Interview
Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America’s Natural Governing Party Q&A with Frank Buckley
With polls showing that Republicans stand a good chance of recapturing control of the U.S. House and possibly the Senate in the November election, many Americans are asking what the party will do if it holds the reins of power next year. In the House, Republicans are attempting to provide an answer to that question by rolling out a series of proposals — which they are calling their “Commitment to America” — aimed at addressing high energy prices, rising violence, and some of the other key challenges Americans face. In the Senate, Republicans appear to be of two minds about which is the proper course to take. Some, such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, believe the focus of the upcoming election should be on what Democrats have done — or failed to do — over the past two years. Others, such as Florida Senator Rick Scott, believe the party need to follow the House’s lead and put down in writing what they hope to achieve if they hold the majority next year. Frank Buckley is taking an even broader view. Buckley is a professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law who is perhaps better known in Republican circles as the author of several speeches Donald Trump delivered during the 2016 presidential campaign. Buckley is no longer a supporter of the former President — he calls him “toxic.” But he is a supporter of some of the positions that Trump took and some of the messages that he conveyed. Buckley believes it is time for Republicans to move beyond the former President and get behind a vision that not only encapsulates some of these positions and messages, but appeals to the broad swath of working class Americans who supported Trump in response. Buckley lays out just such a vision in a new book. Called Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America’s Natural Governing Party, the book recommends that members of the GOP look to three “leading statesmen” from the GOP’s past for guidance about the path to follow, and argues that issues relating to improving economic mobility, fighting corruption, and making government work will be keys to the party’s success in the years ahead. The Forum spoke with Buckley recently about his book, his vision for progressive conservatism, and where he would like to see the party go in 2022 and beyond.
RF: First things first — explain to our readers, what is a progressive conservative? FB: A progressive conservative is someone who is faithful to the leading statesmen of the Republican Party — Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln. There are several themes that are associated with those statesmen. Lincoln was the one who invented the American Dream — the idea that whoever you are, wherever you come from, you should be able to get ahead and your kids will have it better than you did. When polled in 2014, Americans said, ‘We no longer believe in the 12
American Dream. We don’t think it’s happening.’ And the economic evidence bears them out. That should have been a sign of a revolution in American politics. But the only person who picked up on that was Trump, and they elected him president. So I think the Republican Party has to take on mobility — economic intergenerational mobility — as a big theme, and specifically point out how it’s the Democrats who are holding people back with their immigration policies and their education policies and their regulatory policies. They have placed a boulder in front of the people who want to get ahead. So that
RIPON FORUM August 2022
