Liberal Richard Nixon revisionism vs. liberal Alexander Hamilton revisionism

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Obviously they're both terrible, but which is more tolerable and less abjectly infuriating?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The idea that that which is "progressive" in the sense of being novel is inherently thus also "progressive" in the sense of being left-wing is one of the silliest and most pernicious category errors in political discourse.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Eh, that depends on how you define "progressive." There were certainly segments of the later Progressive movement that drew upon Hamiltonian philosophy, and even Hamiltonian motives, so I can see where you're coming from.

What I'm trying to say is that "conservatism", in the context of the early United States, was defined by parochialism over nationalism; agrarianism over industrialization. Alexander Hamilton represented the antithesis of that.

There was no "conservatism" in the early United States. What there was was Toryism, which was associated with having opposed the Revolution and which, while clearly on the right, cut across groups that would today be viewed as all over the place on the scale of socioeconomic advantage. Inasmuch as seeking to conserve political and economic forms inherited from Britain (or replicate forms present in Britain) could be seen as "conservative", Hamilton was obviously more conservative than noted Reign of Terror apologist Jefferson, and he was indisputably reactionary and elitist regardless.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

There was no "conservatism" in the early United States. What there was was Toryism, which was associated with having opposed the Revolution and which, while clearly on the right, cut across groups that would today be viewed as all over the place on the scale of socioeconomic advantage. Inasmuch as seeking to conserve political and economic forms inherited from Britain (or replicate forms present in Britain) could be seen as "conservative", Hamilton was obviously more conservative than noted Reign of Terror apologist Jefferson, and he was indisputably reactionary and elitist regardless.

In Jefferson's America, an ideology based on urbanism, government bureaucracy, and the working class would be unfathomable; in Hamilton's America, it would be the natural left pole of national policy. And, indeed, it is.

Well, yes, the Federalists won the long game on political economy even as they lost it bigly on electoral politics. I don't think that contradicts what I said.

Not really germane, but I should mention that I actually like the Hamilton musical as well as the next guy, and I like it because whenever I listen to it I remind myself that the Chernow/Miranda version of Hamilton is a propaganda character, kind of like the dancing FDR in Yankee Doodle Dandy.