Some Core Truths of Conservatism
I’ve been trying to think deeply about what it fundamentally means to be a conservative. These are just some of the core principles that stand out to me.
1) Conservatism, like classical liberalism, places great emphasis on personal responsibility. Yes, we all fall victim to circumstances outside of our control, such as where we are born, the socioeconomic factors surrounding us, the sins of our forebears, and so on. At the end of the day, however, the path to flourishing is paved by empowering the individual through pursuit of the right values — goodness, justice, truth, beauty, honor, respect, etc. — and the right ethic. We are not principally defined by who our ancestors are, what socioeconomic circumstances we find ourselves in, or our collective identity as grounded in some social group, but by who we are and what we can become.
2) Conservatism rejects utopianism i.e. the desire to bring about perfect¹, temporal happiness by way of technological and/or social reconstruction. It does not attempt to provide principles by which to achieve heaven on earth, because it takes such a goal to be largely unachievable. Indeed, the pages of history reveal the pursuit of utopianism to be followed, with some regularity, by utterly disastrous consequences (Marxism, communism, certain strands of socialism, etc.) Conservatism rejects utopianism in favor of utopia as an ideal to strive for but never to be fully realized by finite, imperfect creatures such as us — and certainly not to be realized by way of radical technological and/or societal reconstruction. Put positively, conservatism holds that the way to make progress towards justice, freedom and equality of opportunity is not by overthrowing time-honored institutions, but through careful reform. (To take one contemporary example, a conservative would disagree that abolishing the police is the right course of action, and would instead promote reforms from within the institution, such as banning certain forms of subduing, more training, and so on.)
3) Conservatism, like classical liberalism — and unlike modern forms of liberalism or progressivism — does not place a strong emphasis on individual autonomy. According to these modern traditions, freedom is more or less construed as one’s ability to do whatever the hell you want — to enact any choice regardless of the content of that choice. According to conservatism, given that we are finite and imperfect beings, the use of our freedom must ultimately be informed and shaped by societal institutions — such as the family, your immediate community, the church, etc. — as well as certain higher-order goods — such as the pursuit of truth and justice, respect for human life², and so on. On this vision, freedom is not to be construed negatively as freedom from certain restrictions, but positively as freedom for the pursuit of excellence.
Nota bene: being a conservative does not necesarily place one on ‘the right’ or the ‘Republican’ camp. One can be a conservative without placing much faith in the Republican party, just as one can be a conservative without belonging to something called ‘the right’, less still the ‘far right’.
[1]: It is not clear to me that utopianism need be marked by the desire to achieve perfect temporal happiness. The crucial feature of utopianism is not the degree of temporal happiness it seeks to realize, but the means by which it seeks to realize it.
[2]: This is why most conservatives tend to be pro-life, since our freedom in this case is to be directed towards our own good and that of others.
