Hungary is no model for the American right

Orbán, however, is a very effective culture warrior. Much more effective, in the eyes of many on the right, than the hated “GOP Establishment.” Hungarian press freedom is far more constrained than in the United States. Its press is among the least free in Europe. The regime doesn’t recognize gay marriage. Only heterosexual couples may adopt. And the regime just passed a law sharply limiting any promotion of homosexuality or gender transition to children. He has banned gender studies programs at Hungarian universities.

While Hungary’s policies would be flatly unconstitutional in the United States, they’re consistent with the new right philosophy of wielding government power to aggressively confront your culture war opponents—and with the new right’s fascination with such power even when it’s entirely unattainable in the United States…

But here’s what the right can emulate about Hungary—and here’s what’s ultimately ominous about the honestly weird embrace of one of Europe’s poorest and weakest nations. The new right can substitute effective governance for constant culture war and measure effectiveness not by the extent to which its policies improve the liberty and prosperity of the American people but rather by whether the nation’s leaders can frustrate the far-left.