By Florencia Miguez
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
If you weren’t too distracted by George W. Bush’s adorable struggle with a poncho, you probably noticed that Donald Trump's inaugural speech wasn't traditional. It didn't even pretend to be a unifying, statesmanlike address, but it was merely a continuation of his 2016 campaign tone. To anyone who followed the 2016 election closely, this wasn’t surprising: Trump enjoys being controversial and thinks that even bad publicity is good for him. The most interesting thing about his speech, however, was that it wasn't the conventional Republican address: he used a paternalistic, protectionist, statist tone; and as a conservative I felt that he has too much faith in government and what it can do for people. Trumpism as a political doctrine will influence the way we think and speak about government (either consciously or unconsciously) for at least the next four years, and undoubtedly it will impact conservatism as an ideology going forward.
Trump's speech didn't mention some of the most problematic issues of our times: crippling debt, the need for entitlement reform, nor did he mention any policy specifics or state an ideological vision for the next four years. Unfortunately, this is a reflection of the current state of the conservative movement, which has lost its intellectual element. Ronald Reagan’s administration was born in the era of William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman, and the 40th President often cited great thinkers like Bastiat and Reichenbach. Today it’s hard to find a conservative book that’s well researched, interesting, and not a way for a famous pundit to make money from his fan base. Matt K. Lewis explored this phenomenon in his book Too Dumb to Fail. This passage from the book summarizes the evolution of conservatism over the last 60 years:
“Somewhere between Reagan’s thirty-minute speech in 1964 [on behalf of Barry Goldwater] and the most recent government shutdown, the conservative movement became neither conservative nor a movement. Hijacked by the divisive and the dumb, it now finds itself hostage to emotions and irrational thinking. It became more personal and less principled—more flippant and less thoughtful. It became mean. It became lazy. It became its own worst enemy. Where once the movement drew strength from its desire to win the philosophical argument over its adversaries, it now wears its lost causes as badges of honor.”
While Trumpism itself didn’t cause the problem, it will further exacerbate it as conservative leaders were shown that a lazy, unprepared movement can still be victorious. Victory may not come on the war of ideas, but it came on Election Day and that’s all that matters when you’re trying to win the ratings war or you’re a political operative whose job depends on short-term success. Some people thought that the outrage machine that fuels talk radio and some TV pundits would need a Hillary Clinton win to survive, but people like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity have managed to make their fan base worship Donald Trump, and now they will move their outrage from big government to the media, which doesn’t accept “alternative facts” at face value.
Alarmingly the word "freedom" was only uttered once, while "liberty" didn't even get one mention in Trump's address. Ronald Reagan mentioned liberty and freedom 11 times during his first inaugural address. These principles, which in my opinion are central to a conservative message, were replaced with statist language, and as I listened to Trump speak I wondered how his words would affect political discourse and behavior in America. Word choice can affect political opinion and policy proposals: the way we frame a problem influences the way we try to solve it, as research by Lera Boroditsky from University of California, San Diego shows.
Trump places too much emphasis on the notion of country. And while it's true that every American should thank God every day and twice on Sunday for living in a country where freedom is a cherished principle and government protects civil rights, we should remember that individuals are the ones who go to work every day, the ones who fight for our freedom, the ones who pay the taxes that will inevitably fund Trump's wall.
To see how Trump's view of country differs from a previous conservative vision, we can read what Milton Friedman wrote in his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom:
"To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. He is proud of a common heritage and loyal to common traditions. But he regards government as a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors and gift, nor a master or God to be blindly worshipped and served.”
Trump’s collectivist worldview is not only reflected in the language used during his remarks, but in the few policy positions he discussed during his speech. When he discussed trade and how “we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry," he seemed to forget that countries don't trade with other countries, but that millions of households in different countries make consumer choices every day: some American families choose to purchase made in America products only, while other families choose to buy more affordable products made abroad or foreign products that simply aren't produced at home. These are individual decisions and the government shouldn't tell individuals whom they can purchase products from.
As a conservative, the most troubling part of his speech came near the end. He stated that he will make America strong, wealthy, proud, safe, and great again. While the federal government is indeed in charge of the safety of the country, strength, wealth, pride and greatness don't come from government, but from each and every single American and their individual actions, as small as they might seem, that combined help make the world healthier, safer, more connected, and more prosperous. The greatest innovations and technological advances didn't come out of Washington (nor did they come out of Trump Tower) but out of the minds of great individuals. If you feel like America can do better, don't look to the government to change the country; look into yourself and think about what you can do today.