Conservatism/pos/claim

beliefs claimed as elements of conservatism

Semi-official Philosophy

• Society must be preserved:
  • in its present form (it must not change)
  • in a form consistent with "tradition"
• Society must be restored to an earlier, better condition ("Make America Great Again").
• Society cannot be changed for the better.
  • This sometimes includes a reactionary belief that society should move backwards, adhering more faithfully to traditional ways that have become neglected. To a reactionary, the ideal society would follow traditional forms to the letter.
  • This is often phrased as "the human condition is eternal" or "human beings cannot be perfected" (cf Kipling).

Terminological implications

The use of the root "conserv-" in the term's name, and especially the misuse of the word "conservative" when describing its associated political positions, also implies the following beliefs:

• Public wealth should accumulate rather than being spent on luxury or social posturing. Ideally, a "conservative" position would be to waits until there is an adequate positive balance in the till before buying new infrastructure or investing in new enterprises, but not waiting so long that the cost of repair later becomes greater than the cost of taking on debt to repair sooner.
• New things should be looked at carefully before advocating or spereading them widely – and we should always be ready to take a second look if an accepted idea seems to have had unintended consequences.
• Public resources should be managed carefully for the long haul, rather than being sacrificed them for short-term gain.

Note that if you replace "public" with "private", you get something approximating what conservatism actually advocates. People who are fooled by this sleight-of-hand seem to be the primary base for conservatism among the non-wealthy.