A More Civil Conservatism
John Schmalzbauer
Posted: 09.21.2009 / 4:29 PM PDT
In the wake of Joe Wilson’s recent outburst, it is easy to forget about a kinder, gentler tradition in conservative politics. Rooted in a philosophy of limited government and conservative morality, this tradition emphasizes the importance of civility and courtesy in political argument. Think William F. Buckley, not WorldNet Daily.
Republican Congressman Roy Blunt exemplified such civility in a 2007 interview with OzarksWatch Video Magazine. Describing an era when politics was less of a blood sport, he reflected on his early years as an elected official. In the 1970s, recalls Blunt, “I don’t think people were quite as willing to immediately say, ‘That’s a lie,’ or, ‘That guy’s corrupt,’ or something like that, rather than to really use terms that probably are better for the public dialogue, like ‘I think the gentleman has his facts wrong,’ or ‘Let me see if I understand what you’re trying to say.’”
Echoing many commentators today, Blunt blamed much of the incivility on the media, arguing that “a lot of that is caused by . . . what I call the yelling shows on television, where news people get on and argue and yell at each other in a way that’s not particularly conducive to anything.”
A trained historian with a degree from my university, Blunt also provided a helpful summary of Ozarks political culture and values. Noting the origins of many Ozarks settlers in the Appalachian back country, he described them as “independent, government should leave me alone, I’ll leave them alone, self-sufficient kind of folks.” According to Blunt, “That’s very much what you still see in the Ozarks,” adding that the “biggest concern about government is that government will get too much in the way of what private individuals can do better for themselves.” Put like this, Ozarks conservatism sounds like a folk political philosophy, a set of ideas and instincts that continue to shape reactions to contemporary events.
In the grand scheme of American politics, Ozarkers are best viewed as Jeffersonians, rather than Hamiltonians, favoring a republic of small producers, rather than a strong, centralized state. Journalist Robert Edwards described this orientation in a 1990 article in OzarksWatch magazine. According to Edwards, Ozarkers have “a common leaning toward localism, independence, smallness, antagonism to public spending, and active suspicion of all governments.”
Perhaps that is why the Ozarks provided fertile soil for the libertarian political thought of Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her apparent ghost writer. An August 2009 New Yorker piece notes that Lane’s Credo celebrated “quasi-anarchic democracy, with minimal taxes, limited government, and no entitlements, regulated only by the principle of personal responsibility.” Lane’s vision of personal freedom and self-sufficiency also runs through the Little House books, which were written in Mansfield, Missouri on her parents’ Ozarks farm. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum has become a popular Ozarks tourist attraction. In November, Ozarkers will celebrate the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder through a special performance of Little House on the Prairie with Melissa Gilbert, as well as a concert of nineteenth-century tunes played on Pa’s fiddle (featuring local fiddler Ashley Hull and Ozarks music collector Gordon McCann).
In the first months of the Obama presidency, libertarianism has enjoyed an impressive resurgence. While Ayn Rand books are flying off the shelves, the Cato Institute and Reason magazine are attracting new fans. Many have ties to the Ozarks. In particular, several younger evangelical leaders that I know (here and elsewhere) have embraced a libertarian orientation. Instead of trafficking in birth certificate rumors and conspiracy theories, they would rather argue about economics and individual freedom.
Not all Ozarks conservatives take this approach. Though most area activists focus on the ballooning size of the federal government, some promote rumors about Obama’s birth certificate and accusations that he is a fascist. Others flock to the conspiracy-oriented libertarianism of Glenn Beck, a far cry from the more cerebral fare of the Cato Institute. By calling Barack Obama a dictator, they are echoing the words of Rose Wilder Lane, who once wished for Franklin Roosevelt’s death.
Blunt himself was sucked into the birther controversy by a guerilla film crew practicing “gotcha journalism” (an all too common style of reporting in today’s tabloid culture).
As if the summer hasn’t been tumultuous enough, Congressman Joe Wilson is coming to town. On October 3rd Wilson will address a gathering of Missouri Republicans. Ironically, he will be introduced by Congressman Blunt, the same man who spoke eloquently of civility back in 2007. According to the Springfield News-Leader, Wilson has been “described as a protege of Blunt’s.”
Clearly, Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst violated Blunt’s own standards of political decorum. It remains to be seen whether the Ozarks Republican will push Wilson to use words that “are better for the public dialogue.” An Ozarker can hope.
Postscript: Missouri State University student Gabriel McLaughlin is in line to become the William F. Buckley of the Ozarks. Buckley (who began his journalistic career as a young conservative at Yale) famously distanced the modern conservative movement from the conspiracy-mongering of the John Birch Society. Writing in the pages of MSU’s The Standard, McLaughlin attempts to distance Ozarks conservatism from Glenn Beck. Arguing that “Beck’s extreme voice drowns out real conservatives’ views,” he condemns the politics of fear. As McLaughlin points out, “Reagan didn’t win elections because he ran around promoting catastrophic ‘what if’ scenarios and claiming that there are socialists plotting against us. He won by boldly proclaiming the optimistic idea that ‘America’s best days and democracy’s best days lie ahead.’”
