John Dean: Conservatives Without Conscience
Dean, John. Conservatives Without Conscience (New York: Viking, 2006)
Dean began working on this book with the late Barry Goldwater, but was forced by circumstances to carry on alone. Even on his own--as with his previous book--Dean makes his points well. He uses Burke, de Maistre, Milgram's obedience experiment, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment the Jost study on "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," and Bob Altemeyer's RWA (Right-Wing Authoritarianism) analyses to support his conclusion that the GOP has lurched rightward into dangerously authoritarian territory. In a reversal of Reagan's famous quip about the Democratic Party, Dean didn't leave the GOP; the party left him:
Senator Goldwater's conservatism was sensible and straightforward, and therefore appealing. Given the influence he had on my thinking, as well as my admiration for him, it is not surprising that I still consider myself to be a "Goldwater conservative" on many issues. Be that as it may, while my own core beliefs have not changed significantly in the past forty years, the Grand Old Party to which I once belonged has moved so far to the right, that on the contemporary political spectrum I now often fall to the left of the Republican center. (pp. xxxii-xxxiii, Preface)
He tries to extricate conservatism from its instantiation within the GOP, writing that
Conservatism is not inherently moralistic, negative, arrogant, condescending, and self-righteous. Nor is it authoritarian. Yet all of these are adjectives that best describe the political outlook of contemporary conservatism. I make these observations not as an outsider, but as a conservative who is deeply troubled by what has become of a treasured philosophy. Conservatism has been co-opted by authoritarians, a most dangerous type of political animal. (p. xxxvii, Preface)
and dating the conflation of authoritarianism and Republicanism from about 1990:
While authoritarian conservatism was growing in force in Washington for a decade before Bush and Cheney arrived at the White House, their administration has taken it to its highest and most dangerous level in American history. (p. 117)
If one starts the clock on authoritarian conservatism with the Nixon era, as is more accurate, the single decade posited by Dean stretches four decades from then to the present. Thus, conservatism's era of dominance in Washington is about to draw to a close (and not a moment too soon). Despite being on the political pendulum's return swing, there is still great potential for damage; this description of the RWAs that make up Bush's remaining base of supporters:
"Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds," Altemeyer told me. He added, "They would march America into a dictatorship and probably feel that things had improved as a result. [...] And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going to go away." (p. 184)
Since we're stuck with them, perhaps our best course of action is to provide the conscience that they so conspicuously lack.