The “conservative” mantra that means the death of our nation

Bill F. writes:

Here we go, once again—another conservative commentator parroting the “we are a nation based on principle” mantra. Today George Will writes:

“What makes Americans generally welcoming of immigrants, and what makes immigrants generally assimilable, is that this is a creedal nation, one dedicated to certain propositions, not one whose origins and identity are bound up with ethnicity.”

LA replies:

The mantra, the mantra, the mantra.

By the way, was Will saying this in, say, 1980? Or has he picked up on the neocon formulation that (to my knowledge) only came into full bloom in the early 1990s? As best I remember, in 1980 Will was not considered a neoconservative, but more a generic conservative, and a champion and friend of Ronald Reagan. So this would be an example of the takeover of conservatism by neoconservatism.

But as I said recently, I have a dream that one day we will be free of the propositionalist mantra—free at last!

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 25, 2006 11:05 AM | Send