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The Conservative Canon and Its Uses
- Rhetoric & Public Affairs
- Michigan State University Press
- Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 2012
- pp. 1-39
- 10.1353/rap.2012.0008
- Article
- Additional Information
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In this essay, I aim to locate the scriptural force of American conservatism’s secular canon. My basic claim is that the canon created and managed the potential for symbolic fusion and fracture among conservatives. The canon provided the tools to weather the rocky marriage between various conservative sects: traditionalists, libertarians, neoconservatives, and others; the canon afforded resources for each faction to establish their bona fides and to protect their version of authentic conservatism from impostors and apostates. I conclude by analyzing the link between the principles of classical conservatism and canonical politics.