Power Vs Hard Power]

27. The Post-Cold War World Order • Military Redeployment: New Bases / from Europe to Asia-Pacific • Pre-emptivism and “Potential Threats” • Iraq, Iran, Syria …… • KSA • Ineffective International Multilateralism • United Nations • The Old Europe

28. The Making of New Order • From USA to NSA? • Washington DC as the Rome of New Conservatism? • USA Above Sovereignty of Others • “Democratic Transition Office” • The Greater Middle East Plan • Capitalism • Democracy • “What Went Wrong” • “Individualized Islam”  “Secret” behind the (Abandoned) New Iraqi Flag • The Rise of the “New Europe” and the Vilnius Letter • The Seven-colored Revolution • The Final Containment: Russia and China

29. Ideals and Rationales • Such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle • American leadership is good both for America and for the world • Dahl’s Democratic Peace Theory • Kindleberger’s Hegemonic Stability Theory • The Chosen Citizen Theory • Fukuyama’s the End of History Theory

30. References • Olasky, Marvin. The Tragedy of American Compassion. Washington: Regnery Gateway, 1992. • Magnet, Maron. The Dream and the Nightmare. New York: W Morrow, 1993. • Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. New York: Random House, 2001. • Collier, Peter and Horowitz, David. Destructive Generation. New York: Free Press, 1996. • Collinicos, Alex. The New Mandarins of American Power: the Bush Administration’s Plans for the World. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.

31. References • Fukuyama, Francis. Trust: the Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: Free Press, 1995. • Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press, 1992. Chapter 4: The Worldwide Liberal Revolution (P.39-54). • Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Picador, 2003. Chapter 6: Why Should We Worry (P.84-104).

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