What is conservatism? As I have continued to delve into the American political realm, my friends cannot help but ask me why I am a conservative. I don’t care about drug use and I am not particularly religious. While I am a Christian, I am not a zealot like many southerners and other theocrats, and by this definition alone, to many of my friends I should be a liberal.
A liberal is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:
“aoften capitalized: a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity
b: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard
c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties; specifically: such a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (as those involving race, gender, or class).”[1]
The Merriam Webster dictionary then defines conservatism as the “belief in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society”; a “dislike of change or new ideas in a particular area.”[2] Let’s get something perfectly clear first. Liberalism is not in conflict with conservatism. I know, it’s shocking. However think about it; a liberal wants change and wants to achieve progress, but a conservative wants it done in a responsible way that requires time. Liberalism is based in the ideals of liberty, freedom, and equality. The reason that liberalism does not conflict with conservatism in America is because the traditions and founding principles of America coincide with those same principles. America was founded upon the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. True American conservatism is traditional liberalism.
It is clear to me that throughout our history there have been conservatives and liberals in both parties. A Democrat will be very conservative when it comes to the issue of abortion, while a Republican likely will be very liberal and want to change it. Both conservatives and liberals traditionally have worked within the structures of our society, but something has changed. We are no longer conservative or liberal on given topics, they are identifying factors that appear exclusive when they are not. The exclusionary factor of a liberal and a conservative is a radical. A radical doesn't care about the current structure of society, they demand quick and active change with little regard for the ramifications. They care more about an ideology than the facts and they are more often than not populists.
The Democratic Party in the mid-20th century was the party of the working man. The party of social champions like FDR, LBJ, and JFK. We even had a democrat conservative name Charlie Wilson, a Texas Congressman, who facilitated the destruction of the Soviet Russia in Afghanistan and led to the fall of the Iron Curtain.
However, that has changed. By the 1962 even Ronald Reagan, a die hard Hollywood Democrat, left the party; famously stating that “the party left me”. He noticed the change in doctrine from a party for the working man that would have protected and advocated individual work and business, to a party that advocated the social group. That advocated the ideals of socialism and communism. That believed in the equality of outcome, not the equality of input. It has left no room for conservative Democrats like Jim Webb who could not last one debate in the 2016 election cycle, because he is a conservative. Because Jim Webb had an A rating by the NRA and because he did not fit this new ideology that the Democrat party is pushing, he was booed and removed from the debates. Meanwhile the other candidates fought to prove who was actually more Marxist in their policies and thought. Whether it be the lifelong socialist/communist Bernie Sanders or the sometimes socialist Hillary Clinton.
Then there is the Republican party that has put forward candidates such as Donald Trump who is about as much of a conservative as Hillary is a socialist. Donald Trump believes in using radical changes in our society to affect his will upon the people. From a wall to strict international relations Donald has proved that he wants to make quick changes with little regard for possible ramifications.
This all seems to be very one sided. It is a further way that we divide ourselves and create conflict, vilification, and ignorance. Both liberals and conservatives should be working together, but instead they appear to be too busy scoring political points, staving off the radicals, and just trying to get by to get by.
I find that Baba Dioum, a Senegalese forestry engineer, stated it best by saying, “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”[3] The purpose of my Odyssey articles will be to teach about conservatism. To explain that it is not a pigeonholed ideal, but rather a mentality of conserving what is good about our society and being cautious in our change and extremely cautious of radicals.
[1] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
[2] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
[3] (GoodReads.com)