New right

Explaining What Makes Something 'New'

Every time we turn around, something 'new' is being marketed to the public. It could be a new computer, a new phone, a new car, anything. So what makes something 'new?' Well, hopefully a new product is going to be relevant to current everyday life. Perhaps it's an improvement over the older versions of the same thing or adds features that the old versions didn't have.

But this isn't limited to just the newest iPhone or luxury sedan. It works the same way with political movements. Sometimes events cause a new political movement to rise up, claiming to have the right answers to pressing policy questions that current political movements do not possess. The New Right is one such movement.

Definition

The New Right refers to the movement of American conservatives in the 1970s and 1980s that rose up in opposition to liberal policies on taxes, abortion, affirmative action, as well as foreign policy stances on the Soviet Union. This movement lent substantial support to the Republican Party, leading to Republicans winning control of the U.S. Senate in 1980, and the election of Ronald Reagan as 40th president of the United States the same year.

Issues

Reagan and Ford at 1976 Convention

The New Right movement began forming in the 1960s and 1970s as its members were dismayed by increased sexuality in the public arena, rising crime, liberalization of abortion, and social unrest caused by the Vietnam War, the conflict between the United States and communist North Vietnam that lasted from roughly 1965 to 1975. Organizations were formed such as Young Americans for Freedom and the College Republicans, often populated by white, middle-class Protestant suburbanites.

Among the issues that animated the New Right was the upcoming Panama Canal treaty that gave control over the Panama Canal to its mother country. Many conservatives opposed the treaty, feeling the U.S. should retain control over the canal. New Right members also balked at what they viewed as appeasement towards the Soviet Union. While running against President Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Reagan criticized both the treaty and the Ford policy of détente, which was an effort to relax tensions with the Soviets through negotiations. Instead, Reagan believed that the U.S. should build up its military might to deter Soviet aggression.

Jerry Falwell in 1984

The organization of social conservatives also fueled the New Right. In 1973, the Supreme Court established a constitutional right to an abortion in the Roe v. Wade ruling. Opposition to the ruling sparked a parallel movement called the Religious Right, made up largely of Protestant Christians who opposed liberal policies on abortion and homosexuality. This movement was led by individuals such as Jerry Falwell and Reverend Pat Robertson. Many Religious Right activists found common cause with the New Right and joined its ranks, giving strong support to New Right candidates and Reagan during his runs for president. This is what has led many critics to conflate the Religious Right with the Republican Party.
An important anchor for the New Right is a strong belief that market-based economics is the most effective means for delivering economic growth commensurate with the expectations of our citizens. The New Right would, however, concede that market-based systems tend to accentuate disparities in income and wealth. They recognise that in a democracy such as ours — where we received universal suffrage at much lower levels of economic development than any other democracy in the world, and where the vast majority of voters live in poverty — it is especially difficult to make a politically compelling case for economic policies that favour growth over equality.

Demonstrating that market-based systems can be fair — that they can be compatible with the democratic quest for social justice — is therefore of vital importance. The ability to properly regulate markets and redistribute income effectively is essential, and forms the basis for the New Right’s views on the role of the state.

The New Right are not advocates for a minimalist state. Markets cannot substitute for the state. The state must enable entrepreneurship and private enterprise such that these become the primary engines of job creation. It cannot become the default provider of jobs for all that are disadvantaged; nor can it be allowed to become the fiefdom of a few cronies. The state must have robust regulatory capacity to keep markets competitive. It must be able to intervene for the public good where and when markets fail. It must have an administrative machinery capable of ensuring effective delivery of essential public goods to all citizens. And it must provide an adequate safety net, transparently, and efficiently, to those that fall behind. While subsidies and transfers should remain important instruments for redistribution, the state must surely pursue every opportunity to improve their design — such as by moving to a system of direct cash benefit transfers linked to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts — in order that they target the deserving, while eliminating waste and corruption.