The Pithiest Critique of Modern Conservatism Keeps Getting Credited to the Wrong Man
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” That line—written by Frank Wilhoit—has become a popular aphorism to sum up the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the modern Republican Party.
Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” This seems increasingly true.
Who’s Frank Wilhoit? Many people who cite the quote assume it comes from Francis “Frank” Wilhoit, an American political scientist whose 1973 book The Politics of Massive Resistance chronicled Southern segregationists’ efforts to resist Civil Rights–era court rulings.
That would make a whole lot of sense. But in fact it’s the work of another Frank Wilhoit, this one not a professional scholar of American politics but a 63-year-old classical music composer in Ohio, who wrote the adage as part of a longer point in the comments section of the political science blog Crooked Timber. Since then, it has taken on a life of its own, recirculating on Twitter or Reddit every few months, most recently in reference to certain Free Speech Defenders’ aggressive posture on libel and defamation laws. A handful of sleuths have cracked the case before—Francis Wilhoit died in 2010; Frank Wilhoit posted his remark in 2018—but the confusion lingers, for obvious reasons.
