Julia Weber
Staff Writer
According to The Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel, American politics don’t move in a continuum, but a pendulum.
Continuing Week One’s “Themes of Transformation: Forces Shaping Our Tomorrow” with her lecture on the subject of the evolution and future of American conservatism, Strassel will deliver the morning lecture at 10:45 a.m. today in the Amphitheater.
“I would argue that we are in the middle of a large shift at the moment,” Strassel said.
Strassel said she believes the combination of what she sees as an “excess” of a progressive shift and once-in-a-generation events like the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted not only in a shift toward conservatism, but also a breaking of traditional party lines across demographics.
With this shift toward conservatism comes disagreement between traditional Republican policy and “new right” ideals amid President Donald Trump’s second term.
“I think you’re going to see a lot more of those clashes in the next four years and the huge question is going to be what happens when (Trump) leaves office,” Strassel said.
Amid this shift toward conservatism, Strassel stressed the importance of understanding how voting has shifted and the contributing factors that led to this shift.
“We are, I believe, in the middle of the moment of a dramatic political shift in this country that is scrambling all of our traditional notions about who votes for what party and for what reason,” she said.
Strassel was originally invited to the Institution by Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, who worked with Senior Vice President and Chief Program Officer Deborah Sunya Moore and Emily and Richard Smucker Chair of Education Jordan Steves to bring her to the Amp stage as part of the Chautauqua Lecture Series.
“We are deeply grateful to Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua for working with Jordan and myself to book Kimberley Strassel,” said Moore. “I hope, in our close-knit community here, that it’s an example, both for our community and nationally, that we can reach an arm across, we can sit down together, we can plan great things together and we can all benefit from it,” Moore said. “I think our platform that week will be stronger because of Kimberley’s participation, and we hope that everybody can welcome her and the other speakers in that spirit of enthusiasm.”
Strassel writes the weekly political column “Potomac Watch” for WSJ in addition to editorials for the publication. Strassel is a regular contributor to political commentary television shows such as CBS’ “Face the Nation,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and Fox News Sunday, and she is a 2014 Bradley Prize recipient.
She has worked at WSJ for more than 30 years and described herself as a “passionate, dedicated person” to WSJ’s motto of “Free People, Free Markets.”
“It’s been the privilege of my life to work there,” Strassel said.
During her time at Chautauqua, Strassel hopes to impart upon Chautauquans the gravity of the current political moment.
“Nobody ever tends to realize that they’re living in big political moments until they look back. I think we are actually living in a pretty consequential political moment,” she said. “It’s really, really changing.”
