We Are No Longer Conservatives; We Are Restorationists

 

Conservatives have long struggled to define the term “conservatism.” This makes sense since it’s always been less a political ideology than a life philosophy. Perhaps even an attitude.

When asked to define conservatism, Abraham Lincoln replied, “Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?”

William F. Buckley updated his answer for the mid-20th century, framing it in opposition to liberalism. In other words, an anti-ideology. In his book Up from Liberalism (1959), Buckley declares conservativism is  “freedom, individuality, the sense of community, the sanctity of the family, the supremacy of the conscience, the spiritual view of life.”

A half-century earlier, G.K. Chesterton didn’t so much define the term as identify the action it requires.

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. [Orthodoxy, 1908]

It isn’t enough to “stand athwart history, yelling ‘Stop.'” Conservatism requires intentional, aggressive work to evaluate the firehose of proposed changes, then promote the good ones and destroy the bad.

Or, as Reagan put it, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Reagan was prophetic. These days, conservatives spend a lot of time telling younger generations what it was once like to be free. We speak of lost liberties and wonder how best to restore them.

Here’s the plain fact: there’s no need for conservatism when there’s little left to conserve.

That’s why, over at The Federalist, John Daniel Davidson declared, “We Need To Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives.”

Conservatives have long defined their politics in terms of what they wish to conserve or preserve — individual rights, family values, religious freedom, and so on. Conservatives, we are told, want to preserve the rich traditions and civilizational achievements of the past, pass them on to the next generation, and defend them from the left. In America, conservatives and classical liberals alike rightly believe an ascendent left wants to dismantle our constitutional system and transform America into a woke dystopia. The task of conservatives, going back many decades now, has been to stop them.

In an earlier era, this made sense. There was much to conserve. But any honest appraisal of our situation today renders such a definition absurd. After all, what have conservatives succeeded in conserving? In just my lifetime, they have lost much: marriage as it has been understood for thousands of years, the First Amendment, any semblance of control over our borders, a fundamental distinction between men and women, and, especially of late, the basic rule of law.

We have conserved a few things — gun rights, red-state economic policies, religious liberty (for now) — but it’s hard to argue with the main thrust of Davidson’s assessment.

The right isn’t conserving much but desperately trying to restore our freedom, our family, and our constitutional order.

Words mean things, and in the modern age, so does branding. I agree that “conservative” has outlasted its accuracy, but we need to call ourselves something. To that end…

We are no longer Conservatives; we are Restorationists.

We seek not to conserve the role of tradition in our society but to restore tradition to its rightful place.

Similarly, there are no national borders left to conserve; they must be restored.

The family is shattered and we must reintroduce this cornerstone of civilization. (That includes gender norms promoted from the dawn of time.)

Free speech must be placed back in the academy, workplace, and civil society.

All of this is work. Hard work. As such, it requires all of us to join the effort; neighbors, business leaders, teachers, and our government.

This is no longer the time for Conservation. On to Restoration.

Published in Politics, Religion & Philosophy
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  1. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Jon Gabriel, Ed. (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Interesting take . . .

    These were sudden thoughts, quickly typed out.

    I’ve read thousands of thoughts expressed by typing here, and these didn’t strike me that way at all.

    On the contrary, the typing seemed to clearly convey profoundly true thoughts.

    Yes, we liberals have long thought them.  But till now, none of us seem to have written them down and sent them.

    • #31
  2. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    I like it. 👍

    Something must be wrong. I agree with Victor Tango Kilo.

    Hold, please, Gary.

    I’m looking for my diary.

    • #32
  3. BastiatJunior Member
    BastiatJunior
    @BastiatJunior

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I’m not sure that our problem right now is too little freedom. Many of our problems seem, to me, like too much freedom.

    Too much freedom for foreigners to enter our country and live here illegally.

    Too much freedom for people — especially young men — to withdraw into a world of porn and video games.

    Too much freedom for deviants to behave in bizarre ways, and teach those ways to our children.

    Too much freedom for women to kill their unborn babies.

    Too much freedom for people to have illegitimate kids.

    Too much freedom for people to kill themselves with dangerous and illegal drugs.

    Too much freedom for criminals to get away with their crimes.

    Too much freedom for tech companies to censor traditionalists.

    To much freedom for people to forego marriage and family.

    I don’t doubt that we have problems, at present, relating to too much government control over certain aspects of life. Restrictions on energy production come to mind. Application of the anti-discrimination laws comes to mind, especially when applied to behavior and when used to give express preference to women or blacks. But for the most part, my sense is that our bigger problems are too much freedom.

