Ross Douthat Warns of Cultural, Economic Stagnation

On Monday evening, conservative New York Times Opinions columnist Ross Douthat returned to Exeter to share his perception of a dichotomy between political stagnation and volatility in western, though primarily American, society . Douthat, the author of several books including Bad Religion and Grand New Party, led a lecture for the general public the evening of his arrival. The following morning Douthat held a breakfast with students, spoke at assembly and finished his series with a student and faculty attended lunch.

I think not enough people in our well educated elite quite understand why other people in other parts of society, in other parts of the world,  aren’t good, centrist liberals like them.”

Douthat’s visit  his second consecutive year as a guest speaker; the assembly committee in partnership with Exeter’s Republican Club invited him back to campus after unrivaled interest from the PEA community made him the past year’s “speaker most requested to return.” Douthat’s return was organized in conjunction with We The People, a coalition of local Churches, many of whose members Douthat addressed on Monday evening.

Part of what made Douthat so appealing to the Exeter community was his presentation of moderate conservative views on the liberal-dominated campus. “I am socially conservative and economically more moderate. I am pro-life and I think the sexual revolution has caused more  problems that it’s solved,” he said during assembly. While these views framed his speeches, his message was a much less partisan take on our current culture.

Senior and Republican Club co-head, Pradyumn Dayal shared his thoughts on the significance of Douthat’s visit. “One of the major reasons it’s important to bring conservative speakers to campus is because conservatism is often viewed as the uneducated, racist, offensive caricature of the far right,“ said Dayal. “For Exonians to see someone as eloquent, reasonable, and likeable as Mr. Douthat as one of the faces of conservatism may help to break stereotypes of the majority of conservatives. In addition, it’s always important to hear opposing points of view on issues that many liberals, myself included, often think of as ‘settled’ or obvious. For example, there are a number of reasons beyond just xenophobia that people may oppose increased immigration and a number of reasons beyond hatred of science that people may oppose action against climate change, and hearing these perspectives we aren’t often exposed to either makes us consider more nuance or strengthen our own convictions.” Dayal continued to stress the importance of Douthat’s appearance in subverting the political tunnel vision many believe occurs as a result of the “Exeter bubble”. “Everyone is guilty of getting too caught up in the point scoring and bickering of partisan politics, and many of us are too young to really understand the wider historical context behind today’s paradigm. Having a speaker who really pulled away from all of that, who spoke about the bigger picture and the overall mood of the Western developed world was a refreshing perspective in my opinion. I’ve also personally never thought about stagnation and progress across the past hundred years; I’ve only known the world for the past 17. I hope that Mr. Douthat’s speech reminds us that there’s more in the world than the most recent thing Trump did or the newest development in Silicon Valley.”

Senior and Democrat Club co-head Isadora Kron thought that Douthat’s appearance was an indicator of the need for greater range of perspectives by Assembly speakers. “I think it’s really important that Exeter brings in conservative speakers because our assembly line up often tends towards being somewhat of a liberal echo chamber. Exposing students to more diverse perspectives allows us to learn about our own views, even if we disagree with speakers... I think the speaker yesterday started discussions about political views and their nuances, which is an important conversation.” Kron said.

Faculty member Kathleen Brownback found common  ground between Douthat’s rhetoric and her personal views. “He was a good speaker. He thinks a lot about the big picture and the details,” she said. “We don’t personally agree on some things but I think he’s right to point to a kind of stagnation—settling for less than we could be as a society and getting caught in repetitive squabbles. I’ve heard mostly positive response.”.

Douthat commented on the need for this type of cross partisan consideration within the Exeter student body. He explained that in our current era, there exists an emergence of extremist ideas all over the world and that young people, like current Exonians, “have an obligation to be a little outside their comfort zone and explore ideas that they aren’t necessarily likely to encounter.” He then continued, “I think not enough people in our well educated elite quite understand why other people in other parts of society, in other parts of the world,  aren’t good, centrist liberals like them.” He went on to describe that often the dangers of extremism contain elements of truth that people should explore. “At the very least in order to combat the dangerous parts of extremists it is helpful to understand why people are drawn to it,” he said.  When prompted for an example of an “extremist” view that modern youth should engage with, Douthat cited ancient critiques of democracy as generally dismissed yet valid perspectives. “Brilliant ancient philosophers thought that democracy was inherently unworkable,” he said. “But now that our society is under a certain amount of stress and parts of our democracy seem to be breaking down it is worth revisiting what very smart people were thinking when they assumed democracy wouldn’t work.”