I am deeply uneasy with the perfervid behavior of Barack Obama’s minions. Such adoration is more characteristic of a cult figure than an American president. I fear that the expectations deliberately cultivated by the left cannot be satisfied this side of the eschaton. And with disappointment comes trouble.
There is a sense on our side that we’ve lost our way. With defeat comes necessary soul-searching and a re-commitment to basic principles that transcend mere party. I agree with those who argue that American conservatism (as distinguished from ‘conservatism’ as found in other countries and ages) is not really an ideology but an expression of reality itself. As Margaret Thatcher observed, “The facts of life are conservative.” For an articulation of first principles, I here turn to Ed Feulner, who wrote a fine introduction to the book The March of Freedom: Modern Classics in Conservative Thought. I quote at length:
- American conservatism is highly suspicious of promised utopia and earthly salvation. The purpose of politics is not redemptive, but to carve out a system of justice, moral order and freedom, recognizing that human beings are neither perfect nor perfectible. When governments seek after utopia they end in oppression and disaster, because man and society are infinitely complex, and cannot be reshaped by an aristocracy of experts. Humility is the only proper attitude for governing authorities.
- Conservatives—all conservatives from libertarian to traditionalist—believe that social power is a zero-sum game. When it is taken by government it is lost by individuals. This calls for prudent restraints on the role and reach of government. “There must be a stopping point,” argues Charles Murray, some rule by which governments limit what they do for people—not just because of budget constraints, not just because of infringements on freedom (though either of these might be a sufficient reason in itself), but because happiness is impossible unless people are left alone to take trouble over important things.”
- Conservatives tend to believe there is a close and necessary connection between property and freedom—that economic freedom is an essential part of human freedom. Economic markets, when left to themselves, often have unexpected and positive social benefits. And this should not surprise us, because they are based on cooperation rather than coercion. It has been noted by conservatives that to prosper as a Socialist you need to threaten people, while to prosper as a capitalist you need to please them.
- Conservatives often teach that the order of society depends directly on the moral order found in the souls of citizens—that freedom must be tempered by internal restraint, so our laws can be permissive while our society is not. Put another way, liberty unconstrained by character can destroy freedom, and freedom itself must be defined as something better and higher than grinning decadence. This points to the centrality of character-building institutions in society, particularly families, churches, and synagogues, because they uphold the moral order that makes freedom functional, initiating men and women in the elevating traditions of the human race—loyalty and love, diligence and duty.
- Conservatives usually believe that individual liberty is protected in the preservation of national sovereignty, making national defense a high moral duty.
- Conservatives tend to judge social policies by their outcomes not their intentions, arguing that humanitarianism should do something positive for actual humans. Citizens, in short, should seek to do good, not just to feel good. So conservatives are critical of the embarrassing legacy of Great Society goodness without wisdom—the reduction of citizens to serfs, and the creation of whole communities where the funerals of young people are common, and their weddings are rare.
- Though conservatives are not wedded to the status quo, they are wary of radical change based on abstract theories. They tend to prefer settled institutions, values, and traditions, embodying what C.K. Chesterton called “the democracy of the dead”—an approach which “refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who happen merely to be walking about.” This leads, as Michael Oakeshott terms it, to “the politics of repair” rather than “the politics of destruction and creation.”
- And, though this is not universal, many conservatives share a sense of reverence, a belief in two worlds—one physical and one moral and spiritual—that stand in judgment of our own. When Ralph de Toledano was sent proof sheets of a novel he had written, he noticed that his publishers had removed the capital letters from Heaven and Hell. Toledano corrected each instance and sent back the proofs. His publisher called and said, “Ralph, we have a set of style rules over here we must observe. Why do you insist on capitalizing Heaven and Hell?” “Because,” replied Toledano, “they’re places. You know, like Scarsdale.” And this has an influence on the way many conservatives approach life and politics.
- George Santayana observed, “The consciousness that the human spirit is derived and responsible, that all its functions are heritages and trusts, involves a sentiment of gratitude and duty which we may call piety.” And that piety is common in the conservative movement, among men and women of every religious tradition and, sometimes, none at all.
