In a wide-ranging talk at the Athenaeum, “Broken! Why Politics and Government Aren’t Working,” Jonah Goldberg P’25 discussed American political disillusionment, which in his opinion, stems from the failure of both political parties to deliver on their promises.
The co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Goldberg previously was a senior editor and writer at National Review for 20 years. He is also a former Fox News contributor and author of The New York Times bestseller, Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy.
To a packed Ath on April 28, Goldberg noted that while this was not the first time he had spoken at CMC, this was the first time he had spoken at the College with his daughter, Lucy ’25, in the audience. A lifelong conservative, Goldberg offered pointed criticism of populism, Congressional dysfunction, and executive branch overreach. He argued, however, that solutions, remain in sight—a willingness to embrace the actual principles of liberal democratic (emphasis on small ‘d’) capitalism and the U.S. Constitution.
“The best way to think about conservatism is gratitude…. we should be grateful for what we have. …Poverty is natural. Misery is natural. An early death is natural. Death in childbirth is natural. Authoritarianism is natural. That is a natural political environment to which we are born.
“What is unnatural is this miracle of liberal, democratic capitalism, this thing that in just about 250-300 years has improved the plight of the average human being everywhere in the world... It’s the only anti-poverty program ever created, and it has been incredibly good for this country and has been incredibly good for the world. And so, when I talk about gratitude, what I mean is just not taking all that for granted, just thinking that the system is working on autopilot."
He added: “(Former U.S. President Ronald) Reagan used to talk about how we’re never more than one generation away from tyranny, because we’re not born with love for liberty in our genes. It’s got to be taught.”
During the student Q&A, Goldberg was asked about right-wing populism dominating the GOP, and where he thinks “conservatives go from here?”
“What we’ve lost sight of in this country is republicanism—small ‘r’ republicanism—which sets up rules about how to maintain a free society…populism is just worship of people… unbridled, majoritarian passion, unrestricted and unregulated by any other mediating principles….
“What you need is one party to actually start winning votes and successfully governing, so that the competition becomes about successfully governing, rather than stitching together a coalition of 51 or 50.1% of the electorate. I think that’s doable … but it’s going to require people like the kind of people (CMC) produces to do that, right? It takes work. It takes effort. It needs people with integrity.”