The Rhetoric of Political Conservatism in the Post-Reagan Era

Abstract

Conservative political thought in the United States has historically been rooted in a compact federalist interpretation of American constitutionalism. This article discusses how the rhetoric of former President Ronald Reagan significantly impact conservative thought and American political discourse in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Reagan rhetorically constructed the national government as an instrument to effect moral and social reform while viewing state and local governments as the harbingers of a nationalized set of Christian values and morals. His rhetoric fused states’ rights with notions of moral progress and human obligation to satisfy three specific political goals: promulgating a states’ rights theory of government; increasing the United States’ position in international trade; and, nationalizing Christian values and morals. The article traces the history of conservative American constitutional thought from the founding through Reagan’s presidency and concludes with a discussion of the ways in which Reagan’s rhetoric continues to impact political discourse in the twenty-first century.