Neutrality and balance have not yet been tried
Next week I will be addressing the sold-out National Conservative conference in London. There have been a spate of alarmist pieces suggesting that the conference is “promoting the cause of the traditional religious right” or a Powellite front for the illiberal democracy of Viktor Orban.
There’s no question that NatCon conferences have encompassed a broad array of speakers who disagree as much as they agree. The movement’s statement of principles has been influenced by the more religious context of American conservatism and the views of Israeli-American movement founder Yoram Hazony. These principles include many sound ideas, such as the importance of family and national sovereignty, and scepticism of mass immigration. Many of these principles are not a demand for maximalism, but for rebalancing the current left-liberal dispensation. The one element that sticks in the throat of a classical liberal is the idea of “God and public religion”.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Critic
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Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London and an adjunct fellow of the Manhattan Institute.
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