But I began to encounter in the immigration debate some things that worried me a lot. So let’s talk about what the American people think about some of the biggest issues facing our country today.Īs a teen, I believed in the Republican vision and worked hard over the years to be a faithful team member to advance conservative values. With the nation’s intelligentsia and President Biden chasing after wild chimeras, it is indeed good that the people have a veto. Most fortunate we are that generations of our forebears built and nurtured a system rooted in our Constitution that recognizes human weakness and lust for power that gives common people a voice and the ultimate power in this great republic. That inheritance is not locked away or imposed upon a select few but is diffused among us all, as our traditions and beliefs. To us, wisdom comes not from theory but honest experience over centuries in which mankind has tried many things and has found many wanting and has discovered others and has treasured them. We are fallen beings who can and should learn from our forebears, and when we depart from them, we better be darned sure we know what we’re doing. The humility of conservatism is rooted in recognizing that we don’t know everything. It does not seek to impose, but to guide, through freedom, history, experience, and intellectual questioning. It is a cast of mind, a way of looking at the world. Conservatism rejects this dangerous pretension. The Left’s vision presumes that all customs, all beliefs, and all people that preceded them, are worthy of little or no respect. And without the rule of law there is no security, no private property, and no freedom. But we know without rules and procedures, there is no law. Their hubris and self-importance lead them to believe that their solutions, their values, their commands are right and just and imperative. Our conservative ethos set us apart from the radicals and the totalitarians who seek power and control and submission from those who don’t agree with them. And it was just an eye-opener for me to understand the concept of authentic literature, and what is normative and what is abnormal in literature and culture. As a college student, I read Russell Kirk’s book, then known as Enemies of The Permanent Things. But I do think we’ve got to work hard to strengthen a sense of traditional identity and confidence in our people.
We are surely in a much more mobile world today. I shared with him that Southerners don’t use commercial terms like “farm” or “ranch”-they say “place.” And so, it is “the home place.” The McMurphy Place, the Wooley Place, the Kennedy Place, the Reaves Place-all adjoining for over 100 years. It provided him with a sense of permanence, family connection, and purpose. He explained how important the family home was to him. Once, I was on a Senate congressional delegation in Israel, where we met with Ariel Sharon at his home. I was Jeff Sessions from Hybart, Alabama. And I said, I didn’t have an identity crisis. I remember when I was in college in the ’60s, it was said that our youth were suffering an identity crisis. And we believe that true conservatism has a predisposition for the institutions and mores that exist.” The ones that already exist, that have been proven over time. It was at your founding 19 years ago, when the editors wrote, “We believe conservatism to be the most natural political tendency, rooted in man’s taste for the familiar, for family, for faith in God. And now we’ve just got to keep it that way, don’t we? You’ve made a valuable contribution to the public discourse, you’re educating while entertaining, you’re welcoming diverse views, discussing without being disagreeable, and advocating with authenticity for the principles that have made America the greatest, freest, most prosperous and most powerful nation on earth. This magazine, The American Conservative, was first, on the major issues that were part of the 2016 election cycle. Many people say Sessions, you were a part of this movement, this new Republican agenda, before anyone else. The American Conservative magazine is one of the most important publications of our time, and I want to congratulate you on your success and give you my best wishes for many more years. Editors’ note: The following is adapted from remarks that were delivered at The American Conservative ’s annual gala, held on Octoin Washington.
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