What is Conservatism?
I'm up in Hanover, NH today visiting Dartmouth College on some business and in my spare time, I caught up with my old friends at The Dartmouth Review, the biweekly conservative publication where I was once editor-in-chief. The new editor of the paper is devoting the entire forthcoming issue of the paper to a question that we here at Ricochet have discussed, in passing, before:
What is conservatism?
Pegged to the national debates on the meaning of conservatism, The Review's forthcoming issue will include articles written by students about how they came to conservatism and what it means to them. Since we, as a conservative community, have wrestled with this question in the past, I thought I would bring it up formally for us to discuss. I know the editors at The Review are looking for ideas and inspiration and what better place for them to find those than here!
So what is conservatism? How did you come to it? Was it by conversion or by habit? Let's discuss.
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Jul '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
To me, conservatism is American exceptionalism and adherence to the Constitution.
I came to conservatism when JFK betrayed our ideals and morals at the Bay of Pigs. Though I was just a young boy, I recognized how repellant he and his advisors were.
After that, I read Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative", Buckley's "Man and God at Yale" and J. Edgar Hoover's "Non Dare Call it Treason."
Never looked back.
Re: What is Conservatism?
So the Bay of Pigs was a turning point for you--I think that's really interesting. How exactly did Kennedy betray our ideals at the Bay of Pigs?
I came to conservatism by habit. I would say that as a child and teenager, I always approached "change" cautiously. From personal experience (moving around a lot), I knew change was a disruptive force--even painful.
Then there was my love of culture--all things related to religion, literature, and art. I knew that older cultural artifacts contained more beauty and wisdom than modern or contemporary ones, so that's how my respect and reverence of "tradition" took its place in my mind.
I never saw my conservatism--which consisted of two principles: prudence and tradition--as political until I came to college and realized how absurdly liberal college campuses can be. Then, like you Kenneth, I read some books that began my education in conservatism (Kirk's The Making of the Conservative Mind, Jeffrey Hart's The Making of the American Conservative Mind, Hart's Smiling Through Cultural Catastrophe, CS Lewis' Mere Christianity, among others) and what those books said, and what my instincts were, matched up. It was perfect.
May '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
A fundmental belief in classic liberalism infused with a healthy dose of Burke.
I think conservatism is more habit than revelation (since it flows naturally from these beliefs). I realized I was conservative when I was young and looking for a radical philosophy that would make the world anew. After actually reading anarchist, communist, and New Left books, it was obvious to me that this was all just plain silliness (I find most of my leftie friends never read the fundamental texts to their beliefs). None of those philosophies actually dealt with the real world. Russell Kirk was the first author I read that seemed to have any grasp on reality.
Jun '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
United We Stand...For What? The huge challenge I have with conservatism is - what is it conserving?
What I HOPE it conserves is...
- the devotion to freedom and individual rights that founded the USA, i.e., respect for one another's sovereignty. You know, what they used to call "liberal" back in the day.
- the moral clarity that such freedom entails, including the self-reliance it demands.
- the moral sensitivity that such freedom brings, where, because we are not forced to, we are naturally inspired to help those is desperate straits, through voluntary private charity.
- the admiration of people who work diligently to fulfill their responsibility to themselves, their family, and their communities - to help create a world to which we all want to belong.
- a healthy skepticism for government plans to fundamentally change the way we live our lives through the use of force and subsidy.
May '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
I'm an elderly Rush baby. Probably went from wishy-washy to hard-core when driving a delivery van in college. Ah, the power of AM radio, as attested by Camille Paglia.
In addition to the factors listed above, there are actual South Park conservatives. Matt and/or Trey deny this, and hate the very idea, but as Matt and/or Trey said "we hate conservatives, but we really hate [expletive] liberals."
There is a reactionary element to it. In a WFB way. Stop! Enough! Basta cosi! Quit messing with us. As Greg Gutfeld (reputed contributor) put it, "oh, shut up, you nanny-faced creep."
I well remember one person of my acquaintance saying she had "very politely" asked some smokers in the smoking section to stop smoking. And (those horrible people!) refused her very polite request. She seemed clueless that there is no way to verypolitely make such a request, and that it should never therefore be made.
Re: What is Conservatism?
Pat: Yes, I think that accounting for "reality" is more a conservative principle than a liberal one--even though it should just be a self-evident principle!
Thus, when the former Trotskyists (Irving Kristol and his gang) who gathered at City College's Alcove #1 abandoned their communism for neo-conservatism, it was said that they were "mugged by reality"--reality being the Stalinist purges that wiped out millions of souls.
