The Ascendance Of Authoritairan Conservatism Amid The Rising Tide Of Culture Wars

Post-war American conservatism is not monolithic. The much vaunted rightward turnin American politics has reshaped the American conservative movement intosomething totally unrecognizable for its early standard-bearers. When measuredagainst the political philosophies of Edmund Burke and Barry Goldwater, today’smainstream conservatism has betrayed commitment to limited government and civilliberties. And the culture wars fought in the political arena have arguably been theexpedient tool that authoritarian conservatives use to achieve electoral success despitetheir elitist agenda. And the policies they champion harm minorities, foster thetrivialization of politics and political gridlock, and put constitutional liberalism injeopardy. These areas are underrepresented in current research, and this paperrepresents an attempt at expanding on them and connecting the dots in a logicalmanner.