It’s not 2010 again in GOP politics and never will be, but you could be forgiven for having flashbacks to the beginnings of the tea party.
A leaderless grassroots revolt has emerged from almost nowhere, causing outrage in the media and among elected officials, as it opposes government overreach in high-spirited demonstrations.
So, yeah, this is happening in Canada and not the United States.
Still, the embrace of the Canadian trucker protesters by the American right is a sign that the tea party spirit circa the early Obama years was never fully extinguished. It is “freedom” that remains the most natural and powerful Republican rallying cry.
The Trump era catalyzed an ongoing debate among writers and thinkers on the right about how much emphasis should be put on freedom. One faction — associated with populists and nationalists — argues that the traditional conservative celebration of freedom has become fetishistic and is an anachronism irrelevant to ordinary people and an obstacle to grappling with the struggles of the working class.
This position has gained adherents in recent years, but it is hard to tell amid the right’s reflexive support of a protest movement literally flying under the banner of “freedom.”
The Canadian protest is a unifying moment for the American right. To simplify, the populists are drawn to the truckers as representatives of the working class, of a rejection of government by experts, and of a willingness to shock and defy the progressive governing class as embodied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Limited-government conservatives, on the other hand, tend to sympathize with the opposition to the vaccine mandate on truckers as an irrational, completely unnecessary regulation and with the push to begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions more broadly.
Both elements on the right have denounced Trudeau’s invoking of emergency powers. For the populists, the action is a dangerous sign of an impulse to smash anyone crossing elite opinion. For limited-government types, it’s a dangerous sign of a government that can too easily slip free of constitutional constraints.
It adds up to a kind of populist-inflected libertarianism with an enhanced accent on cultural combat and class conflict.
It was predictable that the first contact with Biden administration policies would revivify a conservative distrust of government, and pandemic restrictions have super-charged a “Do Not Tread on Me” response across the right.
Of course, the GOP has changed over the last decade or so. Donald Trump broke with the conventional post-Reagan Republican rhetoric and elevated national cohesiveness, sovereignty, and strength over and above freedom.
The sense now is less “the government is bankrupting us” and more “these out-of-touch, self-appointed experts are telling us what to do because they have too much power and like lording it over us, with the press, social media, corporations and non-profits all on their side.”
This gives the opposition to government a distinct culture war charge, although this isn’t necessarily new. In the post-World War II conservative coalition, classical liberals and social conservatives united in opposition to big government because it was believed that an overweening government was a threat both to freedom and traditional values.
There are going to be intra-conservative debates going forward on tax, trade and tech policy, but the defense of freedom will retain a central place. Consider the politicians who, at this juncture, look to be the future of the conservative opposition in Canada and the U.S.
Pierre Poilievre, whose chances to be the next conservative leader in Canada have been enhanced by the trucker protests, criticized a government that is too “big and bossy” in his strong video announcing his bid. Ron DeSantis, a potentially strong contender in a 2024 Republican nomination fight, touts the successes of the “Free State of Florida.”
The issues and the emphases might change but in conservative politics, freedom is unlikely ever to go out of style.
Rich Lowry is on Twitter @RichLowry
