The Contemporary Right

• Author: Francis G. Wilson
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591294800100308
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE CONTEMPORARY RIGHT
by
FRANCIS G. WILSON
University of Illinois
I
Students of politics have long observed the so-called &dquo;law of the pen-
dulum&dquo; in politics. This proposition says that there is a secular swing in
public appreciation, especially in democracies, between the conservative
and the liberal spirits of politics.’ This is another way of stating the con-
tinuous disintegration and reintegration of the force of symbols in politics.
Movements are seldom static in their persuasive force. Liberals like to point
to the disintegration of conservative thought, demonstrated even by the
more trivial of political changes, while conservatives are convinced, in gen-
eral, of the law of the disintegration of liberalism. Such a conservative pro-
position arises from a study of the disappearance of idealism in a move-
ment as it comes closer to the inner circle of power. As T. V. Smith has
argued, the greater the element of compromise, i.e., effectiveness, in poli-
tical decision the less becomes the element of ideality.2
2
Now the appeal
of the liberal is, according to conservative thought, his support of the ideal
solution, or the absolutely just situation. But as the liberal comes close to
power, the necessities of decision constantly force him away from the lofty
nature of his principle. Thus, inevitably as liberalism and revolutionism ap-
proach the effective organization of power, their élan vital tends to be dissi-
pated in the practicalities of day-to-day politics. In this theory, conservatism
is never dead, but its vitality tends to be coincident with the operation of
the law of disintegration of liberalism.
II
In a day of transition, such as the present clearly is, both liberalism
and conservatism become singularly dynamic, but this mutual dynamism
is, no doubt, a product of balanced ideological tension as well as of the ex-
ternal forces of political and social chaos. The chaos of our day is a reflec-
tion of the failure of the consolidated liberalism of another era to reach its
goal in the immediate present. In the nature of the case, since liberal and
1
W. B. Munro, "The Pendulum in Politics," in Harper’s Magazine, Vol. CLIV (1927), pp. 718 ff.
2
See T. V. Smith, "Compromise: Its Context and Limits," in Ethics, Vol. LIII (October, 1942),
pp. 1 ff.
On p. 7, Smith remarks: "The quantity of compromise required in society varies
directly with the area of action; the quality of ideality surviving compromise varies inversely
with the size of the collectivity ... Quantity and quality of ideality for action are incompatible
and so vary inversely."
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revolutionary idealism is immoderate in its claims, it falls farther short of
its goal than conservatism, for the disintegration of the force and persuasive-
ness of particular reform movements is one of the clearest facts in politics.
The liberal and the revolutionary mind has cultivated the illusion that the
reverse is the case, for they have placed much of their hope of future suc-
cess in the complete and dismal failure of conservatism in power.
The constant rebirth of conservative spirit shows it to be on somewhat
firmer ground. In the first place, its ideals are stated in more moderate
terms, and their realization is more clearly perceived to be in an evolution-
ary context that only long national experience may reveal. In the second
place, the ideals that continually are reborn in conservative spirit are stated
in the light of political realities. The conservative, in his nature, can never
promise as much as the liberal or revolutionary, yet in historical retrospect
he may claim that some connection between political promise and poli-
tical fact does exist. As the conservative spirit witnesses its eternal rebirth
from the disintegration of the revolution, it may observe with some dis-
passionateness the fusion of old enemies, now reformed or more instructed
in political prudence; it may recognize the force of the frustration generated
in periods of war, external stress, and the realignments of political power;
it may consider as a curable evil the psychological fatigue that may im-
munize the mass of men to the call of any ideal save that of public order;
it may safely rationalize the partial reform and consider it a worthy achieve-
ment, even though it may fall far short of the ideal of justice; but more im-
portant than any other factor, it may witness with appreciation the resur-
gence of old values that in other periods have animated constructively the
course of history.
The defense of freedom, constitutional government, and the moral and
religious tradition of the West has become possible only through reforms
in the social order that may succeed in beating back or containing the revo-
lutionary energies of Russian Marxism. In this situation the traditional
enemies of conservatism, such as liberals and democratic socialists, have
recognized their community with the conservative spirit at least as far as
the impact of totalitarianism is concerned. The disintegration of liberalism
and...