Obsessing over the past, putting mysticism ahead of rationality, and elevating the group over the individual – does not become any better of an idea when it’s done from the right side of the political spectrum.
After roughly 15 years without an election victory, some on the Canadian right appear to believe that big government culture war conservatism is the path to success for the right. There is a growing discourse around the idea that a return to the idealized mythical Canadian past, and an embrace of a more mystical worldview, combined with right-wing social engineering (totally different than the left because it’s ‘based’ when the right does it), is the way to win over Canadians.
Some of this is a reaction to watching U.S. President Donald Trump exercise immense power within the U.S. political system with an authoritarian right-wing agenda that dispenses with the traditional conservative embrace of free markets and decentralized power.
Some of this is a reaction to a world that feels unstable and is changing fast.
But much of it is simply the mirror of what has happened on the farther reaches of the left: A desire to abandon the primacy of the individual and seek the supposed safety and abdication of responsibility that comes with subordinating your identity to the group.
Right-wing collectivism
Culture war conservatism is ultimately right-wing collectivism. Like left-wing collectivism, it offers an increase in centralized coercion and the narrowing of individual rights, in the name of what is best for the collective, whether that collective is a race, a nation, or a cultural group. Rather than treating the individual as the key unit of moral concern and seeing government as an instrument to protect the individual’s freedom to choose their own community voluntarily, right-wing and left-wing collectivists see the individual as the instrument to be used to protect and implement an idealized vision of a perfect and powerful government.
There is a deep irony here, given that one of the most important aspects of conservatism is the recognition that humans are imperfect and that concentrating power is dangerous, yet right-wing collectivism repeats the error of the far-left in believing government can somehow be more ethical than the people who comprise it.
Further, right-wing and left-wing collectivists increasingly spurn the idea of rationality and instead embrace a more mystical worldview that takes a dim view of human expertise, human innovation, and the ability of humans to overcome challenges through the application of logical thought. This is also tied to an obsession with a mythical past that – if only we copy it well enough – will save us in the present. But, while the past has important lessons, the past led to the present, so how could we escape the present by replaying the past?
Future focus
Both the centre-left and centre-right in Canada have an understanding of core truths. The centre-left has been right about the uniqueness of Canada’s social openness, which is a key pillar of what could be a profound civilizational model. The centre-right is correct about the way in which overregulation, overtaxation, and a suspicion of private sector achievement put Canada’s long-term success and stability at risk. The logical response, of course, is then to add increased economic openness to Canada’s existing social openness, creating a nation that is uniquely open to different people and different perspectives, and uniquely open to entrepreneurship, innovation, and wealth creation. A nation where freedom, rationality, and individual rights are protected. While this does not require forgetting the past, it does require focusing more on the future. We must embrace uncertainty, and trust that – when freed from the coercion of collectivists on either the left or the right – your mind (for there is no such thing as ‘the group mind) and your right to freely use it are what the government should protect above all.
Spencer Fernando
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The views expressed here are unfortunately too simplistic (right vs. left). Spencer needs to consider a more 3 dimensional expression of political/philosophical thought as is explored by the creators of the Nolan Chart and similar analyses.