Conservatism In A Nutshell
Conservatism In A Nutshell: Introduction
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Following the election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in the House and Senate in 2008, many political pundits proclaimed that the Conservative era of governance was over. Americans, they claimed, had thoroughly rejected Conservative ideas because those ideas had been demonstrably disproven for they had led to the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. The only problem with this analysis is that the ideas in question are not really Conservative ideas.
For many people, especially those in Generation Y, their main experience with governance has been the government of the last decade which, though primarily dominated by Republicans, was not necessarily Conservative, but a hybrid of Conservate ideas (e.g., low taxes) and Progressive ideas (e.g., government as the engine of economic growth) which had disastrous effects. Additionally, we have not seen an overwhelmingly popular Conservative spokesperson since Newt Gingrich in the early 1990’s.
It is no surprise then that many Americans do not have a good grasp of what Conservatism really is. It’s not that Conservatism is too complicated for most people to understand, or that it has not been explained well enough, for Conservatism is something that the majority of Americans inherently understands and agrees with. Rather, Conservatism has not really been explained at all for quite some time and, more importantly, has not been implemented or adhered to by those in Government who claim to be Conservative.
Our goal then, for the rest of the semester, is to explain the Conservative philosophy in a way that many people have probably not heard since the Reagan years. We will attempt explain what we believe Conservatism really is and what the main tenets of Conservatism are. Despite the common perception, there is more to Conservatism than lowering taxes, repealing Roe v. Wade, and fighting wars in the Middle East. In fact, this is as an extremely poor representation of what Conservatism.
In this issue, we will be discussing the definition of Conservatism and two of its most important tenets: the origin of human rights and the proper scope and power of government. In the next two issues we will be discussing the power of individuals, the role of government, economics and the sanctity of life.
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