scholarly journals E pluribus unum Shrugged: Ayn Rand Against American Conservatism and Libertarianism

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Caivano ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Ayn Rand ◽  
American Conservatism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Philosophical Writings ◽  
Forceful Critique

The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in the works of twentieth-century Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand. Political events ranging from the rise of the Tea Party to the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump have only helped to spur this resurgence, further evident in film adaptations and reissues of her popular literary novels. Political pundits abound have, in turn, deemed the return of Ayn Rand as a victory for libertarian thought and the Republican Party, more broadly. However, in this paper I contest such a theoretical synergy and complicate the Rand/Republican Party interplay by suggesting that it rests on false grounds. Drawing from Rand’s Objectivism, I argue that modern-day Republican Party politics, specifically conservative and libertarian strains of thought, fail on epistemological grounds. The philosophical writings of the Russian-born, turned-American philosopher therefore are not only incompatible, but function as a forceful critique against the governing platform of the Republican Party in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections.

scholarly journals E pluribus unum Shrugged: Ayn Rand Against American Conservatism and Libertarianism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Caivano
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Ayn Rand ◽  
American Conservatism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Philosophical Writings ◽  
Forceful Critique

The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in the works of twentieth-century Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand. Political events ranging from the rise of the Tea Party to the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump have only helped to spur this resurgence, further evident in film adaptations and reissues of her popular literary novels. Political pundits abound have, in turn, deemed the return of Ayn Rand as a victory for libertarian thought and the Republican Party, more broadly. However, in this paper I contest such a theoretical synergy and complicate the Rand/Republican Party interplay by suggesting that it rests on false grounds. Drawing from Rand’s Objectivism, I argue that modern-day Republican Party politics, specifically conservative and libertarian strains of thought, fail on epistemological grounds. The philosophical writings of the Russian-born, turned-American philosopher therefore are not only incompatible, but function as a forceful critique against the governing platform of the Republican Party in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections.

The roots of Trumpism

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 100-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Post
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social

This essay examines the social origins of the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, and assess the possible direction of his presidency. Riding the wave of middle class radicalism that began with the Tea Party insurgency, Trump’s nomination temporarily disrupted the dominance of capitalists over the Republican Party. Despite his economic nationalist rhetoric, Trump will be unable to break in practice with the neo-liberal consensus of the past forty years.

Retreating from Reason

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-104
Author(s):  
Michael A. Livermore ◽  
Richard L. Revesz
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Midterm Results ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Trump Administration

After the election of Barack Obama, Republican politicians and elites largely adopted a strategy of wholesale opposition to the new president. This included attacking policy tools, such as cost-benefit analysis and the use of market-based mechanisms to control pollution, that had long been core Republican Party orthodoxy. The rise of the Tea Party and the 2010 midterm results only exacerbated the oppositional tendency of the Republican Party. With the financial crash-induced recession continuing to bite, a major talking point of Republican politicians was to accuse the administration of pursuing “job-killing regulations,” among other hyperbolic criticism of regulations that had strong cost-benefit justifications. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the Trump administration accelerated the trend toward disregard for cost-benefit analysis. Agencies under Trump have engaged in absurd distortions, ignored evidence, and obviously twisted the methodology to achieve pre-desired outcomes.

Locke—Religion—Equality

2005 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Zuckert
Keyword(s):  
Proper Understanding ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding ◽  
Philosophical Writings

Jeremy Waldron's much noted book, God, Locke, and Equality, has put the topic of “God and Equality in Locke” at the center of many perhaps most, discussions of Locke these days. I am going to raise some critical objections to Waldron's interpretations, but all the more reason to begin by noting the very many things about this book that I admire.First, he rejects the insistence by many of the most outspoken Locke scholars that a proper understanding of Locke—or any philosopher of the past—must be purely historical—that it must have nothing to do with us or our concerns, questions, or problems. Professor Waldron cuts through this claim as mere arbitrary assertion.Second, many Locke scholars, often some of the same ones, insist that Locke's political writings must be understood in isolation from his philosophic writings, especially from his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke's editor, Peter Laslett, set the tone long ago when he pronounced judgment: “Locke did not write as a philosopher, applying to politics the implications of his views of reality as a whole.” Rather, according to Laslett, Locke appealed to or drew off of preexisting “modes of discourse.” This approach makes it very difficult to understand Locke as an integral personality, much less as a coherent author or as a thinker to be taken seriously. Waldron thus reopens the lines of communication between Locke's political and his philosophical writings and makes Locke a significant thinker, not just a corpse for the historians.

