The Rise of Collectivist Conservatives | Will Wilkinson | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Rise of Collectivist Conservatives | Will Wilkinson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "'Your rights as an American are individual rights,' Beck reminds us. 'I feel like I need to keep saying that word so it stays in the front of your and everybody's mind—individual, individual, individual!' To add heft to his indignant free-associative musings, Beck turns regularly to semi-pro philosophers such as Ayn Rand Institute president Yaron Brook to decry the 'ideology of altruism and collectivism' before his considerable television audience."

"Beck's "9/12 Project," meant to revive the fleeting American spirit of grieving, truculent solidarity that followed the 9/11 attacks, lays out nine principles and 11 values of "the greatest nation ever created." The first principle is "America is Good." What is that if not a recklessly unconditional commitment to the national collective? With his fourth principle—"The family is sacred"—Beck simply ignores the fact that no force in human history has been more corrosive to family cohesion than the individualist ideal of self-realization that he champions.

Similarly, when it comes to the "War on Terror," Beck's embrace of the rights of individuals against the state just peters out. Beck's nonchalance about warrantless wiretaps and water-boarding betrays a peculiar notion of individual liberty."

"For too many conservatives, "individual rights" is code for their right to remain unburdened by whatever exercises of state power they happen to dislike."