Reagan's Fusionism Is a Philosophy, Not Just a Coalition, and It Remains Conservatism's Best Path
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Getting Reagan’s Conservative Fusionism Right for Today | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." October 28, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that critics misread Reagan's fusionism. They treat it as a political alliance that has failed, or as libertarianism in disguise, when it is really a philosophy that balances freedom and tradition. He says Reagan did cut government, that fusionism can handle moral questions by grounding them in historical tradition, and that it is still conservatism's best path forward.
Conclusion
Reagan's conservative fusionism is a coherent philosophy, not merely a political coalition. It has not failed politically, and it is not disguised libertarianism. It remains conservatism's best bet for a moral and free future.
Premises
- Critics of Slade's book wrongly treat fusionism as only a political coalition of libertarians, traditionalists and neoconservatives. Fusionism is a philosophy that runs from Hayek through Buckley and Meyer to Reagan, who used 'three-legged stool' for the coalition but 'fusionism' for the philosophy, defined by Meyer's synthesis of traditional and libertarian thought.
- The claim that fusionism has failed politically since Reagan is false, because Reagan did cut non-defense government. Budget tables show nondefense discretionary spending falling 3.6 to 9.6 percent, early tax cuts lowered projected federal spending, and Social Security reforms were enacted. The author says he witnessed these cuts firsthand.
- Cutting government remains possible today, since Gallup polls show a majority of Americans distrust the national government, with Reagan's presidency the main exception.
- Traditionalist critics who call fusionism raw libertarianism are wrong. Hayek's critical rationalism lets fusionists weigh competing goods in real decisions, so a fusionist can place a tradition value above a freedom value in particular situations.
- Fusionism's freedom synthesis is anchored not in an abstract 'virtue' but in a real, time-tested historical tradition, in which Meyer identifies particular virtues that also promoted freedom.
- Reagan followed this fusionist tradition.
Assumptions
- Reagan's own use of the term 'fusionism' is authoritative for what fusionism properly means.
- Budget data on nondefense discretionary spending is an adequate measure of whether fusionist limited-government politics succeeded.
- Reagan-era policy outcomes reflect fusionist philosophy rather than other political factors.
- A philosophy anchored in historical tradition is more reliable than one anchored in abstract virtue.
- Public distrust of government implies public support for cutting it.
- Fusionism's philosophical merits can be judged separately from its political track record.