RUTHFULLY YOURS

The first is very old: Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.  Jeremy Corbyn and the tightly knit clique of pro-Hezbollah, pro-Maduro doctrinaire Marxists and viscerally anti-Semitic conspiracy fans clustered around him mistakenly thought the British working class was hungry for revolutionary social change. They have received their just reward.

The second dynamic, which helped propel Boris Johnson to the greatest Tory majority since Margaret Thatcher’s 1987 landslide, will haunt his premiership and determine its outcome. More than a personal triumph for a man whose political career last year appeared over, more than a historic recasting of the British electoral map, more than the ignominious collapse of the Liberal Democrats, more than the triumph of Scottish nationalism, the election result demonstrates the power of the most disruptive force in global politics today.

Mr. Corbyn misdiagnosed that force as a rejection of capitalism. It’s more subtle. Voters around the world want the prosperity and opportunity that global capitalism provides, but many fear and reject the social consequences of the free market. Large-scale immigration, job losses to automation and foreign competition, the unequal distribution of capitalism’s rewards, and the financial instability and risk associated with innovation are all massively disruptive and inspire backlash—a global surge of populism and identity politics. From Hungary and Turkey to India and beyond, voters are embracing politicians who attack classic liberal political and economic values and vow to defend the cultures and communities this avalanche of change seems to threaten.

It is easy but profoundly misguided to conflate Mr. Johnson’s Conservatives with these movements. Though he recognizes and aims to address the discontent liberalism and capitalism evoke, Mr. Johnson hopes to draw on the Burkean traditions central to the Conservative Party’s long history to develop what we might call National Conservatism. His will be a fundamentally liberal and pro-enterprise political approach that is nevertheless grounded in the traditional sentiments and loyalties of the people it seeks to represent.

For Mr. Johnson—as for Thatcher and Ronald Reagan—nationalism isn’t a liability when it comes to reconciling the tension between the economic and the social demands of British voters. It is the critical ingredient that makes synthesis possible.

Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” a prophetic analysis of the French Revolution that predicted the terror and despotism into which it fell, argues that a human society is an organic entity that develops over generations. While progressives often see the traditions and associations arising from that history as obstacles to innovation and reform, Burke believed that only by understanding, respecting and building on the past can a society truly improve. The more one seeks change, the more deeply one must study, honor and build on tradition.

From this perspective, Brexit is less a retreat from globalization than a first step in re-establishing the national unity and cohesion that will prepare the U.K. for the changes ahead. The same can be said for Mr. Johnson’s conquest of Labour territory in the North—Britain’s equivalent of America’s Rust Belt. The area’s defection may be the first step toward revitalizing its sluggish economic growth and defensive political attitudes. If the Conservatives can translate rhetoric into effective policy, Mr. Johnson’s embrace of the North could shift British politics into a more optimistic, forward-looking, and pro-enterprise mode for the long term.

Mr. Johnson can’t take success for granted. Rejuvenating the North of England while managing Brexit is an enormous task. Farther north, Scottish nationalists are gaining power. A medium-size, open economy, Britain remains vulnerable to global shocks, and the difficulties of managing its economic and political relationships with the U.S., Europe, China and Russia are likely to grow as long as world trade and political tensions continue to increase.

Still, British conservatives have a secret weapon: Britain. The country that developed the idea of limited parliamentary government, launched the Industrial Revolution, made a peaceful transition to democracy, and led the process of globalization for more than two centuries is most itself when it is open to change. The embrace of capitalism in economics, tolerance in religion, and democracy in politics stands at the heart of the national traditions to which Anglo-American (and, for that matter, Scottish) conservatism appeals.

Those who believe nationalism is fundamentally hostile to capitalism and liberal values need to study British and American history. Anglo-American conservative nationalism is more of a revolutionary force than a reactionary one. If Boris Johnson unleashes it, he may just make Britain great again.