At New Criterion, a symposium on “Common-good conservatism: a debate”, with a leading essay by Kim R. Holmes, responses by Ryan T. Anderson, Josh Hammer, Charles R. Kesler, Daniel J. Mahoney, James Piereson, Robert R. Reilly, and R. R. Reno, followed by concluding remarks from Mr. Holmes.
Kim Holmes' essay is The Fallacies of the Common Good. From the introduction:
Anyone observing the evolution of conservative thought over the past few years could not have escaped a growing trend. Politicians, intellectuals, and think-tankers are questioning traditional American conservatism’s commitment to limited government, individual natural rights, and economic freedom. They are talking up the virtues of the common good in ways that call into question their commitments to liberty and freedom.
The philosophical questioning of the principles of the American founding is coming from two different factions within the Right. One involves the national conservatives. The other is from philosophers who wish to resurrect the moral organizing principles of natural law. Both reject the idea of “intrinsic” rights that is traditionally associated with the founding.
The fact that these critiques arise from the American Right is significant. American progressivism has long questioned the founding and tried to revise it to suit its purposes. Now it appears members of the Right are doing the same thing. Why? And what are the implications, not only for conservatism but for the American nation?
Of the two common-good schools of thought, the national conservatives are the more prominent. Intellectuals such as Yoram Hazony and Josh Hammer have developed a theory of American conservatism that is inspired by Edmund Burke. What is novel is not the reference to Burke per se—the conflict between Burke and John Locke has long been part of the debate on whether the founding was liberal or conservative. Rather, it is the linking of the Burkean argument to the tradition of nationalism that is new. Like Burke, the national conservatives believe a nation’s identity and government should be organized around its unique history, culture, and customs. Like modern nationalists, they believe national sovereignty is justified by the particular rights of peoples—all peoples in their unique ways—rather than by the universalist claims of legitimacy that often attend democratic institutions.
One of the most thorough expositions of the national-conservative viewpoint is found in an essay by Josh Hammer published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy [Ed.: available here]. Hammer criticizes the doctrine of constitutional originalism and posits instead what he calls “common-good originalism.” His main conclusion is that the American founders were not really Lockean believers in intrinsic rights, but Burkeans who saw rights as instrumental or as means to an end. …
For that reason, conservatism “rightly understood” is “more open to wielding state power” and, when need be, willing to “enforce our order” or even to “reward friends and punish enemies (within the confines of the rule of law).”
Josh Hammer's response is Yesterday’s man, yesterday’s conservatism: On common-good originalism.
Via Paul Mirengoff at Powerline, who summarizes the essays here:
The National Conservatives, A Debate
The National Conservatives, A Debate, Part Two
He also points to this essay by Peter Berkowitz: The Debate Over 'Common-Good Conservatism'.
Posted at 6:54 AM