What is Fusionism?
Fusionism is the name given to the alliance and the philosophy that joined libertarian and traditionalist conservatives in the United States after the Second World War. Its best-known thinker, Frank Meyer, argued that the two groups were not really opposed. Traditionalists were right that there is an objective moral order, he said, and libertarians were right that the state should not impose it. In practice, fusionism also included strong anti-communism, which gave the coalition a shared cause during the Cold War.
Core beliefs
- Freedom is the central political value, because virtue cannot be forced.
- There is an objective moral order rooted in religion and Western tradition.
- Government should be limited to defense, justice and protecting citizens from violence.
- Free markets and private property support both prosperity and liberty.
- Power should be divided through the Constitution and federalism.
- Communism and other forms of collectivism must be firmly opposed.
History
In the 1950s American conservatives were divided between libertarians, who stressed individual freedom and markets, and traditionalists, who stressed community, religion and moral order. National Review, founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955, brought both groups together, and Frank Meyer, one of its editors, set out his synthesis in In Defense of Freedom (1962). The label fusionism was coined by his critic L. Brent Bozell Jr. The Sharon Statement of 1960, the founding document of Young Americans for Freedom, expressed similar ideas. Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign and later Ronald Reagan's presidency are often seen as political expressions of the fusionist coalition, which commentators describe as a 'three-legged stool' of economic conservatives, social conservatives and defense hawks.
Variants
Meyer's philosophical fusionism is a theory about freedom and virtue. Political fusionism is the broader electoral coalition that united free-market, religious and anti-communist voters in the Republican Party. Some scholars prefer the term constitutional conservatism for the idea that limited, divided government protects both liberty and the institutions that form character. Related ideas also appear in some forms of liberal conservatism outside the United States.
Criticisms
Traditionalist critics, starting with Bozell, argued that a good society needs law and public institutions to support virtue, not just freedom. Libertarian critics such as Murray Rothbard argued that fusionism tied libertarians to Cold War militarism and social conservatism. Since the 2010s, national conservatives and postliberal writers have argued that fusionism failed to conserve families, communities and national industry, and that its free-market commitments served corporate interests. Defenders reply that the coalition won major elections and that its critics would sacrifice liberty for state power.
In practice
Fusionism shaped the platform of the Republican Party for several decades: tax cuts and deregulation, appointment of judges who favored limited government and traditional values, high defense spending and opposition to the Soviet Union. Think tanks, magazines and student groups built around the coalition remain influential. After the Cold War ended, and especially in debates since 2016, the alliance has come under strain over trade, immigration and the role of the state.