“[T]he essence of conservatism lies not in a body of theory, but in the disposition to maintain those institutions seen as central to the beliefs and practices of society.” — Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke is often hailed as one of the truly great conservatives. His definition of conservatism is good, but few people today would even recognize the society that Burke sought to conserve – one that included the right to govern based on property ownership, a distinct separation of social classes, and state-sponsored religion. And yet the conservative movement still soldiers on, especially in America. But do we all agree on what “society” we are trying to conserve? Which “beliefs and practices?” And what “institutions?”
Conservatism in America today largely means the preservation of the limited system of government established by our founders, a strict defense of property rights (including limited taxes), and respect for just laws based on a Judeo-Christian moral code. So when political battles arise on a national scale, they often center on one of these core principles that are still part of America’s conservative heritage. Debates over national health care, tax increases to “redistribute” wealth and so-called “homosexual marriage” are just a few examples.
Nobody who calls himself a conservative would argue with the basic principles highlighted above, but digging deeper reveals that American conservatism is frayed on the edges – mostly on moral issues. For example, many prominent conservatives are loathe to question the recently established liberal orthodoxy that homosexual acts are morally acceptable. Didn’t Dick Cheney’s daughter get “married” to another woman with his full support? Didn’t John Kasich say in the debates that he attended a homosexual “wedding?” Didn’t Donald Trump tacitly support the moral equivalence of homosexuality in his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination?
But even on more mundane matters, there is an appalling lack of intellectual integrity among conservatives. Didn’t John Roberts uphold the Obamacare requirement to purchase health insurance or face a “tax” for failure to do so? Haven’t the Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare, the largest, most invasive government intrusion since Social Security (which is nearly bankrupt)? Aren’t the conservatives in Congress proposing a “revised” tax code that is just more of the same progressive taxation called “soak-the-rich” that liberals have enshrined for decades?
Conservatism as a movement suffers for lack of clarity and lack of leadership. Much of what passes for conservatism today is promoted by so-called Neocons – social liberals but economic conservatives that are disenchanted with the Left’s drive toward communism. Pushed on the radio talk shows and in conservative publications like National Review, you’ll hear strong arguments by Mark Levin or Irving Kristol or Charles Krauthammer in favor of defending the limited government of the U.S. constitution, but nearly nothing about, or even tacit approval of abortion, social acceptance of homosexuality or a radical feminism that considers motherhood so non-essential it can be outsourced.
America longs for a truly conservative leader. She recalls fondly the days of Ronald Reagan, and broods over the lost opportunities and outright betrayal of the double Bush administrations (“read my lips, no new taxes,” John Souter, prescription drugs for Medicare, Americans with Disabilities Act, and two Gulf wars). She hopes Donald Trump will step squarely into the conservative camp, refine his policies and govern as a gentleman, the way a conservative should. And in the meantime, she seeks the next leader that will step into the limelight and argue coherently, forcibly and articulately for such things as:
- the systematic dismantling of every federal program and agency except those that are essential to the purposes of the federal government as outlined in the Constitution (national security and defense, international treaties and trade, immigration, a national currency, conflicts between states, and interstate commerce);
- a return of the primacy of states’ rights as outlined in the 10th Amendment to the Constitution so each state is the primary source of governance and has different policies and programs, which citizens can attack locally, or simply move if they don’t like where their state is headed;
- the elimination of the federal income tax (started in 1913) which has become a complex tool to fund a bloated, inefficient government and influence social action (tax credits to buy an electric car?); and
- a respect for the natural law written on our hearts by an almighty God, including the natural rights of children – principally the right to life, to a mother and a father who are bound together by duty (which precludes “homosexual marriage,” “no-fault” divorce and the equivalence of live-in relationships), to the preservation of their innocence (including destroying the drug trade, eliminating soft and hard pornography, and abolishing in-school sex education), to a mother who serves her children and her nation by using her natural gifts to nurture her children as her first priority, and to an education system (run at the state level) that is focused on imparting actual knowledge of the three Rs instead of indoctrination into an ideology.
This conservative wishlist is not farfetched. It was the norm only a hundred years ago. Men live today who would have heard of such a society from their fathers. The speed with which the original American society has been dismantled is dizzying – it accelerated in the 1960s and is making a final and frenetic push today.
As new generations step up to rebuild a conservative American society, for the present society based on modern, selfish libertine principles will surely collapse, we must describe and defend the principles and institutions we wish to conserve with clarity and unity so that when the time comes we can recover what was lost of that decent American society upon which was built our great nation.