Saving Society from the ‘Presumption of Reason’: Classical Conservative and New Right Anti-Welfarism in Post-War America

Abstract

This article clarifies some of the contradictions of post-war American conservatism. It chiefly investigates and critiques the traditionalist (i.e. classical) conservative origins of the anti-statism and anti-welfarism of the American New Right and some of the main outlets from which its ideas were mobilized during this period. This brief intellectual and political history explains some of the origins of the anti-statism and anti-left populism which are so visible in today’s conservative movement and which significantly inform contemporary policy discourse. The article concludes that while a fundamental contribution of the American New Right was that it successfully integrated variable forms of conservatism, which had benefited the conservative movement, both politically and ideologically, it had not yet adopted an analysis of poverty and welfare entitlements which highlighted the racial composition of the welfare rolls and behavior explanations for economic hardship. Nor had it yet problematized the changing American family structure.