Why Everyone Is Talking about Josh Hawley

“Hawley talks again and again about the importance of community and criticizes those on both sides of the political aisle who pay fealty to an individualism that puts the self-creating individual at the summit of what constitutes the good.“

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is one of the most interesting politicians in America today. Several of his speeches have laid out a vision of where conservatism in America might go in a post-Trump future, reflecting similar themes rising in Britain as well. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will go anywhere—or produce anything productive. However, the fact that Hawley even raises the issues he does in the face of entrenched interests reflects a broader realignment taking place in Anglo-American right-leaning politics. This alone makes him worth paying attention to.

Let us begin with what Hawley has said so far in three major speeches: his maiden Senate speech, his speech at the National Conservatism conference in Washington this past July, and his most recent speech at the American Principles Project (APP) Gala. Each gives voice to an evolving worldview that characterizes the changing conversation on the Right. In each of his speeches, Hawley strikes a populist stance, talking about the alienation and suffering of those in heartland states like his native Missouri. Talk of the inherent dignity of honest work features strongly, as well as the importance of steady and stable jobs for a functioning and flourishing society. Paying tribute to the common man and woman, Hawley spends more time praising those who work than create. While entrepreneurialism is important, the fact is that only around eight percent qualify as such. It makes sense therefore to speak to those who make up the vast majority of the American population.

Paying tribute to the common man and woman, Hawley spends more time praising those who work than create.

Hawley talks again and again about the importance of community and criticizes those on both sides of the political aisle who pay fealty to an individualism that puts the self-creating individual at the summit of what constitutes the good. Hawley raises the British monk Pelagius as an exemplar of this worldview—as someone who thought that individual salvation could be gained entirely through one’s own efforts. In his APP speech, Hawley spoke of the Promethean idea, of the, “individual as creator, as self-creator, maker of meaning and author of reality, rather like Prometheus who in the ancient myth created all mankind. So call this view of the human person the ‘Promethean self.’” There is little focus in this worldview on the word “limits,” central to Christopher Lasch’s work.