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FreeCons will expand American conservatism, not contract it

When we Freedom Conservatives released our Statement of Principles last summer, our argument wasn‘t that everyone on the American Right must agree on every conceivable issue. Far from it.

While FreeCons share common principles and key commitments, we often differ on how best to apply our principles in specific circumstances. Take tax policy. Some FreeCons priortize a reduction in marginal tax rates while others prioritize a reduction in the punitive tax treatment of corporate income or families investing in their children.

On education, all FreeCons want to expand choice and competition but we sometimes disagree on program design or implementation. And some FreeCons, while embracing parent power, believe policymakers should also be paying more attention to the curriculum of the public schools most students currently attend.

In other words, Freedom Conservatives believe any political coalition broad enough to win elections and govern effectively will inevitably encompass leaders, thinkers, and activists with differing views.

Indeed, we share many common concerns — and in some cases common policy recommendations — with the National Conservatives and their allies. What motivated us to band together as Freedom Conservatives was, however, an evident lack of devotion on the nationalist-populist Right to such distinctive elements of the American experiment as individual liberty, federalism, and religious pluralism.

For us, these are matters of fundamental principle. But they are also matters of practical politics. Today, we feature two FreeCons who explore the issue in more detail.

Powerful contrast

John Tillman, a FreeCon signatory, is CEO of the American Culture Project, an organization that attracts, educates, and mobilizes independent voters around the ideas of freedom and opportunity.

The chairman of the Illinois Policy Institute, Tillman also founded the public-interest law firm Liberty Justice Center and the marketing organization Iron Light, and helped build the Franklin News Foundation into a national wire service and media powerhouse.

In a USA Today op-ed, Tillman argued that recent polls suggesting a possible shift in partisan preference among minority voters represent only an opportunity for conservatives in the GOP, not a guarantee of victory in November or beyond.

“Just 20% of Black Americans — same as white Americans — and 14% of Hispanic Americans have a positive view of the Biden economy,” he wrote. “Democrats are losing minority support because of this widespread economic frustration.”

Although Trump and Republicans are benefiting from this drift, it’s not fair to say they’re driving it, Tillman explained.

“They’re gaining Black and Hispanic votes by default, when they should be doing a full-court press to win these voters decisively and permanently. That’s why Republicans should respond to economic frustration by rallying around economic freedom.”

They should call for removing barriers to free enterprise, he concluded, rather than offering their own version of “grievance politics.”

Masters, not servants

Ray Nothstine is a Future of Freedom Fellow and senior editor and writer for State Policy Network, where he primarily helps to shepherd the American Habits publication. He is also a FreeCon signatory.

Previously the opinion editor at Carolina Journal, Nothstine served for many years as managing editor of Religion & Liberty, a publication of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In a recent National Review piece, he argued that many Democrats and Republicans promising to “save democracy” from its supposed enemies in the other party have defined the challenge too narrowly.

“Democracy is not tribalistic spectating,” Nothstine wrote, “but requires civic education, self-government, local problem-solving, and caring for our communities. Limiting governmental power is most feasible and successful when Americans are engaging with neighbors on important issues, protecting the rights of the minority, and elevating the rule of law and equality under the law.”

In other words, he argued, “saving democracy” requires adherence to the separation of powers as outlined in the Constitution.

That’s why American conservatives have traditionally advocated not only the preservation of constitutional order at the national level but also a decentralized system that empowers states, localities, and private associations to govern themselves.

“The truth is that politicians can’t save our democracy,” Nothstine concluded. “Ultimately, it’s up to the American people — who are supposed to be the government’s masters, not servants.”

Other coverage

For a recent City Journal essay, Fred Bauer examined the differences between the NatCon and FreeCon statements of principles.

“The role of state power is a major point of disagreement between the two camps,” he wrote. “Many National Conservatives believe that the Right should ‘realign’ around a politics of working-class solicitation and proactive government intervention in the economy to help achieve the common good. The Freedom Conservatives, by contrast, maintain that this approach could result in a corrosive statism and American decline.”

An earlier generation of Americans faced a similar choice: how best to reconcile the country’s traditional institutions with the threat posed by international communism. “In the shadow of global ideological conflict, movement conservatives once struck a balance between government power and individual freedom. A new synthesis awaits.”