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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
They already have formed an informal 3rd party.
PDT was our Flight 93 president. He averted disaster. Restoration is going to take a generation.
I’m glad President Trump was polarizing. We’re going to win this civilizational battle.
What you want to restore we don’t want.
Shout it out all you want but who is listening? You are powerless.
The benefit of electing Trump was obvious for 4 years. I’m hard pressed to see why he upsets you so.
If someone runs as a Democrat does that make him a Democrat.
Because I know someone who ran as a Democrat in AZ in 2016.
Just asking.
I have noticed that it is Trump’s fault when they stay home but they say it will be our fault if we stay home. Go figure.
Running Flake, McCain, Cheney, and Murkowski out is a bad thing? I consider that to be restorative.
Try winning without us.
You voted against Trump twice before he pointed out there was a lot of cheating going on.
The house is already clean. They left in 2016.
You haven’t left and you haven’t convinced anyone
Addition existed since Trump increased his vote total in 2020.
Biden did nothing to earn those votes. Biden’s vote tally told me two things, it was a corrupt election, and we are two countries with incompatible and irreconcilable differences.
It didn’t conserve anything.
If they aren’t booked by now, they won’t be going. There are at least 9 from ricochet who are going
Well, that’s a big get.
That’s a shame. I think James commented once, perhaps on a podcast, that they only needed like 3 or 4 more – total, not just from Ricochet – to need another “host” and maybe it could be him. Something about NR getting a “host” for each table of 10 or whatever “guests.”
Ricochet folks did their part – 9 signed up.
Gary, this is a recent VDH podcast. You should listen to the end of it about the left and Iran. You signed up for a lot of evil crap with these tactics. Trumps civic leadership isn’t ideal, but you need to put some context around it.
https://justthenews.com/podcasts/victor-davis-hanson-show/victor-davis-hanson-things-reveal-struggling-left
Waayyyy out of my budget, especially to be on a ship with a bunch of NR people who loath me for being a dirty, pro Amerian over other nations, southern Trump supporter who does not think we should take down statues.
Pay for the privilege to be sneered at? I can get that for free right here for a lot less.
I’m over 65. Uncle Sam is paying for our cruise.
Re the debate over what we are…… besides restore, we have other choices: revive, refresh, renew, resuscitate, resurrect, regenerate, recover arouse, and cure to tap. I’m not sure they are better choices.
Same.
Still chuckling over being labeled a “left wing anarchist” this week. The middle son and I had a great laugh over it. He even correctly guessed the opinion that earned me that title before I told him.
I am not adjusting my political views anytime soon. lol
A pretty small party at that. You could fit them into a compact car.
You could call it a clown car.
I never explicitly say this, but I’m pretty sure it’s true. I’m pretty sure it’s the position of Mises.org
The whole system is set up to rob people of agency and push power up and centralize it. Then you get social problems or you whine about morals and how everybody behaves. Then the people that don’t get it want to fix it by force.