Russ Reno, at First Things, on Cosmopolitan Conservatives

Last updated on: September 7, 2011 at 11:15 am by Scot McKnight

Russ Reno, at First Things, on Cosmopolitan Conservatives 2011-09-05T13:29:21-05:00 Scot McKnight

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First Things:

Has American liberalism lost its capacity to govern? I’m afraid so. Liberals can still win elections and propose realistic policies. But as a culture, liberalism has become insular and narrow-minded. It lacks the capacity for the generous appreciation of other points of view needed in a pluralistic society. That capacity is more likely to be found today among conservatives, particularly religious conservatives….

We’ve all experienced the liberal default to denunciation. Reservations about radical feminism? “Patriarchal.” Criticize multicultural lunacy? “Cultural imperialist.” Question affirmative action? “Racist.” Opposed to same-sex marriage? “Homophobic” or “heterosexist.” Worried that increased taxation will stifle economic growth? “Protecting the rich” and “indifferent to the poor.” The message is that anyone who questions liberal policies is either a bigot or out for himself, and probably both….

Liberals I know dismiss my observations by pointing to Michael Savage and other conservative provocateurs. But I’m interested in comparing professors with professors, not professors with rabble-rousers, and there the difference is clear: Liberal elites tend toward parochial narrowness, while conservative elites often manifest a cosmopolitan capacity to engage and appreciate, and even to be changed by, a variety of viewpoints. They exhibit the mentality necessary for exercising civic responsibility in a pluralistic society.

At least in part, this cosmopolitanism stems from the historical experience of modernity. Religious convictions no longer seem obvious or normal and are often regarded as eccentric, irrelevant, and even dangerous. Moral standards once thought obligatory have become optional, or are denounced as puritanical, Victorian, oppressive, hetero-normative, and so forth. …

As a consequence, sophisticated social and religious conservatives today are aware of the contingent and contested nature of their convictions. I can’t take my faith for granted, which is why, however certain I may be, I also don’t presume that others share my faith. The conservative, especially the religious conservative, recognizes that well-meaning, intelligent people have different beliefs, and they have to be taken seriously. …

Judge or referee, therapist or manager, the liberal governs from above. This distance—the conviction that liberalism has somehow transcended the nitty-gritty of substantive debate and attained a higher outlook—is what allows the old-fashioned rationalists like Steven Pinker to ally themselves with postmodern skeptics in the liberal establishment. The liberal maintains his distance, exempting himself (or imagining himself exempted) from the agonies of the always morally, metaphysically, and religiously fraught content of important human interactions. It’s this insulating distance, along with a therapeutic understanding of those below them, that encourages unwarranted feelings of superiority. The liberal does not see the conservative as a man or woman with ideas and convictions to be engaged but as a person with prejudices and interests to be diagnosed and treated.

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