The Libertarian Right and the Religious Right

Abstract

A key dynamic in American conservatism is the relationship between conservatives adhering to broadly libertarian views and those whose conservatism is more closely tied to religious traditionalism, a difference we hypothesize is rooted in psychological predispositions of the sort considered by Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory. To better understand the structure of cooperation and competition between these groups, we construct an anatomy of the American center-right, which identifies them as incipient factions within the conservative movement and its political instrument, the Republican Party. In addition, we find two other potential factions, an “Establishment” group without strong ideological commitments beyond general conservatism, and a smaller “Activist” group, associated with the Tea Party, that fuses libertarianism and strong religious views. Although successful cooperation among conservative factions is critical to electoral success, we suggest this is threatened by conflicting attempts to appeal to heterogeneous “moderate” constituencies with either religious or libertarian leanings. We conclude with a discussion of the tendency of the contemporary conservative movement to reconcile its tensions by emphasizing conservative libertarianism (i.e. “classical liberalism), while at the same situating this in a natural rights framework that provides a role for religion.