Interview, Fireside Chat
George F. Will: Author of "The Conservative Sensibility"
- George Will asserts his new book, The Conservative Sensibility, addresses the "considerable confusion" regarding the definition of conservatism, arguing it has fundamentally shifted in meaning over the last four years.
- Will frames the core tension of American politics as a conflict between "majority rule" (process) and "liberty" (condition), explicitly stating he sides with liberty.
- The book draws a direct line from Abraham Lincoln's 1854 opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act to the modern defense of rights against majority imposition.
- Will contends that the Republican Party is currently "enthralled" to a leader who believes there are no restraints on presidential power.
- Will cites a rise in Republican support for the current administration from 77% (Reagan, 500-day mark) to 87% (Trump, 500-day mark), noting a lack of internal party argument compared to historical GOP splits.
- Will identifies the administration's protectionist policies as "crony capitalism" and fundamentally inconsistent with conservative principles of limited government.
- Will critiques the historical progression of the administrative state and the erosion of separation of powers, identifying two rival Princeton philosophies:
- James Madison (Class of 1771) advocated for a structure where legislative power is checked to protect minority rights.
- Woodrow Wilson (Class of 1879) argued the Madisonian system was unsuited for a modern continental nation, advocating instead for "concentrated executive power" and a more nimble government.
- Will argues that Congress has "aggressively, enthusiastically, and ebulliently" shed powers to the executive branch to avoid accountability and the difficulty of making trade-offs.
- Congress now passes "velliguities" (vague statutes) regarding broad goals like "quality education," instructing the executive branch to fill in the details, effectively ceding legislative authority.
- Will outlines his evolution on the role of the judiciary and the presidency:
- He regrets that conservatives historically adopted the progressive mantra of judicial deference to elected branches due to the "counter-majoritarian difficulty."
- Will posits that John Marshall's invention of judicial review was the third most important event in US history, creating "judicial supervision of democracy."
- He argues that 99% of government action involves compact, articulate factions rather than majorities, making judicial intervention to strike down laws a protection of the public rather than a truncation of majority rule.
- Will rejects the modern presidential trend of addressing the public as "my friends," asserting that the president's constitutional duty is to faithfully execute laws, making them definitionally subordinate to the legislature.
- Will defends capitalism as a system that enforces virtues such as thrift, industriousness, and the deferral of gratification, describing market societies as inherently "polite."
- He characterizes the current popularity of socialism as a "fiction" and a "misconstruing of spurious data."
- Will claims many self-identified millennial socialists confuse socialism (government ownership) with mere social niceness, failing to grasp that traditional socialism involves government ownership of the "commanding heights" of the economy.
- He argues that modern America functions as a socialist state, citing that 67% of the federal budget is allocated to transfer payments and wealth redistribution.
- Will highlights the contradiction of Republicans opposing socialism while simultaneously supporting government economic planning mechanisms like the Export-Import Bank.
- He characterizes the current popularity of socialism as a "fiction" and a "misconstruing of spurious data."
- Will confirms he has effectively left the Republican Party, characterizing it as a "utilitarian instrument" that ceased being useful once it acquiesced to Donald Trump.
- He compares leaving a party to leaving a family, noting he finds being a "free agent" exhilarating and has fewer receptive ears among officeholders with "R's after their names."
- Will offers specific commentary on the state of journalism and his personal habits:
- He criticizes journalists who offer unrefined opinions constantly, preferring to wait until thoughts are "refined and filtered" before publishing, noting he has written nearly 6,000 columns.
- Will admits he has never tweeted personally, though a staff member tweets excerpts from his columns twice a week.
- Will concludes with specific endorsements and preferences:
- He recommends Rick Atkinson's The British Are Coming as the latest book he read, praising its blend of history and literature.
- He identifies Ann Applebaum as a contemporary columnist with promise, noting her grim perspective on the rise of the populace in Europe.
- On baseball, he advocates enlarging the strike zone to combat the trend of "three true outcomes" (walks, strikeouts, home runs), which he claims has ruined the game by reducing the ball in play to once every four minutes.