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Is common sense making a comeback in Western politics? Donald Trump, in his inauguration speech, declared that the United States would now see a “revolution of common sense”.
The statement came shortly before Trump entered the topic of migration. The new administration, explained Trump, intend to gain complete control of the border with Mexico. The illegal migration must be stopped, and the criminal foreign gangs will henceforth be regarded as military enemies and combated as such. Apparently, this was what Trump calls common sense. And it’s easy to agree. It is nothing but common sense that a nation controls its borders and fights foreign criminals.
True conservative politicians have long spoken of the importance of common sense. Many voters who do not understand why we should question the existence of two genders or why we should allow unlimited mass immigration have also called for more common sense in politics.
The English expression “common sense” suggests that we are dealing with a reading of the world that people share with each other. Common sense is like a common mind that we share with each other, a sum of all our memories and experiences. The French expression “le bon sens”, the good sense, indicates that we are dealing with a well-tested and functional way of understanding the world. The Germans say “gesunder Menschenverstand” which implies that they view common sense as a healthy and thus beneficial mind.
From an ideological perspective, common sense can be perceived as a historically proven rationality. To use common sense is to rely on the accumulated experiences of one’s own culture. But it is also to rely on reasonableness, moderation and discernment. Common sense does not allow itself to be lured by promises of any kingdom of happiness. It does not believe in great revolutions. Nor does it believe in one-dimensionality. Common sense tells us that no religion or ideology is right about everything, but that we also cannot get rid of religion and ideology. Common sense is pragmatic, it is critical, it is intelligent, but it is also critical of excessive amounts of criticism and intelligence. Reason but also skepticism. Simply because it is reasonable to be skeptical of reason.
So why is common sense coming back on a broad front in Western politics? Why is it a sign of the times that President Trump talks about “a revolution of common sense”? Probably because for the last thirty years we have had anything but common sense as the guiding light of Western politics.
Liberalism and socialism have in common that they both arose as intellectually designed reactions to traditionalism and conservatism. It is sometimes said that conservatism was first shaped by Edmond Burke as a reaction to the French Revolution. But here we are talking about a self-conscious conservatism that acts to oppose and slow down the development towards the modern world. Before the 18th century, what we call conservatism was such an obvious guideline in our societies that it did not need to be named. And when we talk about pre-revolutionary conservatism today, it’s better to use the term traditionalism rather than conservatism.
There was much in the traditionalist world that conservative Europeans of today do not want back. Of course, we embrace the progress made towards democracy, human rights, prosperity and cooperation. But it is a fact that liberal and Marxist forces in the last thirty years have gone too far in their quest to modernize and improve the world. All injustices, differences and hierarchies were to be stopped and utopian states of total equality and total openness were expected to be achieved.
Therefore, it is logical that the conservative thinking that is now returning to the political scene also brings common sense with it. We need more tradition, and accumulated experience in European and Western politics. And we need less of utopian social experiments inspired by Marxist and liberal desktop products.
It would be very welcome if Europe could also have a revolution of common sense.