What is a conservative? The question has arisen as mercurial Republican voters search for that elusive presidential candidate who can make their conservative pulses quicken.
Nine opinion leaders from the political right recently shared their perspectives with TIME magazine, whose editors posed the question.
Ann Coulter opined that conservatives should steer clear of a "susceptibility to self-promoting charlatans more interested in getting a gig on Fox News than saving the country."
Well... it would be less surprising to hear Paris Hilton demanding that the media highlight wholesome female role models.
As always, Coulter was like a ball of cotton candy at the county fair: mildly amusing but adding little substance to the conversation. Coulter's extreme libertarianism, however, should not be confused with traditional conservatism, the ethic that teaches, "Every right is married to a duty, every freedom owes a corresponding responsibility," as conservative theorist Russell Kirk wrote.
What is a conservative? Kirk cogently answered the question nearly 60 years ago, in his seminal volume, The Conservative Mind. Kirk's definition might surprise those, on the left and on the right, who liken conservatism to a policy recipe: Mix three cups of tax cuts with three teaspoons of spending reductions. Drain out regulations. Spice with fiery slogans and serve to the body politic.
Not so, wrote Kirk, who scorned the condensation of "profound and intricate intellectual systems to a few pretentious phrases," and cautioned: "Conservatism is not a fixed and immutable body of dogmata."
Instead, conservatism is a way of looking at the world, a "disposition," as Pete Wehner of the Ethics and Public Policy Center told TIME.
Conservatism believes in a transcendent moral order, however we differ in characterizing it.
Conservatism eschews utopian promises, knowing that the human race is imperfect. Beware of media and political figures bearing promises of heaven on earth, if only this or that policy prescription were adopted.
Conservatism stands for equality before our Creator and the law, but equality of condition, Kirk wrote, "means equality in servitude and boredom."
Conservatism looks to the tried and true -- "custom, convention, and old prescription are checks both upon man's anarchic impulse and upon the innovator's lust for power."
Conservatism, however, supports change when necessary, as long as such change is prudent. Prudence, as conservative statesman and thinker Edmund Burke wrote, is "first in rank of the virtues, political and moral."
Conservatism frowns on self-indulgent materialism and demands responsible stewardship, for as Burke wrote, the present generation is obligated to pass on its inheritance to future generations. Margaret Thatcher told a 1988 Conservative Party conference: "No generation has a free hold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy, with a full repairing lease."
If TIME is still looking for an answer to its question, the editors might take a look at what Thatcher's friend and ally Ronald Reagan said in a 1984 speech: "What is a conservative after all, but one who conserves, one who is committed to protecting and holding close the things by which we live."
Reagan's ideas about leadership, which were far more textured than either the left's or the right's caricatures of his ideas, shed helpful light on the question, What is a conservative? His would-be political successors ought to take a deeper look.
"Conservatism believes in a transcendent moral order": No Prayer in schools is the reason that everything is gone to hell. and "My morals are what the rest of you need to ascribe to". "What's mine is mine". "Use your bootstraps". "I'm not worried about the poor. They've got a safety net."
"Conservatism eschews utopian promises...Beware of media and political figures bearing promises of heaven on earth": "$2 gas" and "Drill, baby drill"?
"Conservatism stands for equality before our Creator and the law": But not if you are a woman, or poor, or gay, or non-Evangelical Christian. Who's Creator? Who's Law are we talking about?
"Conservatism, however, supports change when necessary, as long as such change is prudent": Currently they consider the status quo prudent, unless they change entitlements. No new taxes. No new spending. "Let's change our policy and adopt the premise of "Pre-emptive War"". Prudent?
"Conservatism looks to the tried and true": Like "Supply Side" economics? We tried it, and found it untrue, but the GOP wants to try it again. I've been "trickled on", and my hair is still dry.
"Conservatism frowns on self-indulgent materialism and demands responsible stewardship": Are we talking about the 1%, and rampant strip mining? Where do carbon emissions fit here?
Conservatives talk a good game, but use their own definitions of who they are, and all I see is self interest, and an elaborate mask.
Slavery is allowed. Oh yes! Conservatism stands for equality before our Creator and the law, but equality of condition, Kirk wrote, "means equality in servitude and boredom." Kirk would have an inequality of condition, inequality in servitude. The caveat all but erases the idea of equality before the Law, since the Rich have a higher standing, more resources, more defenses, and more friends with influence. Injustice is allowed under this definition as well. In fact, changes are made only as prudent -- with a care for how the future is affected. And if you wish to preserve an unequal future, you will not allow change which promotes equal justice.
The transcendent moral order is, of course, interpreted and enforced by those who rule -- that is, those who are Rich. It is imposed upon the poor. Calls for justice are ignored as too utopian. Society will never be just, so why try? Be rich and stick it to others! And custom, convention, and old prescription preserve the social order, with its perks for the few and burdens for the many.
Conservatism, then, is a morally bankrupt system of excuse-making for preserving legal injustices and plunder of the poor. It is completely self-serving, cares nothing for the oppressed except as a means to profit. Thank you, Kirk! You exposed it well.
Reagan's "we" did not include women, gays, minorities or the poor. We've lived the consequences of holding on to Reagan's "we".
I've also heard them say, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the most conservative of them all?"
The last true conservative we had in public office of any note would probably be Eisenhower, though Obama fits the bill pretty well.
Jay in Austin
Those Republican voters are searching for the candidate who can perform the singular task of removing the incumbent from the Oval Office. Period. Gingrich had too much luggage. Ron Paul is too whacky. Santorum is too social-conservative risky to attract Independents, who decide national elections. "Conservatives" are not happy about Romney's moderate record. But you'll notice that Romney is, nevertheless, holding the lead, because he's seen as best capable of going up against the incumbent.
What is a conservative?
A "conservative" is someone who wants to eliminate taxes, and most of the Federal Government of the United States of America, but at the same time wants a strong military, a monthly check from Social Security, and their personal health care paid by Medicare.
In other words they have a lot in common with those "liberals" they complain so much about.
They want "something for nothing".