By partnering, conservatives can help a President Trump decentralize power.
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…While congressional Republicans tend to identify as conservatives, President-elect Donald Trump is a populist. Many observers, including some Republicans, see this as an un-squareable circle.
I disagree. For all the challenges a President Trump may present conservatives during his term, his populism need not be one of them. Far from contradictory, conservatism and populism complement each other in ways that can change history — as did the most successful populist in recent decades, Ronald Reagan.
The chief political weakness of conservatism is its difficulty identifying problems that are appropriate for political correction. Conservatism’s view of human nature and history teaches us that problems are inevitable in this world and that attempts to use government to solve them often only make things worse.
This insight actually makes us good at finding solutions. At our best, conservatives craft policy reforms that empower bottom-up, trial-and-error problem-solving and the institutions that facilitate it, such as markets and civil society. At our worst, though, we can seem indifferent to suffering and injustice because we overlook problems that require our action or resign ourselves to their insolvability.
Populists, on the other hand, have an uncanny knack for identifying social problems. It’s when pressed for solutions that populists tend to reveal their characteristic weakness. Unable to draw on a coherent philosophy, populists can tend toward inconsistent or unserious proposals.
The rough terms of a successful partnership seem obvious. Populism identifies the problems; conservatism develops the solutions; and President Trump oversees the process with a veto pen that keeps everyone honest. Call it “principled populism”: an authentic conservatism focused on solving the problems that face working Americans in a fracturing society and globalizing economy.
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Imagining principled-populist immigration reforms that would help lower-income Americans isn’t too hard. Border security — including a wall, fence, or some other barrier — is an obvious first step. Finally creating a strict entry-exit system and a workplace-enforcement regime would discourage illegal entry and penalize visa overstayers. In short order, fewer foreigners would illegally enter the United States, and more who already have done so would leave — all without the violation of anyone’s rights.
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Republicans should be able to recognize that while globalization and free trade have created enormous opportunity and wealth for the country, those benefits have flowed disproportionately to the wealthy. So principled populism would, rather than withdraw from the global economy, seek to channel its benefits to workers — to harness the irresistible forces of globalization to the interests of Trump’s “forgotten Americans.” Dramatically cutting — even eliminating — the corporate-income tax while raising investment-tax rates to recoup the lost revenue would help accomplish this goal. First, it would boost wages, since employers currently pass on some of the tax burden to their employees. And second, it would flood our economy with new foreign investment and help create American jobs.
But a successful populism cannot just give Americans more money; it should also give them more political power. Lots of it. Happily, the Founding Fathers long ago mastered the art of this particular deal. The United States Constitution is not purely democratic, but it is profoundly populist. Indeed, it’s the most successful populist platform ever written, as last Election Day proved once again.
All human history teaches us that people cannot be trusted with unaccountable power; therefore, freedom and security are best protected by dispersing power. Federalism and the separation of powers may sound like legalistic abstractions, but in truth they are as important, concrete, and guaranteed under our Constitution as the right to vote or of due process.
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In the past, when populist rebellions have failed, it has usually been when their leaders, lacking a governing philosophy, have descended into authoritarianism. Reagan succeeded because he elevated his populism by channeling it through conservative and constitutional principles, just as President-elect Trump now has the opportunity to do.
History warns us that, for ordinary people, there is no such thing as “our” strongman. A republic of constitutionally empowered citizens — free, respected, and sovereign — would never want one in the first place. Leaving our children just such a republic is how principled populism can help our new president truly make America great again.
- Discussion
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Senator Mike Lee: Conservatives and Populists Are Natural Partners https://t.co/uy4VCvPgZn
— RedState (@RedState) November 25, 2016
Is everyone going insane?
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