“Conservatives used to believe in the overwhelming benefits of immigration. Most nationalists want to restrict even legal immigration. Conservatives used to believe that America should always speak and sometimes act in defense of freedom-seekers everywhere. Nationalists strike the bargain that America will mind its own business if others mind theirs. Conservatives used to oppose identity politics for being hostile to individual freedom. Nationalism is the superimposition of one form of identity politics over various others.”
The New Conservative Pyrite (2019)
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Bret Stephens5
far-right American 1973Related quotes
George Stigler (1911–1991) American economist
The Economist as Preacher and Other Essays (1982), p.61
“Conservatives are nationalists. Liberals hope for world government.”
Mike Rosen (1944) American political pundit
Rocky Mountain News column, 2000
L. Neil Smith (1946) American writer
"Revenge of the Cookie Monster".
Al Franken (1951) American comedian and politician
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (2003)
Context: If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America.... They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America like a 4-year-old loves his mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a 4-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world.
That's why we liberals want America to do the right thing. We know America is the hope of the world, and we love it and want it to do well.
Anthony Eden (1897–1977) British Conservative politician, prime minister
Speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool (3 October 1946), quoted in The Times (4 October 1946), p. 2.
“There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2015, State of the Union Address (January 2015)
Context: You know, just over a decade ago, I gave a speech in Boston where I said there wasn’t a liberal America or a conservative America; a black America or a white America -- but a United States of America.
Context: There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there's the United States of America.
Maurice Cowling (1926–2005) historian
"The Present Position," Conservative Essays (Cassell, 1978), p. 1, p. 9.