George Will Is Right: National Conservatism Is Just Elizabeth Warren Conservatism

Columnist George Will has been getting more hate than deserved recently. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of him either. However, I would wish the people going after him were doing so on things he’s actually wrong on.

His recent Washington Post column “National Conservatism Is Just Elizabeth Warren Conservatism,” is one such example. To me, this is an obvious observation. I mean, considering Fox News host Tucker Carlson — a forefront of the national conservative movement — has praised Elizabeth Warren for her economic policies in the past.

Populist Horseshoe Theory

You more than likely have heard of the concept “horseshoe theory,” in the past. The idea is that the closer you move to the far left the closer you get to the far right.

As someone on one of the extreme ends — anarchist capitalism — I tend to not believe in it. However, the similarities between left-wing and right-wing populists is almost unnoticeable on anything but social issues. The only difference I can think of between Tucker and Warren is that Tucker is against affirmative action, which Warren is in favor of.

Might I remind you, Tucker used the exact same argument Bernie Sanders did — the “every religion says it’s bad,” one — to support capping interest rates on loans.

And let us not forget blaming things related to Government on everything else. Both Warren and Carlson has irrational hatreds for the Koch Brothers, Jeff Bezos, and the Walton family. Both use the same obnoxious buzz-words, encourage the same forms of class warfare, and idolize the exact same things.

The Cult Of Eisenhower

Easily, the thing that both has the most in common is their love of some idealized version of times before. While the RNC commonly is criticized for believing everything should be like it was in the 1950s, the progressive mindset has the same economic result.

Trust me, when I was a progressive I regularly asked myself “Why can’t these Republicans be like Eisenhower?” And I was far from the only one. Just look at these images from Occupy Democrats:

All of those are Democrats praising the 1950s, saying we should go back to it. You could almost say they’re trying to conserve it. Of course, they would not be as fluffy as if Eisenhower was the President today, mostly because many of these images leave out context.

For instance, it is true that under Eisenhower the top marginal tax rate was 91%. However, that was actually a tax cut. How? Because the top marginal tax rate under Roosevelt and Truman was 94%. By all intends are purposes, a larger tax cut than when Trump proposed to lower it from 39.6% to 35%.

If these people were around during the Eisenhower years, they would have hated him. Rather it be for his strict use of the Truman Doctrine, his refusal to expand any New Deal programs, and everything involving Richard Nixon.

Here’s some food for thought: MSNBC host Rachel Maddow calls herself an “Eisenhower Republican.” Dwight Eisenhower did more military intervention than any President before him, yet Maddow claims to commonly be against military intervention.

The Cult Of Theodore Roosevelt

Easily the most obnoxious thing done by Senator Warren is a common skit to pretend to be moderate. It goes as following:

Warren: Do you know who my favorite President?

Typical Idiot: That socialist Marxist Obama!

Warren: Roosevelt

Typical Idiot: I bet she means that socialist Franklin

Warren: Teddy Roosevelt

Typical Idiot: Oh my God! She has my support.

(Thanks to Chapo Trap House — The best thing to come out of socialism — for pointing this out)

Like Eisenhower, I promise you if I plopped them in that time they’d be saying different. Jim Hightower, himself a progressive, wrote in 1999 that Theodore Roosevelt “was a softy compared to true challengers of corporate power, such as Wisconsin congressman ‘Battling Bob’ La Follette.”

A similar thing happens with Franklin Roosevelt. Odds are, if many of these people were around during his first term they’d be hyping up Huey Long and begging him — as many did — to run against that corporation loving Frank.

Carlson has also said that Theodore’s policies stopped a communist revolution. This is despite the fact 1912 was the year that had the best turnout for the Socialist party. What really stopped them was Wilson deporting many top Communist and Socialist leaders to the USSR, regardless of if they are Americans or not.

Theodore Roosevelt did not even sign The Sherman Anti-Trust Act into law. It was actually signed into law by President Harrison 11 years before Roosevelt was even President.

Yet, most of these people could more than likely tell me nothing about good old TR. I promise you Warren, Carlson, nor Senator Josh Hawley could tell me about Theodore Roosevelt’s support for Eugenics. Nor could they tell me about his support for imperialism, including building the Panama Canal. And I promise you none of them know him bypassing Congress and building it himself.

I expect to be viewed as a libertarian nutcase by most who read this article. However, calling populism anything besides authoritarian in nature is to misrepresent what it is. Every politician will call themselves “populist,” because why wouldn’t you? Are you against the people.

In Iceland, populism refers to a politician tricking others into think he is on there side, I believe that’s also what it should mean in the US.