    Maybe we need to return to duty. That was one of our traditional values, wasn’t it?

    We are getting the freedoms leftists want but not the freedoms conservatives restorationists want.

    • #33
  4. Painter Jean Moderator
    Painter Jean
    @PainterJean

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    Will the responses here to Jon’s post be the same as they were to Glen’s post when he brought attention to the very same article?

    I suspect not.

    I completely agree with both Jon and Glen.

    The difference is their commentary. Isn’t that obvious? Glen goes on his usual rant – he hates the Right, he hates the Left, he hates this country….he seems to hate everyone except, presumably, himself. I don’t have much patience for America haters – it’s just boring after a while, and I don’t like ingratitude. 

    • #34
  5. Painter Jean Moderator
    Painter Jean
    @PainterJean

    BastiatJunior (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I’m not sure that our problem right now is too little freedom. Many of our problems seem, to me, like too much freedom.

    Too much freedom for foreigners to enter our country and live here illegally.

    Too much freedom for people — especially young men — to withdraw into a world of porn and video games.

    Too much freedom for deviants to behave in bizarre ways, and teach those ways to our children.

    Too much freedom for women to kill their unborn babies.

    Too much freedom for people to have illegitimate kids.

    Too much freedom for people to kill themselves with dangerous and illegal drugs.

    Too much freedom for criminals to get away with their crimes.

    Too much freedom for tech companies to censor traditionalists.

    To much freedom for people to forego marriage and family.

    I don’t doubt that we have problems, at present, relating to too much government control over certain aspects of life. Restrictions on energy production come to mind. Application of the anti-discrimination laws comes to mind, especially when applied to behavior and when used to give express preference to women or blacks. But for the most part, my sense is that our bigger problems are too much freedom.

    Maybe we need to return to duty. That was one of our traditional values, wasn’t it?

    We are getting the freedoms leftists want but not the freedoms conservatives restorationists want.

    Libertinism as opposed to ordered liberty. The two aren’t ultimately compatible as the former corrodes the latter.

    • #35
  6. BastiatJunior Member
    BastiatJunior
    @BastiatJunior

    Reagan, who was not a status quo advocate, would probably agree with the OP.  He drew a lot of criticism from George Will for not being truly “conservative.”

    Will supported the kind of conservatism that would leave things alone even after the left has screwed them up.

     

    • #36
  7. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: This is no longer the time for Conservation. Onto Restoration.

    I dare say we should Make America Great Again.

    • #37
  8. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    I’ve touched on this before, as have others:

    1. The future will not look like the past no matter what, but if we lose, it will look like the present.
    2. Incrementalism and “the pendulum” will not work for us, because the tactics must be fitted to the strategy.  Decay works gradually; construction or reconstruction occur as events.
    • #38
  9. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    I love the idea of ‘restoration”.  We need to restore the Rule of Law  under our Constitution.  That is paramount. 

    • Arguments about “Freedoms” to do   this or that not enumerated in the Constitution are following a Lefturd circular argument where all meanings have been shucked aside for political expediency. 

    • I am not too sure what a “Conservative” is these days anyhow. If David French or George Will are “Conservatives”, count me out. 

    • #39
  10. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: In his book Up from Liberalism (1959), Buckley declares conservativism is  “freedom, individuality, the sense of community, the sanctity of the family, the supremacy of the conscience, the spiritual view of life.”

    I really love this quote. 

    Great post, Jon. Much to think about. 

    • #40
  11. BastiatJunior Member
    BastiatJunior
    @BastiatJunior

    “Status Quo is Latin for the mess we’re in.” – Ronald Reagan

    • #41
  12. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    BastiatJunior (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I’m not sure that our problem right now is too little freedom. Many of our problems seem, to me, like too much freedom.

    Too much freedom for foreigners to enter our country and live here illegally.

    Too much freedom for people — especially young men — to withdraw into a world of porn and video games.

    Too much freedom for deviants to behave in bizarre ways, and teach those ways to our children.

    Too much freedom for women to kill their unborn babies.

    Too much freedom for people to have illegitimate kids.

    Too much freedom for people to kill themselves with dangerous and illegal drugs.

    Too much freedom for criminals to get away with their crimes.

    Too much freedom for tech companies to censor traditionalists.

    To much freedom for people to forego marriage and family.

    I don’t doubt that we have problems, at present, relating to too much government control over certain aspects of life. Restrictions on energy production come to mind. Application of the anti-discrimination laws comes to mind, especially when applied to behavior and when used to give express preference to women or blacks. But for the most part, my sense is that our bigger problems are too much freedom.

    Maybe we need to return to duty. That was one of our traditional values, wasn’t it?