Edited on Oct 4, 2010 at 8:24amMay '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
The liberal philosophical truth, in both classical and modern forms, comes from the idea of the plurality of goods. Conservatism, likely grounded in Aristotle and the Declaration of Independence, has the belief in a single good.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
I'd also add that modern conservative arose in some ways from the left. Whittaker Chambers book Witness, I believe is the most important work of American Conservatism. Buckley wrote in the Sharon Statement, "We must stress victory over rather than co-existance with this menace(communism)".
I'm probably rambling and thinking incoherently. Basically I have no idea, other than we need a leader who does have an idea in 2012.
Jun '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
What is the American Experiment? It's creating a nation ruled by law--not men. But in order to be ruled by law, you have to decide that words mean things. That's who conservatives are. They're the people who actually believe that words mean things. "Shall not" means "shall not," and not "ought not, except on Thursday."
Sep '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
Classical liberalism's focus on the importance of individuals and the institutions that emerge when people are free to interact on their own but also the understanding that there is a debt owed to those who brought those institutions to us. Following traditions but adapting them is another way in which order emerges from the bottom up.
Jul '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
How the Public Schools made me a Conservative
OR
My Conservative Epiphany Fifth Grade;
1) To deal with bullies tell the Teacher
Teacher’s Answer – Ignore them, they’ll grow tired of it.
NO! They intensify to get your attention
2) Fight Back
Teacher’s Answer – It takes two to fight
NO! One not fighting back still gets the snot kicked out of him. (note: be sure to say snot or you get suspended for three days. Also Note: bullies don’t get suspended.)
3) Tell Teacher again and emphasize that ignoring them doesn't work!
Teacher’s answer – Don’t you realize you bring this on yourself?
Wait a minute, when are the bullies responsible?
(Is this beginning to sound like the U.N. Regarding Isreal?)
4) Finally;
Take a softball bat to the bulies.
Result: Suspended for a week, forbidden to play softball at recess ever again.
Oh by the way, did I mention the bullies began picking on someone else?
Being left alone priceless.
Lesson learned: depending on someone else makes you dependant upon their whims as well as their benevolence.
Simply put, no one will care for you as much as you care for yourself.
Jun '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
Kenneth: ... J. Edgar Hoover's "Non Dare Call it Treason."
Never looked back. · Oct 4 at 7:42am
I think you mean "Masters of Deceit" by Hoover -- None Dare Call It Treason was written by John A. Stormer. Stormer was a Bircher and the latter book had some pretty sensational material, real black helicopter stuff ( not that there's anything wrong with that)
May '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
Conservatism begins by acknowledging that human beings are inherently flawed and imperfectable. It proposes that the purpose of government is to protect the basic freedoms that are the birthright of all people, and otherwise stay out of our lives. We generally prioritize free will over well being, believing that choices are the purpose for which God created us. We believe that each generation is morally bound to honor its ancestors and to secure its progeny. Traditions, our cultural inheritance, should be abandoned gradually and reluctantly, if at all.
By comparison, the Left subordinates free will to security and equality. They deny the power of the will to reject truth and goodness, so they seek to forcibly transform people through education and direction... or they discard naysayers as inferior and unworthy. The Left epitomizes collective action and believes freedoms are granted by government. Because they believe humanity is malleable, they are quick to reject traditions and fail to learn from history.
The most memorable conservative book for me is Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Conservatives need to understand that this war of ideas is as old as time, and that the Left has been winning for centuries.
Edited on Oct 4, 2010 at 9:34amAug '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
When I was younger, I considered myself to be a strong liberal. I believe strongly in individual rights, equal opportunity, civil rights, women's rights, so I have to be a liberal because conservatives didn't believe in those things. Right?
It was the culture wars that kept me in the liberal camp for some time. I was sick of "conservatives" wanting to limit free speech, ban rock music, burn books, say that playing role playing games was satanic and other crazy stuff.
As I progressed through my undergraduate education, I began to read treatises on classical liberalism and classical philosophy. I also read treatises on socialism, anarchism, progressivism, and modern liberalism.
I found that my soul's desire for individual rights and freedom for the individual were not what modern liberals desired, they wanted to subvert the individual for the benefit of society. I wanted a society that allowed for individuals to be free.
I don't always agree with those who call themselves conservatives on issues of policy, but I know that freedom has no friends on the Left.
