College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Political Philosophy/Government/Conservatism

Paper #33

Well, answer the question?  Why do you think you are a conservative?  Because Dad was?  Or maybe Uncle Bob?  Maybe you like Sarah Palin or you think Cantor is a cutey?  By the way, none of those are actual reason that someone would be a conservative….as much as you may like to believe it is…it is NOT!

A “true” conservative views things in a certain way…but because of the total lack of understanding a classical conservative has little in common with the so-called modern conservative…..

A classical conservative…the conservatism of Edmund Burke, that is holds a special belief in issues and situations…..first let us look at ideology….they view this as a manifestation of the arrogance of rationalism.  The see ideologies as elaborate systems o0f thought that are dangerous and unreliable.

Second, the concept of freedom…..conservs have this weak view of freedom as a willing recognition of duties and responsibilities…..with freedom comes democracy and conservs see this as the need to protect property rights and traditional institutions from the untutored will of the masses or “the many”….and with freedom and democracy there is the human nature…..which they see as limited security seeking drawn to the known, the familiar, the tried and the tested and that human rationality is flawed and unreliable and moral corruption is implicit…..and now the issue of equality….conservs have traditionally viewed society as necessarily hierarchical and dismiss equality as an abstract and unachievable goal……

How about the nation….what would a true conservative think of the nation?  They see it as a an organic entity bound together with common ethnic identity and a shared history; it is the source of social cohesion and a collective identity…..they will see the nation as the most important of all the social organizations.

The state….no not the same thing as the nation…conservs want a strong state to protect us from chaos and disorder with authority and discipline……that brings us to the concept of authority…they see it as rising from natural necessity from above by those of unequal distribution of experience, social position and wisdom And that it fosters respect and loyalty and social cohesion……

More simply put…if you are a conserv then you see the needs of the country (or state) are best met by the elites of the nation and that authority and strong government (does not necessarily mean big government) is essential for the state to survive.