Populist Conservatism and Constitutional Order. By Kevin D. Roberts President, The Heritage Foundation (October 2024)
The essay was adapted from a talk delivered in Christ Chapel at Hillsdale College on October 23, 2024.
Anyone with a conservative or populist tilt — and even those who tilt the other way — should consider Kevin Roberts excellent essay, which explains the worldwide rise of populism, its pitfalls, and how America can move forward by honoring our Constitution and applying simple (but not easy) solutions.
Some key quotes from Kevin Roberts’ article are below:
The top-down, elitist brand of politics that has dominated the United States since the end of the Cold War—under Republican and Democratic administrations alike—has failed. Yes, we are materially richer than we were in 1991, and our largest corporations are more profitable. But we are militarily and strategically weaker, fiscally endangered, and spiritually enervated. As a result, public trust in the vaunted institutions that our elites control—political, scientific, journalistic, educational, religious—has evaporated. And populism—especially on the conservative Right—is on the rise.
The new populism tends to be economically and politically nationalistic. It tends to be culturally patriotic and socially conservative. It tends to sympathize with workers over corporations. It is also self-consciously, defiantly—often mockingly—anti-establishment.
…it is still the case that legitimate and enduring change in the U.S. will only be accomplished through the Constitution… the American people are not interested in thrones and altars. They want a secure border, safe streets, economic autonomy and opportunity, a family-friendly culture, and a government that works for them instead of the other way around.
None of our problems are beyond our constitutional order’s power to solve…. We need a Congress that acts like a legislature rather than a company of moralizing performance artists. We need a president who acts like a responsible chief executive rather than a drunken king. We need a judiciary that acts impartially in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the land rather than in a partisan manner. And we need to disperse the political power that is now concentrated in the hands of the Washington establishment.
…the solution to our problems is …to start obeying and applying [the Constitution] again. Under that document, “We the People” already possess every power we need to reestablish majority rule, minority rights, democratic accountability, equal justice under law, and national sovereignty.
It is clearly possible for a nation to control its borders, to prosecute criminals, to reclaim its sovereignty as it pertains to war, peace, and trade, and to protect and promote the values that most Americans espouse.
The Essay’s Conclusion:
American conservatism exists to serve the people and the nation through the Constitution. This includes defending them against enemies foreign and domestic. And the fact is, elite institutions have become the people’s and the nation’s enemies. They are openly waging cultural war on those they ostensibly serve. They cannot be negotiated with or accommodated. They must be defunded, disbanded, and disempowered. The rewards for doing so—for putting American families first again—will be greater than we can know.
This is the fight before us. If we thoughtfully and tenaciously combine populist energy with conservative principles, it is a fight we can win.
