Conservatism according to Andrew Sullivan

Yesterday I went to the library looking for good primers on basic political philosophies. Among others, I brought home an interesting-sounding book called The Conservative Soul. The name of the author, Andrew Sullivan, sounded sorta familiar but I couldn’t place it. After looking him up I realized I had read a few of his articles on The Daily Dish and elsewhere. I had always kinda thought he was a liberal, and judging by reviews of his book on Amazon.com, apparently so do many conservatives. After reading the first couple of chapters, he’s certainly drawing a clear distinction between what he calls “fundamentalist” conservatism — which is the variety that prevails in the U.S. today — and a more classical conservatism that is independent of the religious right and cares more about limited government, strong national defense, and states rights than ensuring that fetuses have rights but gays don’t.

Sullivan is British, Catholic, married to another man, and endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, so he’s clearly not espousing the sort of WASP-y conservatism I would have expected from a book with this title. I can tell that this treatment of right-wing politics will appeal to me far more than, say, Sarah Palin’s. To that end, I’m glad I picked up this book, because I am trying to find sympathetic expositions of any given political ideology. There’s no shortage of books with titles like “LIBERAL FASCIST NAZI MURDERERS: WHY THE LEFT WANTS TO BLIGHT AMERICA’S SOUL AND TEACH YOUR CAT TO BE GAY” — which certainly have their place — but I’d like to at least start with people who can thoughtfully express their own deeply held beliefs and explain why (and how) I should share them.

More thoughts on this book to follow.

An Unreasonable Man

So I watched the Ralph Nader biography, An Unreasonable Man, yesterday. (This instant gratification was brought to you by Netflix Instant View!) As movies go, it was nothing remarkable, but I did find the different reactions to Nader quite interesting. Some of his early devotees (“Nader’s Raiders”) spoke of him with great fondness and devotion, even when disagreeing strongly with various things he’s done over the years. A couple of liberal college professor types were nearly foaming at the mouth in anger that Nader was responsible for keeping Democrats from the White House in 2000. It sure sucks being a third party candidate in this country, doesn’t it? I’m amazed by Nader’s integrity and fortitude in keeping up the good fight despite huge personal risks.

Unfortunately, the movie didn’t cover the issues he stands for in much depth, other than his well-known consumer advocacy and belief that Democrats and Republicans are equally beholden to corporate special interests. It’s hard to find fault with his views, at least in the general way expressed by the film, but I retained my impression that he wouldn’t make a great POTUS (though it seems clear he never expected to actually hold the office, anyway). I certainly came away from the movie with a desire to learn more about the Green party and the numerous issues Nader has championed over the years.

I wouldn’t vote for him, but…

I just wandered over to glassbooth.org out of curiosity to see if their nifty quiz that takes a given set of political views and matches them to the 2008 presidential candidate who most agrees with them was still available. It was, so I took it for old time’s sake. Result? Ralph Nader.

I actually got the same answer during the campaign season but ignored it since Nader has never seemed like a credible candidate to me. He seems to have a useful role as a gadfly to the political establishment, but I can’t imagine him as the actual leader of our nation. Still, now that I’m considering political ideology rather than specific candidates, it’s probably worthwhile to look into his views, even if his personality isn’t one I’d want to have in the White House. Next movie in my Netflix queue: An Unreasonable Man.

Seeking a Political Home

I’ve been planning to write on this topic since I started up this blog a few weeks ago, but I’ve found it difficult to get started. I’ll just plunge in by saying that I don’t really have a political home, and I’m looking for one.

This isn’t necessarily about picking a political party, which so often boils down to “you will suffer humiliation when the sports team from my area defeats the sports team from your area.” (You can skip this if you’re in a hurry, but can I just say that it drives me berserk when the POTUS is giving a State of the Union address and the response to a statement like “We’ve reduced crime by 95% percent, eliminated the national debt, and established world peace!” is a standing ovation and tears of joy from one side, and stubbornly folded arms and pouting glares from the other side. Seriously, what is wrong with these people?)

I’ve never been very involved in politics, nor do I consider myself well-informed enough to take a strong position on most issues. However, last year I had something of a political awakening as I become increasingly fascinated by the presidential campaign. I followed the primaries and election fairly closely. I read Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, in which he shares his views on “how we got here” in contemporary American politics and how he’d like to see the political atmosphere change. I found myself agreeing with pretty much everything he wrote and greatly appreciated his clarity, intellect, and optimism. I read up on a few of the other candidates, but none of them interested me much. I was happy to see Obama elected, and I haven’t regretted voting for him since, but I also haven’t been able to decide what comes next for me, politically speaking.

I tend to support liberal causes — does that mean I’m a Democrat? But wait, wouldn’t I also prefer to have smaller government and much lower national debt? Should I take the ever-popular “fiscally conservative, socially progressive” position? What about those tantalizing libertarian ideals? Perhaps the trouble is that I’ve been focusing on questions like “which candidate do I like” or “what position should I take” on a particular issue, when those answers should ideally flow from a few bedrock principles.

Some days I wish I could forget everything I’ve heard about what it means to be conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, and just build my own political home, brick by brick. To that end, I’m looking for a few good books (or web sites, documentaries, magazines, etc. — I’m not picky) that can provide a straightforward rationale for why a person ought to support a certain political philosophy — not just a candidate, party, or specific issue.

Feel free to make some recommendations!