    We are getting the freedoms leftists want but not the freedoms conservatives restorationists want.

    Perhaps someone who understands these things can help sort out the difference between liberty and license. 

    • #42
  13. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    I like it. 👍

    Something must be wrong. I agree with Victor Tango Kilo.

    Yet you are not for restorationism. You want to go back to business as usual, with the Republicans doing nothing to stop the Democrats.

    Oh, wait, you are a Democrat.

    Your graciousness knows no end.

     

    • #43
  14. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    This ended due to a series of radical SCOTUS decisions from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.  It seems to me that this policy change led, directly and inevitably, to the massive decline in religious faith. 

    Could have been the other way around, too.

    • #44
  15. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    This is an important post.  Thank you Jon.  It reminds me of my post on Ricochet almost a year to today on a review of Roger Scruton’s book, Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition.

    Scruton, great conservative that he was, defines conservative as “a set of customs, values, and institutions built by a community over time that have proven to sustain, preserve and “ensure [the] community’s long-term survival” and that give it a sense of identity and unity. Conservatism in the modern sense is a counter to the Liberal emphasis of reshaping society as radical individualism that rose out of the Enlightenment. “Tradition,” as Scruton observes from Edmund Burke, “is a form of knowledge.”

    I cannot emphasize this enough: conservatism is not an ideology or an economic theory or a political philosophy but a way of life.  In my review I stated that, “Yes, there is an intellectual process that ultimately undergirds that inclination, but foremost is that our culture is our home, which we have ordered through love, and to tear down that home is to violate that love.”  

    Ultimately conservatism is a term we use to describe our attempts to preserve our heritage, our culture, and the essences of what has defined us as a collective people.  It relies on revering our first principles, which for us Americans are the Judeo-Christian morals, our Greco-Roman-European values, and our American founding documents and principles.  As Scruton says, these things are “our home,” and we wish to preserve our home because it is tied to our hearts.  We love our first principles and how we have developed out of them.

    This is the essence of conservatism.

    • #45
  16. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I’m not sure that our problem right now is too little freedom. Many of our problems seem, to me, like too much freedom.

    Too much freedom for foreigners to enter our country and live here illegally.

    Too much freedom for people — especially young men — to withdraw into a world of porn and video games.

    Too much freedom for deviants to behave in bizarre ways, and teach those ways to our children.

    Too much freedom for women to kill their unborn babies.

    Too much freedom for people to have illegitimate kids.

    Too much freedom for people to kill themselves with dangerous and illegal drugs.

    Too much freedom for criminals to get away with their crimes.

    Too much freedom for tech companies to censor traditionalists.

    To much freedom for people to forego marriage and family.

    I don’t doubt that we have problems, at present, relating to too much government control over certain aspects of life. Restrictions on energy production come to mind. Application of the anti-discrimination laws comes to mind, especially when applied to behavior and when used to give express preference to women or blacks. But for the most part, my sense is that our bigger problems are too much freedom.

    Maybe we need to return to duty. That was one of our traditional values, wasn’t it?

    That’s a good comment.  What Liberals want is radical liberty, liberty untied to responsibility and morals.  Edmund Burke called for “ordered liberty.”  Here’s his great quote:

    “The only liberty that is valuable is a liberty connected with order; that not only exists along with order and virtue, but which cannot exist at all without them. It inheres in good and steady government, as in its substance and vital principle.”
    – Edmund Burke

    Ordered liberty is what conservatism is built on.

    • #46
  17. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Great post. The language of Restoration is better for our times, too: the act of conserving sounds passive and backward-looking, but there is dynamism in restoration

     

    • #47
  18. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    BastiatJunior (View Comment):

    Reagan, who was not a status quo advocate, would probably agree with the OP. He drew a lot of criticism from George Will for not being truly “conservative.”

    Will supported the kind of conservatism that would leave things alone even after the left has screwed them up.

    What ever happened to that guy? 

    • #48
  19. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    BDB (View Comment):

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: This is no longer the time for Conservation. Onto Restoration.

    I dare say we should Make America Great Again.

    We should – we are, I suppose. 

    But ‘MAGA’ has been tarred and probably won’t serve in the future. 

    The left is quite good at this. 

    • #49
  20. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    I like the idea of Restoration, but the word itself doesn’t ‘sing’. 

    And no, I have nothing better to offer. Wish I did. 

    • #50
  21. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Manny (View Comment):
    Scruton, great conservative that he was, defines conservative as “a set of customs, values, and institutions built by a community over time that have proven to sustain, preserve and “ensure [the] community’s long-term survival”

    It’s going to be so much fun when the monetary / financial  system implodes. Really great planning.

