Editors’ note: the below is a response to “The fallacies of the common good” by Kim R. Holmes, the lead essay in “Common-good conservatism: a debate.” Holmes’s reply can be found here.
For good reasons, Kim R. Holmes takes on the national conservatism and the Catholic integralism that are evident in parts of the American conservative movement, the former far more than the latter, which is why I will primarily focus on it. The primary force behind national conservatism as it exists on our shores seems to be Yoram Hazony and the Edmund Burke Foundation. It recently sponsored a three-day meeting in Florida with a large array of speakers, including integralists. It appeared to be a big tent–type gathering, brought together by a great shared revulsion at the various progressivist outrages visited upon our society.
I have listened to a lecture or two by Hazony and can understand his appeal in terms of the common sense he brings to many contemporary issues. I wish he had called his movement common-sense conservatism. It is basically common sense, for instance, that won Glenn Youngkin the governorship of Virginia in November. Hazony’s emphasis on nationhood is also welcome. The dissolution of our southern borders and the general loss of the distinction between citizen and noncitizen greatly threaten the American nation. One must keep in mind that it is onlywithin a nation that human rights can be observed, exercised, and protected. In reaction to the
