THE RISING TIDE OF CONSERVATISM ★^1053for authority. Once supporters of liberalism, they had come to believe that even
well- intentioned government social programs did more harm than good. Wel-
fare, for example, not only failed to alleviate poverty but also encouraged single
motherhood and undermined the work ethic. High taxes and expensive gov-
ernment regulations drained resources from productive enterprises, stifling
economic growth. Neoconservatives repudiated the attempts by Nixon, Ford,
and Carter to reorient foreign policy away from the Cold War. Carter’s focus on
human rights and alleged blindness to the Soviet threat, they argued, endan-
gered the “survival of freedom.” Conservative “think tanks” created during the
1970s, like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute,
refined and spread these ideas.
The Religious Right
The rise of religious fundamentalism during the 1970s expanded conservatism’s
popular base. Challenged by the secular and material concerns of American soci-
ety, some denominations tried to bring religion into harmony with these inter-
ests; others reasserted more traditional religious values. The latter approach
seemed to appeal to growing numbers of Americans. Even as membership in
mainstream denominations like Episcopalianism and Presbyterianism declined,
evangelical Protestantism flourished. Some observers spoke of a Third Great
Awakening (like those of the 1740s and early nineteenth century). The election
of Carter, the first “ born- again” Christian to become president, highlighted the
growing influence of evangelical religion. But unlike Carter, most fundamental-
ists who entered politics did so as conservatives.
Of course, there was nothing new about the involvement of churches
in political life. There is a long tradition in American history of moral
stewardship— devout Christians taking on responsibility for social reform and
using political means to combat what they perceive as individual or collective
sins. During the 1960s, many members of the burgeoning evangelical churches
of the suburbs, South, and West had become more and more alienated from
a culture that seemed to them to trivialize religion and promote immorality.
Evangelicals of different denominations increasingly came to feel that they
had more in common with each other than with more liberal coreligionists.
They demanded the reversal of Supreme Court decisions banning prayer in
public schools, protecting pornography as free speech, and legalizing abortion.
Although it spoke of restoring traditional values, the Religious Right proved
remarkably adept at using modern technology, including mass mailings and
televised religious programming, to raise funds for their crusade and spread
their message. In 1979, Jerry Falwell, a Virginia minister, created the self- styled
Moral Majority, devoted to waging a “war against sin” and electing “ pro- life,
What were the roots of the rise of conservatism in the 1970s?