As we go to press, Donald Trump is visiting Paris. His visit can’t help but remind us of a famous trip to Paris by an American over three-quarters of a century ago. That American businessman, Rick Blaine, had little in common with Donald Trump—except perhaps a propensity to brand businesses with their own names. And even then, one must say that Rick’s Café Américain was run in a somewhat different spirit than Trump Tower.
In any case, we trust that President Trump’s departure from Paris won’t be as melancholy as Rick’s. We hope that his experiences in the city of lights won’t bring back painful memories. Indeed, we hope that Trump, like Rick, learns lessons from his stay in Paris—lessons about the importance of political freedom, and individual sacrifice, and personal honor.
We shall see.
For us, though, we’re reminded of a different lesson as we recall Rick Blaine’s story: Time goes by.
It was only 13 years after Casablanca appeared that Bill Buckley launched National Review. That was 62 years ago. Sixty-two years is a long time. Sixty-two years before Buckley’s magazine was born, Grover Cleveland was president. Although the early National Review was probably sympathetic to the agenda of Grover Cleveland, Buckley didn’t often invoke his name or example. Time had gone by.
A quarter-century after National Review appeared, Ronald Reagan won the presidency. That was 37 years ago. Thirty-seven years is a long time. Thirty-seven years before Reagan’s victory, Franklin Roosevelt was president. And although Reagan occasionally appealed to Roosevelt, he didn’t try to be Roosevelt.
A lot of time has now gone by since we had a fresh conservative movement. Eric Hoffer’s observation comes to mind: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” A lot of time has gone by since we had a Republican president with a bold and fresh and confident conservative agenda. We remember those days. We know there are important lessons to be learned from them. But it’s not a viable political program simply to seek to restore them.
Indeed, the more we have tried to begin to think through a post-Trump agenda, the more struck we have been that it needs to be newly thought through. It needs to be newly thought through in light of recent history and present circumstances. Everyone is familiar with Lincoln’s statement in his second annual message to Congress: “As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.” That is our case as well. But people are perhaps less aware of Lincoln’s next line: “We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
Disenthrallment is difficult. It’s especially difficult when one very much respects and admires one’s forebears, as we should and as conservatives are in any case inclined to do. But it’s true that, like Rick in Casablanca, we eventually have to move beyond the reveries of the past—however painful this can be.
It’s important to stress that disenthrallment is not enthrallment with what is simply novel, or a credulous belief in progressivism. Progressives disdain the past and foolishly condescend to our predecessors. Disenthrallment is not disdain. Thinking anew does not mean thinking as a progressive.
And it’s important to emphasize that however much we must think and act anew, the core truth of conservatism still holds: Principles remain as times change. After all,
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
