Reminder: White Nationalists and the Alt-Right are not Conservative

White supremacists have a mindset that America is a land of finite opportunity, and gains by others come at the expense of their own. But they are wrong.

The Right will never be the party of white supremacy. Conservatism will never unite behind Richard Spencer and his merry band of Nazi-flag waving cowards. For months, white supremacists have tried to cozy up under the banner of the right characterizing themselves as the “alt-right.” This weekend in Tennessee, white nationalists are holding a two-day “White Lives Matter” rally.

It is often reported that white nationalism is a product of the Right. White nationalists themselves in Charlottesville, in Richmond, at University of Florida make the case that they are somehow part of conservatism or the Republican Party. They do this in the failed hope of blending conservatism with their perverse politics.

Let me tell you as clear as can be said: any coherent conservative philosophy will never harbor space for white supremacy.

In the aftermath of a deadly terrorist attack, it’s important to reclaim conservatism from the clutches of those who would seek to harm others in its name. Let this serve as a reminder of what conservatism is and reclaiming its definition from the perversions that others seek to attribute to its mantle.

First, it’s helpful to show what conservatism is not.

Conservatism is not nationalism. If conservatism were tied to a national identity, the ideology would die with the collapse of the country from which it originated. Conservatism doesn’t end if the fabric of America tatters and tears. What’s special about America isn’t tied to the land or a flag, but rather it is embedded in the desire for liberty and the yearning to breathe freer every day. Embracing the flag is permissible to the extent that the flag represents a symbol of pride. If it ever ceased to be a symbol for the tenets of liberty, flying the stars and stripes would be nothing more than waving cloth.