Portal:Conservatism
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Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights. Conservatives seek to preserve a range of institutions such as religion, parliamentary government, and property rights, with the aim of emphasizing social stability and continuity. The more traditional elements—reactionaries—oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were".
The first established use of the term in a political context originated in 1818 with François-René de Chateaubriand during the period of Bourbon Restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution. Historically associated with right-wing politics, the term has since been used to describe a wide range of views. There is no single set of policies regarded as conservative because the meaning of conservatism depends on what is considered traditional in a given place and time. Thus conservatives from different parts of the world—each upholding their respective traditions—may disagree on a wide range of issues. Edmund Burke, an 18th-century politician who opposed the French Revolution, but supported the American Revolution, is credited as one of the main theorists of conservatism in Great Britain in the 1790s.
According to Quintin Hogg, the chairman of the British Conservative Party in 1959: "Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself". In contrast to the tradition-based definition of conservatism, some political theorists such as Corey Robin define conservatism primarily in terms of a general defense of social and economic inequality. From this perspective, conservatism is less an attempt to uphold traditional institutions and more, "a meditation on—and theoretical rendition of—the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back".
Selected article
It first contested Alberta's 2008 provincial election, and was able to capture seven percent of the popular vote but failed to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly. Support for the party rose sharply in 2009 as voters grew increasingly frustrated with the government, resulting in a surprise win by outgoing leader Paul Hinman in an October by-election. The party's popularity continued to increase when in the fall of 2009, Danielle Smith won election as leader, and by December 2009, the Wildrose Alliance was the leading party in opinion polls with 39 percent support, 14 points ahead of both the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs) and the opposition Liberals. Wildrose's caucus has grown to four members, after two former PC members of the Legislative Assembly defected in January 2010 and an independent MLA joined the party in June 2010.
Selected quote
Therefore I trace the peculiar unity of the everyday political philosophy of the nineteenth century to the success with which it harmonised diversified and warring schools and united all good things to a single end. Hume and Paley, Burke and Rousseau, Godwin and Malthus, Cobbett and Huskisson, Bentham and Coleridge, Darwin and the Bishop of Oxford, were all, it was discovered, preaching practically the same thing - individualism and laissez-faire. This was the Church of England and those her apostles, whilst the company of the economists were there to prove that the least deviation into impiety involved financial ruin.
These reasons and this atmosphere are the explanations, we know it or not - and most of us in these degenerate days are largely ignorant in the matter - why we feel such a strong bias in favour of laissez-faire, and why state action to regulate the value of money, or the course of investment, or the population, provokes such passionate suspicions in many upright breasts. We have not read these authors; we should consider their arguments preposterous if they were to fall into our hands. Nevertheless we should not, I fancy, think as we do, if Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Paley, Adam Smith, Bentham, and Miss Martineau had not thought and written as they did. A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind. I do not know which makes a man more conservative - to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
— John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926)
Selected image
After a period of disengagement and drift in the 1970s, the personal friendship between President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, often described as 'ideological soul-mates', reinvigorated what she affirmed as the ‘extraordinary alliance’. They shared a commitment to the philosophy of the free market, low taxes, limited government, and a strong defence; they rejected détente and were determined to win the battle of ideas with the Soviet Union.
Thatcher summed up her understanding of the Special Relationship at her first meeting with Reagan as president in 1981: ‘Your problems will be our problems and when you look for friends we shall be there.’ Celebrating the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 1985, she enthused: ‘There is a union of mind and purpose between our peoples which is remarkable and which makes our relationship a truly remarkable one. It is special. It just is, and that’s that.’
Credit: Haeel
Did you know...
- ... that the film Ronald Reagan called "the worst picture I ever made" inspired Jerry Parr to join the Secret Service, and that Parr saved President Reagan's life during the 1981 assassination attempt?
- ...that the California Republican Assembly supported Tom McClintock in the 2003 California recall election?
- ... that, in its campaign against a Romanian World War I alliance with the Entente Powers, the newspaper Seara employed conservatives, socialists and anarchists as contributors?
Selected anniversaries in October
- 1899 – the Thousand Days' War begins when Liberal forces attack Conservatives at Santander, Colombia.
- 1982 – Helmut Kohl, described as "the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century" by George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is elected Chancellor of Germany.
- 1849 – Official founding of the Colombian Conservative Party.
- 1991 – Clarence Thomas is confirmed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