WHERE THE PAST GOES. THE HISTORY OF THE TERM “WRECKING”

2021 ◽  
pp. 114-140
Author(s):  
Yana E. Kanevskaya ◽  
◽  
David M. Feldman ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Times

The article considers the history of the term “wrecking.” The study allows describing and analyzing political events which the chosen terms correlate with. The authors manage to trace the functions of the term “wrecking” at different historical times, as well as to establish a connection between the function of the term and the political tasks of the leadership.

Seizing Power: Conservatives and Congress Since the 1970s

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian E. Zelizer
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Conservative Movement ◽  
American Conservatism ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Decentralization And Centralization ◽  
Political Success

This chapter examines how legislators associated with the conservative movement thrived in a congressional process that liberals had helped to create. It first considers how Congress was reformed in the 1970s, focusing on its transition from the committee era to the contemporary era and how the reform coalition of 1958–1974 helped end the committee era. It then compares the contemporary Congress to the committee-era Congress and how the new legislative process contributed to the fortunes of the conservative movement. It also discusses the decentralization and centralization fostered by congressional reforms, the creation of the Conservative Opportunity Society in 1983 by young mavericks in the Republican Party, congressional conservatives' disappointment with the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and the Republican congressional reforms of 1995. The chapter argues that the state endured despite the political success of American conservatism in Congress.

The Academic Study of French Civilization

PMLA ◽  
1915 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 614-628
Author(s):  
Albert Léon Guérard
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
German Empire ◽  
Insurance System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Automatic Adaptation ◽  
Academic Study

If history is to giv us a tru picture of human life in the past, it cannot limit itself to political events. The chief end of man never was to frame, uphold, and overthro governments, stil les to wage war and sign treaties. These ar accidents or epiphenomena. Man's primary concern is and was from the first his daily fight for existence, the necessity of getting food and shelter, the desire of getting them with a minimum of painful exertion. Man does not merely adapt himself to his surroundings: he attempts to alter his surroundings so as to suit himself. Thus he creates new conditions from which new problems arise. Human society groes ever farther away from that brutish state of automatic adaptation which poets call the Erthly Paradise. From the erliest stone implement to the aeroplane, from the first concerted hunt to the elaborate insurance system of the German Empire, we see the progres of this warfare against nature. The result of these efforts is what we understand by civilization.

Growing Tea With Subnational Roots: Tea Party Affiliation, Factionalism, and GOP Politics in State Legislatures

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110411
Author(s):  
Stella M. Rouse ◽  
Charles Hunt ◽  
Kristen Essel
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Original Dataset

Most research has examined the influence of the Tea Party as a social movement or loose organization, but less is known about its influence within legislative party politics, especially at the state level. In this paper, we argue that in this context the Tea Party is primarily an intraparty faction that has caused significant divisions inside the Republican Party. Using an original dataset of legislators across 13 states for the years 2010 to 2013, we examine legislator and district-level characteristics that predict state legislators’ affiliation with the Tea Party. Our results reveal that in some respects legislators affiliated with the Tea Party are a far-right wing of the Republican Party. However, by other measures that capture anti-establishment political sentiment, Tea Party affiliated legislators comprise a factional group attempting to transform the Party in ways that go beyond ideology. These findings have important implications for the future prospects of the GOP.

Religious Non-Affiliation

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-193
Author(s):  
William V. Trollinger
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Success

For the past century, the bulk of white evangelicalism has been tightly linked to very conservative politics. But in response to social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s, conservative white evangelicalism organized itself into the Christian Right, in the process attaching itself to and making itself indispensable to the Republican Party. While the Christian Right has enjoyed significant political success, its fusion of evangelicalism/Christianity with right-wing politics—which includes white nationalism, hostility to immigrants, unfettered capitalism, and intense homophobia—has driven many Americans (particularly, young Americans) to disaffiliate from religion altogether. In fact, the quantitative and qualitative evidence make it clear that the Christian Right has been a (perhaps the) primary reason for the remarkable rise of the religious “nones” in the past three decades. More than this, the Christian Right is, in itself, a sign of secularization.

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