Conservatism’s Reactionary Rut

The American conservative movement, as historian George Nash chronicles in The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, has been a force of reaction since its inception around Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. Yet, despite its vigor, it has failed to stem the tide of statism, socialism, and secularism. Why? Because it lacks a clear identity, defined more by what it opposes than what it champions. As Nash notes, conservatism offers “no compact definition” of itself, leaving it adrift in an identity crisis. By measuring itself against the Left’s depravity and clinging to pagan and Enlightenment ideals, conservatism conserves nothing, leaving America vulnerable to God’s judgment. To defeat statism (liberal or otherwise) and restore justice, conservatives must anchor themselves in the lordship of Jesus Christ and the perfect law of God (Psalm 19:7).

Nash identifies three conservative streams: libertarianism, reacting against the expanding state; anti-communism, less averse to big government; and traditionalism, opposing secularism through religion and values. These streams rightly decried government overreach, Marxist ideologies, and godless secularism, but their solutions were rooted in human wisdom. Nash writes that traditionalists sought a “bulwark of ideas, tradition, and truth” against the lies of their day. August Heckscher invoked “the Great Tradition that had originated in Plato” (p. 37), while Leo Strauss revered “ancient or classical political philosophy” (p. 55). Gordon Keith Chalmers, recognizing the dangers of Locke and Rousseau, called for “individual dignity, moral responsibility, and justice under law,” yet offered no fully Christian solution. Today, the state is more powerful than ever, socialism thrives beyond FDR’s welfare programs, and America embraces godless secularism with abandon. Conservatism’s failure is evident: reaction without a robust, Christ-centered alternative cannot prevail.

Today’s conservatives worsen this error, claiming both America’s Christian heritage and the Greco-Roman ideals of the Declaration and Constitution. Lady Liberty (Enlightenment liberty) and Lady Faith (Christianity) cannot coexist. The past century’s rise in regulations, progressive agendas (abortion, transgenderism, socialism), and government spending alarms conservatives, who fear a liberal takeover. Yet, their solution—a return to humanistic wisdom—fuels the crisis. Spencer Klavan’s How to Save the West (2023), promoted by The Daily Wire, claims: “Jewish wisdom and Christian theology are in harmony with the pagan ideas whose truth can help alleviate our current anxieties.” Klavan equates Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with Scripture, asserting their legacy “teaches us how to hold fast to eternal truths in the face of chaos.” This pagan/syncretistic reactionism, not Christ’s lordship, dominates conservative media, offering a vague “Judeo-Christian” veneer to buttress Greco-Roman solutions.

This is conservatism’s fatal flaw: it overlooks the only true source of justice and authority—Jesus Christ, “the ruler of the kings on earth” (Revelation 1:5). By turning to pagan philosophers or European traditionalists like Edmund Burke, conservatives bypass biblical law. Nash notes the traditionalists’ “lack of interest in the specifically American past” (p. 69), looking instead to Greco-Roman thought. The conservatives have given some honor to 18th-century American figures like Jefferson and Madison (men who were steeped in Locke’s humanistic philosophy), but it was the 17th-century Puritans who at least attempted (imperfectly) to apply God’s law to civil society. The work they did has been largely ignored by the conservative movement.

A Christ-less conservatism conserves nothing, playing a losing game by measuring itself against a leftward-moving standard. When conservatives “slow” the Left’s advance, it is lauded as “victory” by the Republican Party (GOP). If liberals drive off the cliff at 100 MPH, Republicans manage only 75 MPH, partaking in more government control, regulation, taxation, and tyranny. Rooted in the “flesh” of humanistic laws, conservatism refuses to apply God’s law to civil matters, ensuring continual degeneration.

The Old Testament’s Jehu illustrates this error. Anointed king, Jehu eradicated Baal worship by executing Jezebel, Ahab’s descendants, and Baal’s prophets (2 Kings 9–10). Yet, Jehu measured himself against Baal’s evil, not God’s law, continuing the “sins of Jeroboam” with golden calves (2 Kings 10:29). “Not careful to walk in the Law of the Lord” (2 Kings 10:31), Jehu’s idolatry contributed to Israel’s demise (2 Kings 10:32). Likewise, if conservatism defeats the Left but retains statism’s “golden calves,” it accomplishes nothing. Without Christ’s law, God’s judgment looms.

The conservative movement’s reliance on human wisdom—whether Plato’s ideals or Locke’s compacts—mirrors the prideful statism I critique in Seven Statist Sins. Just as man-made laws usurp Christ’s role as sole lawgiver (James 4:12), conservatism’s secular or semi-Christian solutions usurp His authority over politics and justice. The state grows unchecked because conservatives offer no alternative grounded in God’s perfect law, which punishes evil and honors the righteous (Romans 13:3). A return to biblical principles would reject humanistic legislation and restore magistrates who apply God’s Word, not create new laws.

In the past, I have at times used the term “conservative,” especially when opposing the Left’s evils—abortion, homosexuality, socialism, transgenderism. But the term lacks clarity, as it’s far easier to explain what the modern “conservative” movement stands against than its vision for society. Klavan’s claims notwithstanding, conservatism’s pagan-tinged strategies cannot save the West. The GOP, despite frustrating many, remains conservatism’s vehicle, blindly championing founding documents over Scripture. Some conservatives, fed up with big government, join the Constitution or Libertarian Parties, but all share two flaws: reliance on the founders’ wisdom and refusal to embrace biblical law in the civil realm. Like Jehu, conservatives fight a great evil but replace it with “lesser” idolatry. Instead of measuring success by the Left’s depravity, they must submit to God’s law.