Harper’s legacy was undone. Next time, new right will make it last

Joshua Hart/National Post: This brings us to the grand bargain the movement needs. The old right and the new right are not opponents — they can be complements. The old right’s instinct for economic liberty provides the material conditions for a free society. The new right’s emphasis on mediating institutions provides the cultural conditions. Neither is sufficient without the other. A conservatism that pursues growth without attending to the institutions that give that growth meaning will hollow out the civilization it sought to defend. A conservatism that celebrates community without securing the economic freedom that makes genuine community possible will find itself presiding over managed decline. The synthesis should not be complicated: build the conditions for prosperity, and use those conditions to strengthen the institutions and society that make prosperity worth having. Politics is downstream of culture and we can’t ignore the non-material conditions of this country…