Coconut Conservatism and Communitarianism

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Is Kamala Harris channeling her inner-Amatai Etzioni? Let's take a closer look...

Harris is known for being a rather confounding orator. Often times, it does appear as if she is trying her hand at a sort of avant-garde slam poetry. Former President Donald Trump - whose name I don't believe I have written before for this blog - quipped in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Harris "speaks in rhyme." This, I think, is an apt descriptor of her unorthodox rhetorical style. 

But perhaps we ought to give her some credit. Maybe she is actually saying something?

Andrew Day, a staff writer for Robert Wright's Nonzero Newsletter, has pioneered a new term that I think beautifully encapsulates Harris's elusive ideological disposition: Coconut Conservatism. 

Day explained, rather convincingly, that Harris's now-viral remarks about falling from a coconut tree are oddly reminiscent of a Burkean, small-c conservatism, or, put another way, communitarianism. 

Crazy as it sounds, I think there might be something to this...

Day:

She was expressing a pretty conservative insight. It's not like left-wing collectivism; it was more like right-wing communitarianism. She was talking about how we exist in a context and how, if you want to help young people, you have to be aware that they're not just individuals; they're shaped by their families and by their educators, so it's like a whole communal framework. 

Kamala's diatribe about context and place could have easily been said my Amitai Etzioni, Yoram Hazony, or Patrick Deneen, albeit much more eloquently. 

This, however, wouldn't be the first time a Left-winger has tapped into the small-c conservative framework. Last year, I wrote a post about Marianne Williamson's communitarian streak. 

Do you recall this exchange between Williamson and Fox News personality Sean Hannity? Skip to 6:00...


Williamson very aptly explained that "we don't feel deeply at home on a spiritual level on this planet because this world is not based on love the way it should be." This, too, is communitarian. 

Libertarian-oriented conservatives, who often come across as cold and overly individualistic, can learn a thing or two from Harris and Williamson.

Coconut Conservatism is the future...


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