The nail in the coffin of my "liberalism" what the day I read Marx's "On the Jewish Question."
Aug '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
The foundation of my conservatism is built upon:
Locke's Two Treatises on Government
The Federalist Papers
Condorcet's Outlines of an historical view of the Progress of the Human Mind
Leo Strauss' On Tyranny
Cicero's De Finibus
and many others.
Re: What is Conservatism?
I always like to tell my friends that I didn't leave the left, the left left me. The watershed moment for me was Clinton's lying about Monica. I didn't give a damn where or with what he poked, but I found the Clintons' imperiousness frightening. I believe given the chance they would turn us into an Empire, versus a Republic, if it meant keeping power. That frightened me. And then I had a child and the scales truly dropped. Gender does matter. Public education is fraught politically correct crap. I saw boys left behind for "equality." And then I started listening to the statistics...Communists kill more than anyone. Welfare cripples families. Government foreign aid cripples nations. And then 9-11 hit. I had worked with Michael Moore on a project and got to know him well. To listen to his anti-American diatribes, made me sick. I'm still not a conservative on a lot of social issues. But I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe this country is a great Miracle from which I have greatly benefited. And I feel that is being eroded by the left's interest in the collective over the individual.
Edited on Oct 4, 2010 at 9:57amRe: What is Conservatism?
In 2009 I did a survey for Fox News at CPAC, asking this question:
“Being as brief as you can be, and as understandable as possible, offer a definition of: Conservatism.”
Considering I was at a convention of conservatives, people struggled with it more than I anticipated. The celebrity highlight came when I got to ask George Will!
I published the results of the survey, and also came to my own definition of conservatism, which I submit as all encompassing of the whole of conservative political thought:
“Conserving the rights of the individual against the trespasses of government, and the trespasses of others.”
Here is a link to the results of the survey:
http://justifiedright.typepad.com/justified_right/2009/03/george-will-cant-define-conservatism-but-we-can.html
Sorry to the Ricochet editors for linking to my own site, but when FoxNews.com revamped their website a few months ago, they ditched all the columnists' past work and started from scratch, so I couldn't link it there.
Edited on Oct 4, 2010 at 10:20amRe: What is Conservatism?
I also admit that the South Park guys had a tremendous effect on me. They take on all hypocrisy, but they seem to find more from the left. And I admit that P.J. O'Rourke was another amazing influence. You can expect a comedy writer to just sit down and start reading Locke, Cicero and Strauss. But now I do.
Re: What is Conservatism?
There's nothing like humor to drive home a point!
Denise Moss
I also admit that the South Park guys had a tremendous effect on me. They take on all hypocrisy, but they seem to find more from the left. And I admit that P.J. O'Rourke was another amazing influence. You can expect a comedy writer to just sit down and start reading Locke, Cicero and Strauss. But now I do. · Oct 4 at 10:04am
Re: What is Conservatism?
Aaron Miller: Conservatism begins by acknowledging that human beings are inherently flawed and imperfectable.· Oct 4 at 9:31am
Edited on Oct 04 at 09:34 am
This is, you're absolutely right, the starting point. The left so quickly forgets this and then it gets mugged by reality when they see that the government that they vested so much power in turns out to be run by corrupt and fallible human beings.
That starting point, that human nature errs, is predicated on religion, as you imply Aaron. And Burke's political philosophy assumes religion. Political philosophy, in a lot of ways, begins with theology. The thing is, though, in the modern world, religion has been trampled out of public discussions of politics. This is one reason why conservatism, philosophically, is weaker than it has been in the past. When the religion of God is pushed to the side, you are left with the religion of the state.
Jun '10
Re: What is Conservatism?
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
Aaron Miller: Conservatism begins by acknowledging that human beings are inherently flawed and imperfectable.· Oct 4 at 9:31am
Edited on Oct 04 at 09:34 am
This is, you're absolutely right, the starting point. The left so quickly forgets this and then it gets mugged by reality when they see that the government that they vested so much power in turns out to be run by corrupt and fallible human beings.
That starting point, that human nature errs, is predicated on religion, as you imply Aaron. And Burke's political philosophy assumes religion. Political philosophy, in a lot of ways, begins with theology. The thing is, though, in the modern world, religion has been trampled out of public discussions of politics. This is one reason why conservatism, philosophically, is weaker than it has been in the past. When the religion of God is pushed to the side, you are left with the religion of the state. · Oct 4 at 10:19am
.
But Emily, "our individual salvation depends on collective salvation."