    • #51
  22. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    Will the responses here to Jon’s post be the same as they were to Glen’s post when he brought attention to the very same article?

    I suspect not.

    I completely agree with both Jon and Glen.

    Glen makes all of his arguments in strictly negative terms in how the GOP is terrible and we are all doomed with no hope.   That’s a recipe for despair and paralysis. 

    • #52
  23. GlennAmurgis Coolidge
    GlennAmurgis
    @GlennAmurgis

    that’s a lot better term then “compassionate conservatives”

    • #53
  24. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    TBA (View Comment):

    I like the idea of Restoration, but the word itself doesn’t ‘sing’.

    And no, I have nothing better to offer. Wish I did.

    The label will emerge if there is a measurable movement of people.  It may be that the rivals who will give it the (often derisive) name.  If the people are good, the name may not matter. 

    • #54
  25. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    I like it. 👍

    Something must be wrong. I agree with Victor Tango Kilo.

    Yet you are not for restorationism. You want to go back to business as usual, with the Republicans doing nothing to stop the Democrats.

    Oh, wait, you are a Democrat.

    Your graciousness knows no end.

     

    As a therapist, I don’t pull punches, I tell people how it is, even when they are in denial. 

    • #55
  26. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    I like the idea of Restoration, but the word itself doesn’t ‘sing’.

    And no, I have nothing better to offer. Wish I did.

    The label will emerge if there is a measurable movement of people. It may be that the rivals who will give it the (often derisive) name. If the people are good, the name may not matter.

    “Christian” and “Methodist” were not only used derisively, but coined for that purpose.

    That’s what they taught me, anyway, and I am sticking to it til I learn differ’nt.

    “Methodist” is becoming once again a term of derision, by the way, but it’s because of the radical change in what Methodists believe.

    • #56
  27. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I’m not sure that our problem right now is too little freedom.  Many of our problems seem, to me, like too much freedom.

    Too much freedom for foreigners to enter our country and live here illegally.

    Too much freedom for people — especially young men — to withdraw into a world of porn and video games.

    Too much freedom for deviants to behave in bizarre ways, and teach those ways to our children.

    Too much freedom for women to kill their unborn babies.

    Too much freedom for people to have illegitimate kids.

    Too much freedom for people to kill themselves with dangerous and illegal drugs.

    Too much freedom for criminals to get away with their crimes.

    Too much freedom for tech companies to censor traditionalists.

    To much freedom for people to forego marriage and family.

    St. Pope John Paul II said: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” Also: “Man’s free creative forces will only develop to the full if they are based on the truth, which is given to every man as an unshakable foundation. Only then will he be able to realize himself fully and even outgrow himself. There is no freedom without truth.”

    I think the words freedom above should be replaced with license, for none of those “freedoms” are based on truth.

    More JP2: “For freedom on the one hand is for the sake of truth and on the other hand it cannot be perfected except by means of truth. Hence the words of our Lord, which speak so clearly to everyone: ‘The truth will make you free’ (John 8:32). There is no freedom without truth.”

    We have a problem with too little truth in our society.

    Further reading from where these quotes were pulled:

    John Paul II And The Truth About Freedom

    John Paul II Was Right: There Is No Freedom Without Truth

    We need to Restore Truth in our society.

    • #57
  28. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Conservative was never the right word.  Socialists and fascists took the word liberal when real liberals almost died out.   TR and Wilson  attacked the concept from both sides of the political aisle and by FDR they’d won.  Buckley and Reagan brought us back but we’d lost the word liberal.   Now that they admit to being fascists and socialists  we could  take “liberal”  back but not enough folks understand who we were and why.   “Constitutionalist” is descriptive as well but “conservative” was never the right word, and if we can win the next two elections, it certainly can’t describe what we’ll have to do.  

    • #58
  29. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    Scruton, great conservative that he was, defines conservative as “a set of customs, values, and institutions built by a community over time that have proven to sustain, preserve and “ensure [the] community’s long-term survival”

    It’s going to be so much fun when the monetary / financial system implodes. Really great planning.

    I assume your joking. 

    • #59
  30. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Manny (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    Scruton, great conservative that he was, defines conservative as “a set of customs, values, and institutions built by a community over time that have proven to sustain, preserve and “ensure [the] community’s long-term survival”

    It’s going to be so much fun when the monetary / financial system implodes. Really great planning.

    I assume your joking.

    Why would you assume that?  It should be at least interesting to observe the Elites as the institution the closest to them crashes and burns like all the institutions they have destroyed that served the proles.

    • #60
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