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Full-Text Articles in Speech and Rhetorical Studies
The Conservative Canon And Its Uses, Michael J. Lee
The Conservative Canon And Its Uses, Michael J. Lee
Michael J Lee
In this essay, I aim to locate the scriptural force of American conservatism's secular canon. My basic claim is that the canon created and managed the potential for symbolic fusion and fracture among conservatives. The canon provided the tools to weather the rocky marriage between various conservative sects: traditionalists, libertarians, neoconservatives, and others; the canon afforded resources for each faction to establish their bona fides and to protect their version of authentic conservatism from impostors and apostates. I conclude by analyzing the link between the principles of classical conservatism and canonical politics.
The Populist Chameleon: The People's Party, Huey Long, George Wallace, And The Populist Argumentative Frame, Michael J. Lee
The Populist Chameleon: The People's Party, Huey Long, George Wallace, And The Populist Argumentative Frame, Michael J. Lee
Michael J Lee
This essay argues that a sustained form can be located in the complicated history of populist rhetoric. Despite its chameleonic qualities, the advancement of populism is constituted by alterations in the focus and content, not the structure, of populist activism. This structure, or what I term its argumentative frame, positions a virtuous people against a powerful enemy and expresses disdain toward traditional forms of democratic deliberation and republican representation. I trace these themes through the rhetoric of the People's Party, Huey Long, and George Wallace. I conclude by analyzing the link between populism's persistence in U.S. history and the nation's …