Welcome to Need to Know, The Hub’s roundup of experts and insiders providing insights into the developments Canadians need to be keeping an eye on.
Today’s weekend edition dives into thought-provoking research from think tanks, academics, and leading policy thinkers in Canada and around the world. Here’s what’s got us thinking this week.
American conservatism now appears to be staunchly at odds with the American Conservatism embodied by the Republican Party’s full-throated endorsement of MAGA.
According to conservative Washington Post columnist and Hub Dialogues guest George Will, true American conservatism is an embodiment of the classical liberal tradition. It seeks to conserve the wisdom of thinkers like John Locke, Adam Smith, and the Founding Fathers, who embraced liberty during times of rampant statism and tyranny.
Distilled into public policy, this means conservative politics should emphasize free markets and free minds, two things the Trump administration appears to be turning its back on.
On free markets, look no further than Trump’s trade war with Canada. Marked by tariffs on steel, aluminum, and a host of other measures, the trade war signals a purposeful shift away from free markets toward protectionism, ignoring the efficient logic of open trade with Canada that has benefited American producers and consumers alike.
It should not be lost on real American conservatives that the trade war is antithetical to historical conservative principles. And it appears it may not be.
An increasing chorus of American conservative intellectuals, from former Bush administration officials to conservative magazines to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, are coming to the defence of Canada against the Trump administration. Notable among the growing crowd of voices is Atlantic writer and Hub contributor David Frum, who has been prescient in his assessment of Trump’s unprecedented actions.
Let’s take a look at a few of Canada’s American conservative friends.
National Review stands with Canada
Since its founding by public intellectual and writer William F. Buckley, National Review has been the magazine of record for the intellectual side of American conservatism. The publication was instrumental in establishing the fusionism that held together different strands of the conservative movement during the Cold War. During the Trump takeover of the GOP, National Review has placed itself as a bastion of sanity, amongst a churning sea of angry populism.
National Review’s commitment to conservative principles spurred its editor and chief, Rich Lowry, and the editorial board to recently pen pieces strongly questioning Trump’s contempt for Canada.
