Heritage Foundation, RIP

At Reason, Ilya Somin takes a recent wave of resignations from the Heritage Foundation as his point of departure en route to discussing the decline of that institution since the mid 1990's from one of the better conservative think tanks to what sounds like a cesspit of nativism and nationalism.

After noting that the shift was enough for him to turn down an invitation to contribute to a Heritage publication in 2022, Somin names the problem:

[T]he problem here goes beyond the bigotry of a few "influencers" or the flaws of specific leaders at Heritage and some other conservative institutions. Rather, as Kim Holmes put it, this is the predictable consequence of "replacing conservatism with nationalism." A conservative movement that increasingly defines itself in ethno-nationalist terms as a protector of the supposed interests of America's white Christian majority against immigrants and minority groups cannot readily avoid descending into anti-Semitism, as well.

My Cato Institute colleague Alex Nowrasteh and I wrote about the connections between nationalism and bigotry in some detail in our 2024 article "The Case Against Nationalism." We are working on a follow-up piece that specifically addresses links to anti-Semitism and related current controversies surrounding the conservative movement. [links omitted, bold added]

Somin's piece is short but valuable for: (1) containing many helpful links the interested reader can follow to get up to speed on this controversy, (2) acknowledging that anti-Semitism is also a problem on the left, and (3) ending with the following comment on Robert George's invocation of inalienable rights in his resignation letter:

Unlike nationalist movements focused on ethnic particularism, the American Founding was based on universal liberal principles. Those principles remain the best protection for Jews and other minority groups. Left and right alike would do well to recommit to them.

Somin's attempt to rectify his past omission may or may not be as good as having said something earlier, but it is nonetheless a great service to American patriots and other friends of liberty.

As Ayn Rand once put it so well, "The smallest minority on earth is the individual." An institution that descends into collectivism of any form is no friend of the individual.

-- CAV