Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America’s Natural Governing Party

Buckley (The Republic of Virtue), a law professor at George Mason University, uses Canada’s Tory Party as a model in this thought-provoking examination of how the Republican Party can merge Trump-style populism with free market principles, support for the “common good,” and reverence for democratic traditions. According to Buckley, the Tories have long championed the kinds of policies favored by working-class Trump voters, including restrictive immigration, school choice, trade protectionism, and “foreign policy realism,” while not falling prey to the conspiracy mongering and demagoguery of Trump and his acolytes. Critiquing Trump’s self-aggrandizement, as well as both Bush administrations’ foreign policy “adventurism” and close corporate ties, Buckley charts a middle path that includes “pro-growth” and “pro-family” initiatives, including tax credits for working families, as well as bankruptcy relief from student loans and the prioritization of higher skilled immigrants through a points system similar to Canada’s. Though Buckley fails to fully reckon with the pitfalls of neoliberalism and charts a murky path for how “progressive conservativism” can defeat Trumpism at the polls, he articulates a clear vision for the future of the Republican Party. Conservatives ill at ease with the Trump era will be inspired by this lucid call to action. (July)